Associate Architect

Reporting to the Lead Civil Engineer, the Associate Architect is expected to support the implementation of the project activities through the provision of technical expertise and the application of best practices in the project implementation. 

1. Support to design management

• Assist the project team in preparation of the Scope of Services for design services contracts.

• Provide support with evaluation of the receipt bids for Design Services.

• Support in writing Design Briefs for all planned infrastructure designs including: conceptual designs, detailed design, technical specifications, quality standards, bill of quantities, health and safety measures, preambles,  timeframes and strategies for execution, inclusive of gender considerations, people with disabilities and sustainability criteria.

• Ensure that approved concept and detailed designs by the Project Boards are all complete and to the UNOPS Design Review standard, and further coordinate the activities to obtain the Design Review Certificate issued by the UNOPS Design Review team in Headquarters.

• For all certified detailed designs support activities that relate to the preparation, finalization and completion of the  tender documents, including: Scope of Works (SoW), site information, budget, technical specifications, schedules, Bill of Quantities (BoQ), calculations and construction drawings.

2. Support to construction management/supervision

• Assist the project team in the planning and coordinating work activities with the Lead Civil Engineer.

• Conduct site visits, monitor and inform Lead Civil Engineer to take action, communicate and report potential delays and/or cost overruns to the Lead Civil Engineer. 

• Support monitoring of the project construction work progress to ensure construction works are completed on time and to quality standards as per the contract and project design documentation.

• Support the  implementation of quality controls (QC) and quality assurance (QA) procedures, to ensure all infrastructure projects are correctly initiated, managed, monitored, reported and closed in accordance with UNOPS policies and procedures;

• Assist the Project Manager in monitoring and measuring the works progress through the agreed Bill of Quantities (BoQ) as per the contract. 

• Verify and inform Lead Civil Engineer that works are consistent with the project design drawings and technical specifications and inform promptly of eventual deviations.

• Provide support and general guidance to the contractor and assist in resolving site problems, as necessary.

• Assess the work activities of contractor/s, verify measurements books, measure completed work (in situ) and make recommendations to the Project Manager for progress and interim payments to contractors.

• Assist the preparation of relevant Health and Safety and Environmental Management related Risk Assessments, Method Statements, Inspection Reports, and all other mandatory procedures required by UNOPS HSSE Organizational Directive 

• Assist project team on capacity building of local contractors subject to Health and Safety and Social Environment by providing training and briefing on HSSE Plans, Risk Assessment,  tool box talks, etc. 

• Oversee dimensional control and site surveying works, engineering control of the works etc.

• Maintain project documentation, including payment registers, variation registers, site safety inspection registers, site diaries, instructions to contractor registers, drawing registers, visitor registers, sample approval registers, concrete test registers, progress photos, etc.

3. Support to technical documentation

• Assist on design management process for the office infrastructure projects for office by ensuring that the project design documentation and design reviews are completed accordingly, efficiently and in timely manner

• Coordinate and assist input to the work of the Design Consultant in design development and documentation as well as the associated Design Review process and certification to obtain the UNOPS Design Review Certificate.

• Assist the Project Manager and the Lead Civil Engineer in developing the work plan for construction of the new facilities at the selected location, to ensure its completion within the time, scope, quality and budgetary requirements defined in the Project Agreement.

• Assist the Project Manager and the Lead Civil Engineer in the preparation of project/contracts related documentations such as periodic progress reports, site monitoring reports, stakeholder meeting minutes, engineer’s instructions and variation orders, contractor’s bills review reports, certifications, client hand-over documents and contracts close-out reports. 

• Assist the Project Manager and the Lead Civil Engineer to develop the Health, Safety, Social and Environmental Plans according to UNOPS’ rules and regulations.

• Support the Lead Engineer on preparing the Interim Payment Certificates (IPC) on monthly or progress  basis for each site and prior the payments to the contractors.

• Prepare quality management templates and support the monitoring of the quality of the works as per UNOPS Quality Management System.

• Compare all changes to permissible variations and prepare the notes to the file in support of the changes.

• Support the Lead Engineer for registering and managing issues, risks and lessons learned, etc. using oneUNOPS Project tool.

• Prepare meeting agendas, minutes, etc., as required, in English and Uzbek and/or Russian, and provide translations, as required.

4. Reporting

• Provide weekly and monthly reports to the Lead Civil Engineer detailing all project matters including quality, health and safety, environmental and financial, as well as any issues relating to possible delays, cost overruns, variations and any other matter as agreed with the Senior Portfolio Manager. 

• Support the Lead Civil Engineer in the provision of  data and information about project work to the Senior Portfolio Manager for reporting purposes. 

• Monitor closely and report on the design services’ progress against the schedule, including all issues encountered.

• Assist the Lead Civil Engineer in updating the Project quality register, issue register, risk register and lessons learned log in the time frame stipulated by the Project’s strategic documents.

5. Knowledge sharing and management

• Contribute to the project evaluation process; highlight challenges associated with the project and feedback into a continuous improvement cycle.

• Assist in providing training and knowledge transfer to national/contractor personnel including advice on good construction and engineering practices, environmental management practices, and appropriate health and safety standards during construction.

• Contribute to the dissemination and sharing of best practices and lessons learned for development planning and knowledge building.

• Participate in the relevant Communities of Practice, actively interact with other Engineers and the Engineering community to share case studies, lessons learned and best practice on the Knowledge System

• Provide feedback to Practice Leads on policy, supporting guidance with an aim towards continuous improvement of UNOPS policies.