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Dubai Real Times is the official magazine of Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) and published by Sterling Publications, Dubai. Cover stories: Branching out, Job of a Valuer
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Message f r om t he CEO
Eng. Marwan Bin GhalitaCEO, Real Estate Regulatory Agency
OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF REAL ESTATE REGULATORY AGENCY
RERA neither takes responsibility nor accredits any studies, research or statistics that are not issued by it.
I view the merger of Emaar Properties with the Dubai Holding entities of Dubai Properties, Sama Dubai and Tatweer as the best thing that could have happened to the Dubai real estate sector. The merger will surely lead to significant synergies among the activities of the companies concerned, with the post-merger outfit enjoying the strengths and clout of a much bigger entity. But from my point of view, the most critical advantage that it provides to the sector is the ability to influence and manage supplies to the market. The consolidation will provide for better supply planning so that the city does not witness any unregulated growth in the real estate sector, which has been the case in the past.
Emaar and Dubai Properties are estimated to be in a position to release a total number of over 5,800 new units to the market during 2009 out of a total supply of over 9600 units, with Nakheel accounting for over 3,800 properties, which means Emaar and Dubai Properties account for 60 per cent of the market supply.
In 2010, supplies from the combined entity are estimated to come down to a little over 55 per cent of the total, although the total supplies to the market are set to more than double. Out of the 19,610 new units expected to be released to the market in 2010, the share of Emaar and Dubai Properties is projected to be 10,810 units, with another 8,800 properties coming from Nakheel.
The consolidation of the sector will provide developers the opportunity to better manage supplies so that the new additions to the market do not lead to any oversupply, which could exert downward pressure on prices and the overall sentiment in the Dubai real estate sector.
We in RERA have all along been stressing that there was need for a consolidation among the city’s developers so as to allow for better planning and control of all aspects of the market. The merger of Emaar and Dubai Holding companies is a major move in this direction.
Better supply management
MANAGING EDITOR K Raveendran [email protected]
MANAGING DIRECTOR Sankaranarayanan [email protected]
GENERAL MANAGER Radhika Natu [email protected]
EDITOR Linda Benbow [email protected]
CONTRIBuTING EDITORS Vanit Sethi [email protected] Ramanan [email protected]
CREATIVE DIRECTORHarikumar PB [email protected]
Designerujwala Ranade [email protected]
SALES AND MARKETING
Product Manager Vijayan G [email protected]
Accounts & Administration Biju Varghese [email protected]
Circulation Supervisors Ibrahim A. HameedSaleem K u
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CONTENTS
10 Discussion Believing in the Dubai brand
12 Profile Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
14 MTA Restoring confidence in the market Financing options
17 Comments Auction results
Middle income housing segment
Investing for the long term
You snooze you lose
Local tales
Human resources are your winners
23 Facilities & Services Facilities management in demand
Energy reduction
27 Handovers A set of keys
28 Infrastructure Water and wastewater treatment
30 Dubai Focus A defiant mood
36 Community Events The meaning of CSR
37 Well Done Who’s Who of real estate lawyers
42 Developers List of Developers
48 Law & Regulations Questions & Answers
3 Branch Office RERA office at Emaar Business Park 4 News Evaluations 9 Statistics June figures
7 Personality Mohammed Rashid bin Serdah
6 Taqyeem Rules for Valuers
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With the amount of sales that Emaar Properties have man-aged to gain over the
past number of years it made sense for them to try and tackle the mat-ter of registrations of documents at the Land Department in a way that was simple and convenient for the customer, the government body and the developer. That is why a branch of the Land Department was successfully set up in 2007 within the Emaar Business Park on Sheikh Zayed Road, on the ground floor of Building One (the building near-est the new villas near Emirates Golf Club).
The private, transparent offices are manned by trained Land De-partment staff from the Strategic & Excellence Department – Customer Care. Recently, the staff here were joined by RERA’s Sheikh Juma bin Thani Al Maktoum, Head of Trust Account, who is now also heading this facility. The Department of Real Estate Development Guarantee Ac-counts is one of RERA’s most criti-cal departments, with the power to enforce Law No (8/2007) covering guarantee accounts of real estate developments. It is the responsibil-ity of the department to:
Issue an executive bylaw consis-•tent with lawCreate and update developers’ •registry Create and update trustees’ reg-•istryApprove real estate projects •Administer trust accounts •Control accounts financially and •technically
Among the departments achieve-ments are:1. Issuing the executive regulation
which amends Law No (8/2007) that covers guarantee accounts
COVER STORY
Branching outBy Linda Benbow
of real estate developments2. Restructuring and revamping
real estate registry 3. Launching electronic system for
developers and projects’ registry 4. Restructuring and revamping ac-
counts trustees’ registry5. Adopting new mechanism for
real estate developers’ registra-tion
6. Issuing accredited and authentic financial data and reports on de-velopers and their projects
7. Fees-setting and collecting charges from real estate devel-opersAbdullah Mohd Mohd Saleh,
Senior Officer – Customer Care, ex-plained some of the activities that take place at the branch office in the Emaar building.
“We are here for the customer; to serve people,” he explained with a smile. “We check that all their papers are in order, that nothing is missing. We explain exactly what is needed to register their properties, and how to go about it. When everything is complete, we do all the necessary registering and issue an ownership document.”
There are no big queues at this cool and quiet office, which is ap-preciated by most customers. There have been other branch offices in the past, one at Tecom, which is now defunct as the bulk of all registrations have been completed. Another pre-vious branch was opened, and is now closed, at Dubai Holdings building.
Once a property has been built and handed over to the buyer, he makes sure that it is acceptable and signs for it and then goes to Emaar who issues a No Objection Certifi-cate (NOC). This NOC ensures that both developer and customer are fully knowledgeable about all rel-evant matters such as management
charges, security, charges for the lifts and other facilities.
“All the papers are then given to us. We check that all monies have been paid and finalised. We check that the documents state the correct address of the property and project name, its size and how, much has been paid for it, the buyers name and his nationality and passport number and municipality number. We then give the buyer a reference number that he can quote in future corre-spondence.”
