Bola Akinwale Abisogun OBE

Bola is an Independent Management Consultant, Chartered Construction Manager, Chartered Quantity Surveyor and Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS); offering independent, multi-dimensional construction cost management consultancy and construction project & programme (including asset) management solutions, since qualifying in 1999. Bola graduated from the University of Wolverhampton in 1994, the first black student to ever receive a Double First class with Honours, with a thesis subject matter that [spoke of AI, ML, BIM] and was considered ahead of its time. In almost 30 years, Bola has successfully procured and delivered, in excess of £8 billion in capital projects across the UK, in an array of sectors, with extensive public sector procurement and contract management experience.

An eminent Fellow of the RICS, Bola is a Member of the acclaimed Gemini Council [at the Centre for Digital Built Britain; #CDBB] and co-author of the Digital Twin Business Case Toolkit; published in joint partnership with TechUK, and launched in February 2021. Bola is a well documented industry disruptor, serial curator and innovative Systems Level Architect, delivering ‘Digital Twin’ solutions, using #ConTech and #PropTech platforms. He is an industry thought leader and specialist practitioner in the Digital Construction [#ConTech], Smart Legal Contracts, Blockchain, Built Asset Assurance, BIM, Technical Compliance and Whole-Life Cycle / Asset Management solutions space [the latter using #PropTech] in a SaaS capacity.

Formed in 1881, Bola is a portfolio Non-Executive Director and a Board Member of the London Chamber of Commerce & Industry #LCCI, the oldest and largest chamber of commerce in the UK; a Board Member of RHP Group [a successful, London-based, housing association] a Member of the CITB England Nation Council [responsible for UK construction skills; #CITB] and currently serves as a Non-Executive Director on both the South East Centre for the Built Environment #SECBE and Board Member / Trustee of the Chartered Surveyors Training Trust; #CSTT. He is also the first Liveryman of Black heritage to join the Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors; #WCCS. During the last decade, Bola has created – on both sides of the Atlantic – an acute focus on digital transformation and the digital skills required, in relation to the Cost Management profession, via his industry initiative #PQS2030.

A firm advocate of ‘systemic and structural’ change and where appropriate, non-traditional representation at all levels, Bola has been a ‘force for change’ in Public Procurement and Supplier Diversity. Representing the FMB as their first appointed Chairman of the Public Sector Procurement Committee, he oversaw the production of the Improving Public Procurement for Construction SME’s report, launched at the House of Commons in November 2013. Prior to that, Bola was appointed by the EHRC to Chair their Inquiry into ‘Race Discrimination in the Construction Industry’. In view of the above and longstanding imbalance across the built environment professions, latterly with full corporate [and specifc] support from the RICS, Bola established [in 2006]; DiverseCity Surveyors as the first RICS network for Surveyors of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic origin, launched ‘formally’ at RICS HQ in Parliament Square, London during October 2017.

In recognition of his well-documented efforts, Bola was awarded the OBE, a Queens Honour, for Services to Diversity and to Young People in the Construction Industry in the 2019 New Years Honours List, published in December 2018. Bola accredits the award to his family and every young person he has worked with.