Rhea Albelda

Joining RBG 9 months ago, and bringing 13 years’ experience with her, Rhea leads their Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Geotechnical Team. Her role involves all technical deliverables, understanding and interpretation of ground conditions and identifying risks. Rhea finds the most challenging aspect of her role is informing clients, developers, and contractors the importance of geotechnical engineering, especially being a women engineer. Most of the time, what’s above ground is seen as more important than what’s underneath. Rhea’s attraction to the engineering industry stemmed from her enjoyment of maths in her early years at school, and even with it being a male-dominated industry, she decided to pursue civil engineering. Fast forward to 2021, Rhea dedicates her time to informing external contacts on geotechnical engineering, which have led to exciting opportunities with some of the biggest developers in Saudi Arabia. She has also been nominated by her colleagues for the Big 5 Construction – Women in Construction Award 2021. Rhea loves the unique project opportunities that come with geotechnical engineering, and her goal is to become a role model to all young engineers, especially to women engineering who may be afraid to speak out and share knowledge. She believes in promoting oneself and encouraging everyone women can be engineers, and their contributions are as important as anyone else’s.