In the case of a mortgaged Emaar property, both buyer and bank rep-resentative should go to the branch
office and sign all papers together. All the details of sales transac-
tions are entered onto the computer that is linked directly to the Land De-partment, and then a final Title Deed is given to Emaar, who will give it to their customer.
“We are here to register transac-tions and update our database.”
There is also a vice versa deal with Emaar Properties having a rep-resentative on the ground floor of the Land Department building, near the creek, for those who want to re-register their properties, mainly as second sale, or re-sale of their villa or apartment.
“We are here for the customer; to serve people,” Abdullah Mohd Mohd Saleh
Sheikh Juma bin Thani Al Maktoum
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RERA NEWS
RERA has made an important accomplishment in unify-ing the real estate evalua-tion reports, licensing and
qualifying real estate valuers and evaluation companies in Dubai. The Agency has been setting qualifica-tions for companies and individuals to enable them to obtain a real es-tate valuer license.
All real estate evaluation com-
Valuation rules
panies were invited to a meeting where Marwan bin Ghalita, CEO of RERA and Mahmoud Hesham Al Burai, Director of the Real Estate Sector Development Department, discussed with them the challenges that real estate evaluation in Dubai is facing and the current situation of this market.
Marwan bin Ghalita assured them that the agency is providing the sec-tor with all the information neces-sary to increase transparency and
be effective in the regulation sys-tem. Mahmoud Al Burai explained that all the evaluation reports in Dubai Land Department are coming from evaluation of lands, buildings, apartments, villas, commercial and residential complexes, industrial fa-cilities and hotels. He added that the most important criteria of evaluat-ing any property is to study supply, demand, prices in the market, speci-fications, age and the location of the building .
He also said that qualifications, practice and experience are very important in the process of licensing real estate valuers; and that by RERA cooperating with RICS and many other high level international asso-ciations, this will help to increase the level of practice to the best interna-tional levels. He added that there will be a code of ethics, records and procedures that will be required to be followed by all valuers. Existing valuers have discussed their ideas, as well as given their opinions, in regu-lating this activity.
Banks and financial institutes will be one of the most interested sec-tors in this activity as they depend on valuations to deal with real estate financing such as mortgages and loans.
Yousif Al Hashmi, Director of Real Estate Licensing Department assured all that his department is preparing new conditions and re-quirements for getting the licence. He warned against people who represent themselves as real estate valuers while only having a broker-age licence.
Dubai plans to introduce a simplified contract that would become the norm
for all property purchases in the emirate. The standard contract, which has been drawn up by the Land Department and awaits approval, will clearly set out terms for both buyers and sellers, said
Dubai plans to simplify property contracts
Emmad Eldin Farouq, Senior Legal Advisor at the department.
“In any contract, there is a chance a developer can add to it because different developments have different rules and regulations but the basic contract will stay the same,” Mohammad Sultan Thani, Assistant Director-General of the
Land department, said.Dubai’s Real Estate Regulatory
Agency (RERA) and the Land Department are working hard to make the property sector more watertight but insist that there must be a large onus on the buyer to read contracts in full. During Dubai’s boom times,
many investors came swarming to Dubai just to buy property and paid less attention to contracts than they would in more mature markets.
“Any contract should be very clear and we need to make sure people read the contracts carefully,” stated Thani.
Mahmoud Hesham Al Burai
Yousif Al Hashmi
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A rental index for schools and other education centres in Dubai is to be developed
following the signing of an agree-ment by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) and the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA). The unified index will es-tablish appropriate levels of rent for different areas with a view to achiev-ing stability in the rental market for public, as well as private, educational buildings.
At present, rents for adjacent
Index to put school rents on level playing field launched by KHDA and Rera
schools can vary significantly, which in the case of private schools has a knock-on effect on the level of tu-ition fees.
The new scheme, which will involve the development of long-term rental contracts, is intended to smooth out such disparities and in-consistencies.
The authority believes the unified index will assist private schools and investors and support them in con-fronting unjustified rent increases. The scheme is also intended to ben-
efit parents. The KHDA will contribute to the
rent regulation and contract reg-istration processes and in addition identify rented units and determine their usage, the facilities attached to them and the clauses and condi-tions of rental contracts.
The agreement covers universi-ties and training institutions as well as schools. 72 per cent of the total number of private schools in Dubai have rental agreements, which is 103 out of 144 schools.
The unified index will establish appropriate levels of rent for different areas with a view to achieving stability in the rental market for public, as well as private, educational buildings
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Land Department, received certificates on behalf of the government body for ISO 14001:2001 and OHSAS 18001:2007. ISO 14001 is a standard aiming to reduce the environmental footprint of a business and to decrease the pollution and waste a business produces. OHSAS 18001 is an ‘Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems Specification’ which covers issues such as planning for hazard identification, risk assessment/control, OHS management, awareness and competence, training, communication, emergency preparedness and response, performance measuring and improvement. Sultan Butti bin Mijrin, Director General of Land Department described the certificates as a positive step towards action to upgrade and improve the environmental performance and health and occupational safety of employees as well as reflecting positively on the security and safety of workers. Mohammed Hamad Al Mehri, Chairman of the Group Environment, Health and Safety Service noted that “The Land Department is committed to all international and domestic legislation in this area and related activities and operations.”
Sultan Butti Bin Mijrin, Director General of Land Department received Mr. Ali Bin Abdullah Al-Abbas, Director General of Internal Trade, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Saudi Arabia as the head of a delegation that included a number of Saudi businessmen, to become acquainted with laws and legislation governing the real estate sector in Dubai and in particular the escrow account and mecha-nisms for organising and managing this account.
