Dr Abdullahi Saka
Abdullahi is a highly driven individual with extensive teaching and research experience across three continents: Africa, Asia, and Europe. He has expertise in construction informatics (including machine learning, BIM, IoT, and Artificial Intelligence), construction technology, sustainable construction, digital enterprise, project management, and innovation diffusion and management. Abdullahi has published his research findings in over 50 publications, including refereed journals, conference proceedings, textbooks, white papers, and industry reports. His work has been recognized with awards such as the Professional Excellence in Building Award 2021 by the Australian Institute of Building (AIB), HK, and the Project Management Achievement Research Award 2023 by the Hong Kong Institute of Project Management (HKIPM), among others. Over the years, he has executed various funded projects with a combined worth of over £2.5 million, serving as both Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator. His research philosophy is to improve the status quo and provide practical solutions to the problems of productivity, safety, and sustainability in the construction sector and beyond.
He is a Reader in Applied Management – Sustainable Digital Construction and Enterprise. Prior to this role, he was a Senior Lecturer in Construction and Project Management at Leeds Beckett University, where he served as a Team Lead at the Construction Informatics and Digital Enterprise Laboratory (CIDEL). In this role, he provided research leadership in AI and sustainability, coordinated industrial networking, and co-organized bimonthly seminars and Thinklab activities. He has also worked at the Big Data Enterprise and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (BigDEAL), University of the West of England, UK, and the Department of Building and Real Estate at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Abdullahi holds a PhD in Construction Management from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where his thesis explored the dynamics of BIM in small and medium-sized enterprises in developing economies. He earned his first degree in Quantity Surveying (First Class Hons) from the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Nigeria. Abdullahi has worked in various capacities in the construction industry, including as a Quantity Surveyor, Construction/Project Manager, and Contractor. He is actively involved in industry research and has served as the Research Director for BIM Africa—an organization dedicated to enabling and promoting the implementation of digital construction in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry across Africa—since 2018. In this role, he led the publication of the Africa BIM Report in 2020 and 2022, which are the first continent-wide reports on BIM.
Abdullahi’s research philosophy is to improve status quo and provide practical solutions to problem of productivity, safety, and sustainability in the construction sector and other sectors. He has executed various funded projects with combined worth of over £2.5 million (as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator) over the years.
Selected Recent Projects
AI-Enabled Design Optimisation System for Waste Efficient Project (AI-DOWEP) – Ext. Funding: 99,538. (September 2024 – April 2025). Funder: UKRI
Intelligent Golden Thread for Building Safety Management (i-GBSM). Funding: £1,073,731; Funder: UKRI. Duration: April 2024 – March 2025
Support Platform for Occupational Therapists' Insight Guided Housing Adaptation Grants: Empowering Elderly and Disabled Applicants. Funding: £497,447; Funder: UKRI. Duration: June 2024 – December 2025
Building Information Modelling in the Practice of Architecture/Engineering Firms: An Adoption Roadmap in the Context of Kuwait. Funding: £25,000; Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences. Duration: January 2024 – December 2024
AI-Enabled Design Diagnostics and Optimisation System for Mould Prevention - Extension (AI-DOMP - Ext). Funding: £99,112. (September 2024 – April 2025). Funder: UKRI
Design Optimisation and Waste Efficiency of Building Projects. Funding: £50,000; Funder: UKRI Duration: September 2023 – March 2024
Compliance and Optimisation System for Fire Performance. Funding: £49,701; Funder: UKRI. Duration: September 2023 – March 2024
AI-Enabled Design Diagnostics and Optimisation System for Mould Prevention. Funding: £50,000; Funder: UKRI. Duration: September 2023 – March 2024
Deployment of Generative AI for Sustainable Construction (AI-ECOGEN): £3,000. Funder: LBU BEEC. Duration: January 2023 – December 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dibe.2023.100300
African BIM Research Report 2022. Funding: £3,000. Duration: September 2021 – September 2022. https://bimafrica.org/abr2022/
African BIM Research Report 2020. Funding: £2,000. Duration: September 2019 – September 2020. https://bimafrica.org/abr2020/
Development of Decision Support Systems for Building Information Modelling Adoption and Implementation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Construction Industry. Funding: £96,000. Duration: August 2018 – June 2024
