Lawrence D'souza engineers his way to the top

InterContinental Regency Hotel Bahrain chief engineer Lawrence Sebastian D’souza took home the Hotel Engineer of the Year award at the 2015 Hotelier Middle East Award.

Commenting on the win, D'soouza said: "I am really happy to win, I thank God, all my colleagues, supporters and of course my family too, I am really happy."

Hired directly from the Burj Al Arab, Lawrence joined the InterContinental Bahrain in 2010 as assistant chief engineer to co-lead a US $55 million hotel renovation project.

D’soouza impressed this year’s judges with a number of key projects implemented under his leadership, including the introduction of a 'Supervisor of the Day' programme aimed to assist the professional development of junior employees to supervisory level.

The judges commented his recent successes, including a LED lighting project which saved the company $39,000 in energy costs in 2014, and a recent charitable project that donated furniture to less fortunate members of society. Judges also commended D'souza on his continued support for the local community.

"I am really keen to develop the local talents, we are expatriates, we are temporary in the country, the local talents they need to develop for their country, and for their own careers, this mission is in my heart, I need to develop the local talent," said D'souza speaking of his charitable endeavours. 

The Highly Commended nominee in this category was Rohit Salunke from Sofitel the Palm.

Hotel Engineer of the Year Award was sponsored by Diversey and presented by UAE sales manager Sherif Fahmy on the night.

Shortlisted nominees for this category included: Basant Kushwaha from Kempinski Hotel Ajman, James Taylor from Atlantis, The Palm Dubai, Lawrence Sebastian Dsouza from InterContinental Regency Hotel Bahrain, Mounir Lakkis from Burj Al Arab, Rohit Salunke from Sofitel the Palm, and Satyapalan Sreedharan from Media One Hotel.