Dubai Land Department hosted a gov-ernment departments award ceremony in partnership with Dubai Municipality recently. Ahmed Al Shehhi, Director
of Partnerships, Dubai Municipal-ity, reviewed the accomplishments of administrative excellence award win-ners which foster and encourage the importance of excellence among all staff, and then was astounded to win an award himself. He explained that achieving excellence is not difficult as long as there is a genuine desire and determination from within the staff member. He revealed secrets of success and excellence in his career through plans and objectives, person-al commitment, responsibility and the pursuit of excellence, which earned him an honour in the Dubai Govern-ment Excellence for 2008 programme.
Land Department received a delegation from Dubai Police in the context of strengthening partnership and cooperation between various depart-ments and state institutions to develop government services. The visit was to identify, review and share experiences particularly with regard to service and customer care. The meeting was attended by Khamis Al Mu-hairi, Director of the Department of Customer Service; and Mohamed Oe, Deputy Director of Strategic Management and Excellence
Juma bin Humaidan, Deputy Director General, Land Department, congratulated Masoud Rashidi and commended her on winning a bronze medal for fourth position at the new athletics race held at Bundesliga, Germany in early July.
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Real estate valuation (REV) is considered the cornerstone of the real estate sector, and one of the important fac-
tors that affect the lives of individu-als, as well as the economy. Lending, borrowing, buying, selling, investing and real estate acquisition decisions depend directly on the value of the property.
The Concept of Real EstateReal estate means the land and ev-erything that is attached to it, such as buildings. Legally, real estate means the land and anything affixed to it and cannot be moved without damage or change to its structure. So, land covers not only the surface soil, but also every natural connec-
TAQYEEM
Real estate valuationBy Mouaiad Al-Omari, Edited by Mohamad Khodr Al Dah
Mouaiad Al-OmariBorn in 1963; obtained his diplo-ma degree in 1982 as Eng.-As-sistant in Surveying; obtained a bachelor degree in 1996 in Busi-ness Administration and Com-puter Science from Yarmouk Uni-
valuable minerals etc., to the infinite sky, with some limitations in relation to the height of structures.
The Concept of the ValueThe capitalist economy is based on the price mechanism. This means that there is a price for everything and there is no economic activ-ity without a price. This means that money evaluation cannot be known without having a price to know this value, and the value cannot be known without evaluating things. Thus, the price is the standard that defines the value of things.
From the capitalist point of view, the price mechanism is the fair way for distributing goods and services. For example, there are only a finite number of houses in the world, so
tion to it (except water which is gov-erned by special laws) like trees; and any improvements such as all kinds of construction below or above the surface. Land ownership, according to the theory of the inverted pyra-mid or the carrot (Fig. 1), contains not only the surface, but extending from the centre of the earth to spec-ified limits and signs on the surface, with the exception of the natural deposits such as oil, gold, and other
who has the price of the house can afford to own the house. The same meaning can be applied to cars, milk, bread, and so on. Based on this, there is a need to convert everything to money to facilitate owning it. Hence, the basis of real estate valuation is to convert the property to a financial number (the value), to form the capital which is the main engine in the process of economic development.
The real estate value depends on various factors such as area, location, type, use of property, title of owner-ship, size, condition, and legal status in terms of transfer of ownership, market conditions, supply, demand and many other data for an accurate appraisal of the property. This value is the opinion of an independent, experienced, educated, professional, honest, trustworthy expert who fol-lows scientific principles and varied professional methods to approach the property value-whether the land is vacant or built-up.
Real Estate ValuationReal estate valuation forms the basis for almost all activities relating to the land surface, and is one of the main-stays of the real estate market, in ad-dition to land surveying, land regis-
tration, and land use. It is the process that provides the indicator to land and improvements value. Hence, the failure or mistake in real estate valua-tion in terms of the ability to reflect the reliable value of the property in a way that is appropriate for accurate decision-making can result in serious risks. Therefore, real estate valuations in the absence of supervision by competent authorities, and depend-ing on non-specialists who imple-ment wrong valuation methods can result in wrong values. This will cause turbulence in the property market (e.g. banks, investors, and customers) and will adversely affect the national economy and will ultimately affect the global economy. The worldwide economic crisis that happened in the second half of 2007, starting with the United States, is a clear example.
Centre of Earth
Boundaries Land Surface
Sky
Fig. 1 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTESversity, Jordan; obtained a master degree in 2005 in Land Manage-ment and Land Tenure, from Technical University of Munchen, Germany.
Until 2005 he was a Property Valuer in the Department of Lands and Survey in Jordan, then a Head of Real Estate Appraisal Director-ate in the same department until 2007. Since 2007 until now he is preparing for a PhD in Real Estate Valuation at Oxford Brookes Uni-versity in the UK under the super-vision of Dr. Peter Dent and Mr. Richard Grover. Since 2009 until now he is the Project Manager of Real Estate Appraisal Centre in Dubai Land Department / Real Es-tate Regulatory Agency (RERA).
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If true leadership is a faith, dedi-cation and lifestyle, then a man doesn’t need a very high posi-tion to become a distinguished
leader in his professional team. This theory may be applied very well to Mohammed Rashid bin Serdah, Di-rector of the CEO’s office at RERA. He can be considered as a unique personality in whom traditions meet modernity. The story of Mohammed Rashid takes many different turns beginning with his bedouin lifestyle and the change he added to his life by working at the Land Department and then RERA, as well as his unique outlook on life and its ethics.
Mohammed Rashid graduated from Dubai College of Higher Tech-nology with a diploma in Business Administration, however he did not put this degree to use until 2004. Prior to this, Mohammed Rashid remained free from work, spend-ing most of his time in the desert practicing his favourite hobbies of falconry and shooting. He joined the Land Department in 2004 as a secretary for the deputy Director General, then as the secretary for the Director of Technical Affairs. He ended up working in the compen-sation department. In this team he proved his loyalty, dedication and he gained the trust, as well as apprecia-tion, of his bosses resulting in many offers for him to progress upwards. However, Mohammed Rashid’s pas-sion for working with Eng. Marwan bin Ghalita, RERA CEO, based on the respect and equality with which Eng. Bin Ghalita treats all of his employ-ees, kept him as his office manager despite the fact that this kept him on a lower pay scale. His experience
Traditional meets modern manBy Amal Abdul Rahim Al Sahlawi
with Eng. Bin Ghalita has made his personality richer with knowledge, expertise and refining his people skills.
He began working as Director of the CEO’s office in 2008, being ex-tremely busy setting the foundation for RERA, a new establishment that required much attention and care. Then he received the Unknown Sol-dier Award from the Dubai Govern-ment Excellence programme which was predictable considering his valuable contributions to the Land Department.
His work as the director of the CEO’s office involves following up with the CEO’s directions and their execution, communicating with other departments, and coordinat-ing between these departments and the CEO’s office. Mohammed adds that working in this position
requires a very trustworthy and re-liable individual because you deal with many sensitive and important issues.
His belief in RERA’s role in regu-lating the real estate market, pro-tecting investors’ rights, and his be-lief in the team’s ability makes him proud to be a part of this agency that works along with other gov-ernment bodies to improve Dubai and its image. He admits that the government work has changed his vision of Dubai and made him un-derstand what a lot of hard work lies beneath Dubai’s accomplish-ments.
Asking him about his strengths and weaknesses, Mohammed Rashid said he is quick to act and make decisions; and, by asking the people who work with him, we dis-covered a very high class individual
who has a strong work ethic with a concentration on honesty and trustworthiness for colleagues and friends.
The desert takes up much of Mo-hammed Rashid’s time; he is a good shooter, he hunts with falcons, likes camel races, farming and taking care of camels. As well, Moham-med Rashid loves sailing. He loves to read about history and be reli-giously educated, spend time with his wife and children who are very understanding of his work schedule and provide him with stability at home. He gives credit of his great personality to his mother and father who raised him in the many beauti-ful Arabic traditions with the Islamic religion and good ethics too. He considers raising children by be-ing a good example to be the best means of parenthood. He is always a friend to his son and daughter.
Mohammed Rashid doesn’t be-lieve in having one idol. He thinks that a man should take the best in everybody and he should become an idol himself, to force his good personality on people and to see God in everything that he does. He who does this does not need to look for an idol in another man. The last word, for his colleagues in RERA, are to cooperate and to complement each other because every member in this family completes the other – and we are all here to serve the community that we are a part of. If we can no longer do this, we should leave our place in this house for one who deserves it. Of course there will be more another day about this amazing man that has a lot of wis-dom, is humble and dedicated.
Mohammed Rashid bin Serdah
PERSONALITY
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Nad Al Sheba had the highest number of land transactions with 221 sales completed. The total number of mortgage transactions was 265 with a total value of Dh2,525million for 4,782,000 square feet. Of these Arabian Ranches had the highest number of mortgages
with 32 such transactions taking place for accommodation there. The total number of sales of apartments was 2,309 with a total value of
Dh2,113million for 2,412,000 square feet. Jebel Ali had the highest number of these sales with 844 transactions taking place.
Villa sales included a total of 146 mortgage transactions with a total value
Transactions during June 2009The total value of real estate transactions in Dubai during June 2009 was Dh13 billion
0
50
100
150
200
250
Al Kiran FirstMirdifEmirates Hills
Secound
Bu Kandra
palm Jumeirah
Emirates Hills First
Emirates Hills
Third
Arabian Ranches
Jebal Ali
Nad Al Sheba
221
86
5343
38 36
19 17 17 13
Land Flat VillaTotal number of Transaction 895 2545 203Total value AED 8,905m 2,448m 361mTotal Area(sq.ft) 12,842,000 70,955,000 641,000
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Al Barsha South
Second
Emirates
Hills Second
Al QouzSecond
Al
Khawaneej First
Al Warqa Third
Al Barsha South First
Aud Al
Muteenasecond
Aud Al
Muteena First
Emirates Hills Third
Arabian Ranches
32
29
22
17
11 1110 10 10
9
Total Number of Land Mortgage Transactions Top 10
Total Number of Land Sales Transaction Top 10
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Motor city
Trade certre
second
Al Suooh Third
Palm jumeirah
Sheikh Sayed Road
Emirates Hills First
Emirates Hills
Second
Dubai Marina
Warsan First
Jebal Ali
844
540
283
196168 162
84
282 2
in the Sheikh Zayed Road area, which went for Dh88.9million. A 52,366 square feet plot in the Mirdif Area was acquired for Dh13million, while 38,068 square feet at Al Khabeesi was disposed of for Dh17.13million.
Total Number of Flat Sales Transaction
of Dh274million for 458,000 square feet. Emirates Hills had the highest number of sales with 72 transactions taking place valued at Dh98million for 209,000 square feet.
During the second week in June the biggest area sold was the 65,849 square feet
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Sheikh Sayed RoadMotor CityDubai marinaEmirates Hills
SecondArabian
RanchesEmirates Hills
Third
72
40
26
52 1
0
20
40
60
80
100
Sheikh Sayed RoadMotor CityDubai marinaEmirates Hills SecondArabian RanchesEmirates Hills Third
98
74 74
18
6 5
Total Number of Villa Sales Transactions
Total Value of Villa Sales Transactions (Million, AED)
STATISTICS
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DISCUSSION
Let’s believe in the Dubai brandInvestors await confidence boost prior to revival
Further real estate legisla-tion, greater transparency and more accurate and timely market information
are required to rebuild confidence in Dubai’s real estate market and stimulate investment. These were the conclusions from the expert panel at the third Cityscape Con-nect Business Breakfast, which at-tracted nearly 200 senior real estate industry players in early July.
Cityscape Connect is the not-for-profit initiative from global real estate event and business infor-mation company Cityscape. It is designed to stimulate networking and information sharing and acts as a year-round platform to discuss business-critical issues in the real estate industry.
“Sentiment drives markets, and sentiment is important to the re-covery of Dubai’s real estate mar-ket,” explained Ian Ohan, Head of Investment Transactions at Jones Lang LaSalle and moderator of the panel discussion.
The global economic downturn has dented investor confidence. Banks are unwilling to lend money to real estate investors and devel-opers, concerned at the likelihood of defaults, while investors worry about falling values and the abil-ity to let commercial or residential buildings.
As a result, banks and investors have become very cautious with many preferring not to invest, de-spite having available funds. Those that do invest focus on secure in-come producing assets rather than seeking high risk-high return strate-
gies. The issue is risk aversion. Inves-
tors are worried about risk. We need the banks to invest once again and the funds to employ money. But there is no clarity of the future, so liquidity will remain on the sidelines until confidence returns,’ explained Marwan Shehadeh, Managing Di-rector of Al Futtaim Capital. “‘Real estate is about supply and demand. People are only willing to invest where they see a clear shortage in supply. In Morocco and Egypt, for instance, there is a shortage of mid-dle income housing. But in Dubai there is a lack of clarity regarding supply and demand in the real es-tate market.’
Heather Wipperman, CEO of In-vestment Boutique called for more
reliable and timely statistics to be made available. She suggested that Dubai’s developers, brokers and mortgage banks pool their data to create one independent central source of real estate statistics to increase transparency, and there-fore confidence and credibility, in Dubai’s real estate market.
Improving real estate legalisa-tion will also increase transparency and increase confidence, added Duane Keighran, Deputy Head of Real Estate, MENA region, at Sim-mons & Simmons. “Dubai needs to import best practice from maturer countries. For instance, it is difficult to get a judgement on a real estate court case. Nor can you do a real time search to find out who owns land. Such changes will add trans-
(left to right) Heather Wipperman, CEO of Investment Boutique; Markus Giebel, CEO of Deyaar; Ian Ohan, Head of Investment Transactions at Jones Lang LaSalle; Duane Keighran, Deputy Head of Real Estate, MENA region, at Simmons & Simmons and Marwan Shehadeh, Managing Director of Al Futtaim Capital
Banks are unwilling to lend money to real estate investors and developers, concerned at the likelihood of defaults, while investors worry about falling values and the ability to let commercial or residential buildings
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Let’s believe in the Dubai brand
Funds aplenty for distressed buying
Individual investors and insti-tutional funds have available liquidity, but are holding off on
investing in assets in Dubai due to the lack of clarity as to the true situ-ation on the ground, according to a panel of industry experts. Despite this short term gap, the emirate has the fundamentals to attract inter-national interest in the medium to long term.
While no significant distressed funds are yet active, the few in the pipeline are likely to increase confi-dence in the market and rescue de-faulted assets.
“Although there have been ‘dis-tressed’ sales by individuals, a num-ber of investors have been helped by a number of easy payment plans and similar initiatives by developers,” said Markus Giebel, CEO of Deyaar. “Real distress will come when devel-opers stop these plans, and the mis-fortune for those who cannot pay is an opportunity for these funds - and the funds will come, that’s for sure.”
Fellow panellist Marwan Sheha-deh, Managing Director of Al Fut-taim Capital agreed, pointing out that the majority of the group’s property fund has yet to be spent. “The issue is risk aversion; it’s no longer liquidity. We have plenty of money, but where do you put it? Two thirds of our fund is not yet de-ployed. There is a lot of uncertainty in the market, and there is no pres-sure from our investors to spend
parency and attract institutional investors.’
However, Markus Giebel, CEO of Deyaar, defended Dubai. “You must remember that Dubai is still an emerging market, and emerg-ing markets don’t have legal frame-works so Dubai is having to catch up. Can we change Dubai from an emerging to a mature market in 12 or 24 months? Probably not, but we are making the right tracks.”
Martin Seward-Case, Chairman of the UAE branch of the Royal In-
stitution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), supported Giebel’s view. He told the audience that the RICS was supporting Real Estate Regu-latory Agency (RERA) to establish ground-breaking changes behind the scenes. “RERA are doing a fan-tastic job; we’d only hope that they continue to remain bold and im-partial - where possible - avoiding significant influence from master developers.”
In terms of a recovery in the real estate market, Wipperman
said Dubai still “had some way to go,” but she predicted a change in fortunes at the end of 2010. “‘Insti-tutional investors are looking at the existing supply of real estate, the anticipated supply to come on line, population statistics and the health of the business community. But, in Dubai we still have a way to go on all of these factors.”
Wipperman said any recovery in Dubai would at first be patchy; focused particularly on neighbour-hoods. “Certain pockets of Dubai
are more robust. The southern area of Dubai is more resilient and we’re getting closer to a price equilib-rium, particularly in Dubai Marina and Discovery Gardens.”
But to reach a recovery, Markus Giebel, CEO of Deyaar, stressed that Dubai must continue to invest and improve as a city. “It is important to continue to spend on infrastruc-ture, safety etc. It is these things that make Dubai a great city. Let’s trust in Dubai, believe in Dubai and con-tinue to build Dubai.”
the money. Everybody realises that there may be further downsides and is waiting for the bottom. The issue with Dubai is that there is still a lack of clarity in terms of the amount of supply and demand, and that is what real estate is about. People are only willing to invest where they see a clear shortage of supply.”
With developers in the emirate looking to diversify their business models to adapt to the new realities in the market, some are looking at the options of using their funds to buy back units in their own devel-opments. These units can then be used to provide recurring income
from rentals while developers wait for prices on the market to begin to rise again, before releasing them for sale.
“Now is a great opportunity for developers to take back well valued assets and hold on to them while the market settles, say two or three years until we see appreciation, and then sell them on,” said Giebel. “If we recover units from investors who have to opt out as they can no longer make the payments, and then sell them straight on at less than the bottom end of the mar-ket, we will only serve to destabilise prices even further, which does not
help anybody.’ Giebel also told attendees that
Deyaar expected to begin raising the outstanding Dh300million of capital for its Dh500million distressed debt fund within the next few weeks. The developer and Dubai Islamic bank have already put Dh200million into the fund.
Deyaar is also looking at invest-ing into international markets as part of its longer term strategy. As well as being close to agreeing a deal in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, the company would be examining op-portunities in ‘high risk, high reward’ countries such as Iraq.
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PROFILE
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) wholeheartedly supports RERA in their quest to pro-
tect the rights and interests of con-sumers. The RICS also shares RERA’s vision that Dubai property investors are assured the highest possible service standards from real estate agents, brokers and property devel-opers transacting business in Dubai whilst maintaining the integrity of all the developments.
In late 2008, the RICS was pleased to sign Memorandum of Under-standing with RERA to share best practice in real estate matters.
We catch up with Martin Seward-Case, Chairman of the RICS UAE Board to ask him a few questions as to what Chartered Surveyors do in the UAE, and advise on how to avoid another disastrous property bubble in the future.
What is a surveyor?
It’s a term that has changed dra-matically over the last few years. Tra-ditionally the surveyor was seen to stare through a level at another site technician holding a staff. While this activity still continues on construc-tion sites, the chartered surveyor will study a property, any construction related problem, and provide advice too.
Chartered Surveyors What does a surveyor do? This depends on the discipline. A Valuations Surveyor will provide an educated and professional opinion on the value of a piece of real es-tate. Banks use these valuations to base their lending decisions. Con-struction Cost Surveyors are known as Quantity Surveyors and they look after the cost and contract admin-istration involved in building the project.
What is the job of a home/property surveyor?
There is no designation as a home surveyor. The property surveyor typically is known as a Valuation Surveyor or possibly a building sur-veyor .
When should one enlist the help of a surveyor?
Before buying a property (yes, to ascertain its value as well as its state of repair), during the buying pro-cess (yes, to help you in the trans-action process), after the property is bought (possibly only to assist in calculating the cost to rebuild for insurance purposes)
What will the surveyor do at each stage of the buying
process? This depends on the sort of sur-veyor one is looking for. Usually enquiries are answered with a fee set against a series of separate and distinct functions outlining exactly what is being asked for and what sort of report or recommendation will be provided for the fee itself.
What should you expect your surveyor to do for you?
Provide clear unbiased advice.
What types of surveyors are there? (ie, those of rel-evance to potential home-buyers.)
We have 17 different disciplines that form the 140,000 Chartered Survey-ors worldwide. These disciplines advance the standards of processes in land, property and construction. The potential homeowner needs to know that valuations, State of the Property and rebuild cost estimates (for insurance purposes) should all have the involvement of a specialist chartered surveyor.
When would you need to enlist their services?
The potential homebuyer should
ultimately involve a chartered sur-veyor if they have any nervousness regarding the processes they are being required to sign up to. As he is duty bound to primarily protect the interests of the public, he will be best placed to advise whether further specialist services may be re-quired (structural survey, etc).
When buying a property, why should you enlist the services of an independent chartered surveyor?
The chartered surveyor is duty bound to provide clear impartial ad-vice whether it be for the valuation of the house or apartment or the condition that it is being sold in. The answer may not necessarily be what one was hoping to hear but it will be fair and reasonable and reflect the full circumstances of the purchase.
Don’t banks/mortgage providers use surveyors, anyway? Isn’t that enough?
Typically yes it should be enough, however, the purchaser should check that this is the case. It is not mandatory in the UAE for chartered surveyors to be used as part of the transaction process, however the purchaser (or seller) can have signifi-cantly more peace of mind if a one
The property surveyor typically is known as a Valuation Surveyor or possible a building surveyor
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is a regulator of both its individual members and firms enabling it to maintain the highest standards and providing the basis for unparalleled client confidence in the sector.
What is the advantage of using a RICS surveyor?
Primarily, peace of mind. However, chartered surveyors also carry pro-fessional indemnity insurances to cover the unlikely instance of the advice provided not being correct.
What’s the difference between a valuation and a building survey?
The building survey looks at the condition of the building and rec-ommends what needs to be done to make it habitable. The Valuation looks at the market value of the as-set.
If you want to make an alteration to your prop-erty, why is it important to enlist a RICS surveyor?
It’s wise to involve a chartered sur-veyor to ensure your rights and obligations under your ownership are fully understood. Equally in the event that alterations to the apart-ment or semi- detached dwelling are in any way associated with a commonly owned wall, it is essential that a chartered surveyor is involved to put steps in place to protect both party wall owners.
What is a home condition report? Is it required in the UAE?
It does what is says on the box. Cur-rently it’s not mandatory but we’d recommend that it is put in place. As the secondary market matures and homes start aging, this report protects both parties in that an in-dependent surveyor has created it.
What can Dubai do to avoid another property bubble in the future?
More relevant regulation
Many exponents of free market prin-ciples will not openly support the notion of public institutions plac-ing regulations onto an open grow-ing market. However if we consider how the low levels of regulation in the banking and financial services sectors have directly contributed towards the financial meltdown of Q4 last year, we now see those very services themselves admitting that greater regulation will indeed have taken the edge off the collapse we have now witnessed.
In Dubai, the recent bubble raced ahead of us as the speculation cycle took hold. With RERA’s now strong position on speculation we’re seeing far more sensible level of regulatory mechanisms in place to ensure we don’t fall into the same trap.
With RERA now in place it’s un-likely that we will see another bub-ble growing at the speed that we witnessed – and this is a good thing. It is all about sustainability. Growth is important, but growth in a sustain-able manner.
Lower barriers to entry to al-low in greater competition
These barriers to entry include the
has been involved in the correct part of the transaction.
What questions should you ask a surveyor?
In buying home typically :Is the property I’m purchasing •true “unencumbered freehold”? Does the seller actually own the •property? Is the price we’re agreeing on •the right price? Are the charges I’m being •asked to pay the correct level of charge?
What is RICS?
RICS is the world’s leading qualifica-tion when it comes to professional standards in land, property and construction. RICS is an indepen-dent professional body originally established in the UK by Royal Char-ter. Since 1868, RICS has been com-mitted to setting and upholding the highest standards of excellence and integrity – providing impartial, au-thoritative advice on key issues af-fecting businesses and society. RICS
prohibitively expensive cost asso-ciated with the establishment of a Consultancy Practice or General Contracting concern. By lower en-try costs smaller business can enter the market and keep competition healthy in the event that the sector in particular starts to heat up.
We had several instances of small to medium size contracting concerns from the UK and South Africa make enquiries during 2007 and 2008 but were put off by the cost and bureaucracy related to es-tablishing the concern.
It is pleasing to note that at both local and federal level, the authori-ties are starting to look at this now.
Supply chain responsibility in pricing
During the recently witnessed up-turn, opportunism by the supply chain is one of the most regrettable but significant contributions to-wards inflationary pricing we have seen. Clearly resource restriction will contribute towards inflation-ary pricing however the attitude of “…it’s not the cost of the service but the price we know we can get away with…” obviously prevailed in the UAE market during the 2006 – 2008 upswing. While consultancy man-hour charge out rate increased dramatically it was the “Cost plus: take-it-or-leave-it” approach by many contractors that was most re-grettable.
Whilst the developers clearly signed up to contracts with values provided by an opportunistic sup-ply chain, many of these organisa-tions have now banked these ‘super profits’ and are crying foul.
In future the entire supply chain should be more responsible in not creating or contributing towards the perception of profiteering. The supply chain should use a ‘bottom-up pricing approach’ where the cost of the service is supplemented by a reasonable level of economic profit.Martin Seward-Case is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and Partner with Reaction Project Management, a consultant providing Project and Cost Management advice to developers, contractors and other consultants. Martin was elected by the RICS UAE Membership to Chair the RICS UAE Board for 2008 / 2009.
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PROPERTY PRICESMARKET TRENDS & ANALYSIS //MARKET TRENDS & ANALYSIS // FINANCIAL ROUNDUP
It is clear to everyone that people should talk to each other to dis-cuss mutually beneficial ways of organising their money. Devel-
opers, bankers and buyers need to discuss options to what can often seem like an impasse, when outside financial problems affect all and sundry irrespective of their colour, class and creed. Buyers welcome an understanding attitude when discussing how to maintain pay-ments on their purchase even when they cannot manage to pay what was originally agreed upon – such a long time ago, at least eight months or so in the past. Developers would like to get some money into their coffers, any reasonable amount will do to stave off the spectre of bank-ruptcy.
Dubai-based Deyaar Develop-ment has announced continued partnerships with leading banks to offer financing options exclusively to its customers, including up to 90 per cent financing and repayment periods of up to 25 years. Deyaar customers, subject to meeting the bank's credit approval requirements, will be able to obtain special financ-ing schemes and favourable repay-ment terms and quicker approvals, the bank said.
Markus Giebel, Chief Executive Officer of Deyaar Development has said the company, along with Dubai Islamic Bank, has secured Dh200-million from regional investors for a new distressed asset fund that will buy property from buyers who default on their payments and hold onto the units for several years, re-selling them for a profit in the future. He said the creation of the fund was the final step in a strategy to lower the company's default rate from about 50 per cent to the low single digit range.
Financing optionsDubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has
announced that it is offering up to 90 per cent financing for properties across the UAE. Property buyers can avail of Al Islami Home Finance for up to 25 years for ready and under-construction properties from ap-proved developers. This financing is available to both UAE nationals and expatriate residents. DIB is also offer-ing refinancing solutions for proper-ties that are already completed.
Dr. Adnan Chilwan, Chief of Retail and Business Banking, DIB, said: “The security of owning a home in the
UAE provides great comfort to our customers. With a high finance to value ratio and a range of products to suit every need, we encourage homebuyers in the country to take advantage of this opportunity.”
Nakheel has said that it is offer-ing its customers discounts of be-tween 10 per cent and 30 per cent to help investors meet their com-mitments and obligations towards the company. To qualify, buyers will have to settle outstanding balances and continue to pay their instal-ments on time, and the scheme is available to customers who have bought in Jumeirah Island Man-sions, Jumeirah Heights Clusters, Badrah phases one and two, Marina
Residences and Veneto.Nakheel has also announced a
new, lower service charge budget for its Discovery Gardens commu-nity, following a detailed review of scope and suppliers. The new rate has been formally agreed with the Dubai property market regulator, RERA, and will mean a reduction of approximately Dh5 per square foot in service changes for homeowners. The new lower service charge rates will be backdated to 1st January, 2009, with any rebates for house-holders being credited against next year’s service charges effective from 1st October, 2009.
Abdulrahman Kalantar, Manag-ing Director of Nakheel Asset Man-agement and Design (NAMAD), said: “When we first set the service charges for Discovery Gardens, they were based on our best estimates for this new Nakheel community. Following a lengthy review, we have been able to take advantage of recent reductions in the cost of goods and services, which has in turn reduced our overall service charge budgets. We’re now delight-ed to pass on these cost savings to every homeowner at Discovery Gardens.”
Presently, across Nakheel’s devel-
opments, including Discovery Gar-dens, service charges are budgeted according to projected costs and all accounts are independently audited to ensure accuracy and transparen-cy for homeowners. Nakheel works with RERA, residents and suppliers to ensure that the charges are in line with market averages.
Following the introduction of Strata Law in April 2008, Nakheel made the necessary preparations to register the Owners’ Association with RERA once the regulations are finalised by the Dubai Land Depart-
Dubai-based Deyaar Development has announced continued partnerships with leading banks to offer financing options exclusively to its customers, including up to 90 per cent financing and repayment periods of up to 25 years
Dr. Adnan Chilwan
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ment (DLD). As master developer, Nakheel will ensure that the owner associations are established in a timely manner, together with the creation of an owner’s committee which will empower residents to actively participate in the manage-ment of their building.
Emaar Properties has partnered with Standard Chartered Bank to ex-tend two easy home finance pack-ages for all its projects in Dubai that will be delivered in the next nine months.
Standard Chartered Bank will of-fer two mortgage products – the As-set Back Lending (ABL) Product and Standard Mortgage Product (SMP).
The Asset Back Lending (ABL) Product offers an easy loan of up to 40 per cent of the property price with a mortgage of Dh100,000 to Dh2.5 million being provided for a tenure of three to 25 years. The Standard Mortgage Product offers a standard loan of up to 75 per cent of the property price. Potential end-users and customers can obtain fi-nancial support from Dh150,000 to Dh10 million for a tenure of three to 25 years.
The home finance options will cover an extended portfolio of Emaar projects including apartments and villas in Dubai in prime loca-tions such as Downtown Burj Dubai, Dubai Marina, Arabian Ranches and Emirates Living. The ABL easy loan is particularly tailored for current inves-tors and end-users seeking financial support to complete the remaining payments before handover, while the standard mortgage will appeal to all potential home-buyers.
Mr Ahmad Al Matrooshi, Manag-ing Director – UAE, Emaar Proper-ties, said: “The partnership between Emaar Properties and Standard Chartered Bank is a huge confidence booster for Dubai’s property sector as it marks the strengthening of li-quidity levels.”
Emaar Properties has also un-veiled a new portfolio of homes in its Rent to Own scheme within the Downtown Burj Dubai community. Customers can lease the ready-to-live-in residences for one year before making a purchase option, with the entire rent for the first year going to-wards the down payment. They can
renew the rental lease if they do not decide to purchase the home after one year.
The Rent-to-Own scheme, launched by Emaar in November 2008, has gained strong response from customers, who benefit from the convenience of staying in a home of their choice for one year before making a purchase decision. With the entire rent of the year going towards down payment, the scheme also presented a financially benefi-cial option.
The residences showcased as part of the programme are located in the residential clusters of The Old Town, Old Town Island, South Ridge and The Residences, all established communities with an array of life-style amenities. South Ridge and The Residences are impressive high-rise towers while The Old Town and Old Town Island feature elegant Ara-besque architectural features. The newly released units include one- to five-bedroom apartments with ei-ther large terraces or balconies. All the homes have upgraded finishes.
All homes offered as part of the Rent to Own scheme are near Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building, and residents only need to take a short stroll to watch The Dubai Fountain, the world’s tallest per-forming fountain and a spectacle that performs to popular Arabic and World music.
Dubai Investments Real Estate
Company (DIRC), the real estate arm of Dubai Investments, is giv-ing a 100 per cent refund to its in-vestors on the Mirdiff Hills project, which it has put on hold due to un-availability of mortgage financing. Khaled Kalban, Managing Director and CEO of Dubai Investments has said DIRC would continue with the project should the lending scenario improve in Dubai.
Eng. Hussein Nasser Lootah, Di-rector General of Dubai Municipal-ity has issued a decision cancelling the insurance amount, which was required at the time of approving building plans.
Lootah said that the Munici-pality has, through this decision, tried to reduce the efforts exerted for the process of payment and receipt of insurance so as to save the time and effort of customers. "At the same time it will also save
the customer’s financial burden and facilitate procedures in light of the current situation."
As per the clauses of the deci-sion, the insurance on transactions regarding the approval of plans, imposed on the owners when they submit applications for building permits, has been cancelled. It was a fee submitted, along with build-ing plans, which was acknowledged by the competent department to issue a building permit. The owner receives the difference between the acknowledged fee and the es-timated fee which must be met in the light of accounts of the build-ing, during the final approval of the plans.
Previously the owner had to pay an insurance amount related to plan approval, which was equal to the set of fees that must be met for the issu-ance of a building permit.
The home finance options will cover an extended portfolio of Emaar projects including apartments and villas in Dubai in prime locations such as Downtown Burj Dubai, Dubai Marina, Arabian Ranches and Emirates Living.
Old Town Island at Burj Dubai
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MARKET TRENDS & ANALYSIS //MARKET TRENDS & ANALYSIS
Dubai has been one of the fastest growing real es-tate markets in the world over the last 15 years,
with Jones Lang LaSalle identifying Dubai (along with Dublin and Las Vegas) as cities of growing influence on the world stage back in 2001. As we all know, the market continued to grow rapidly before reaching a ‘tipping point’ in the third quarter of 2008 as a result of the liquid-ity crunch, which triggered a major global economic slowdown.
The availability of capital was one of the key ingredients fuel-ling the spectacular growth of the Dubai market and its abrupt with-drawal triggered a major correction, with rentals and values having fallen in the order of 50 per cent over the ensuing nine months, returning to 2007 levels in some sectors. The rapid turnaround in market condi-tions in Dubai has demonstrated the truth of the old investment ad-age that ‘sentiment moves markets’. The question now on everyone’s lips is “what strategies are required to restore confidence and rebuild brand Dubai?”
While the answer to this ques-tion will clearly vary across different stakeholders in the real estate mar-ket, one theme appears common across the board, an improvement in transparency is critical to restor-ing confidence and sentiment. This was highlighted in the findings of
The role of transparency in restoring confidence in real estate market By Craig Plumb, Director of Research, Jones Lang LaSalle (UAE)
The Role of Transparency in Restoring Confidence in the Dubai Real Estate Market
Dubai has been one of the fastest growing real estate markets in the world over the last 15 years, with Jones Lang LaSalle identifying Dubai (along with Dublin and Las Vegas) as cities of growing influence on the world stage back in 2001. As we all know, the market continued to grow rapidly before reaching a ‘tipping point’ in the third quarter of 2008 as a result of the liquidity crunch which triggered a major global economic slowdown.
The availability of capital was one of the key ingredients fuelling the spectacular growth of the Dubai market and its abrupt withdrawal triggered a major correction, with rentals and values having fallen in the order of 50% over the ensuing 9 months, returning to 2007 levels in some sectors. The rapid turnaround in market conditions in Dubai has demonstrated the truth of the old investment adage that ‘sentiment moves markets’. The question now on everyone’s lips is ‘what strategies are required to restore confidence and rebuild brand Dubai?’
While the answer to this question will clearly vary across different stakeholders in the real estate market, one theme appears common across the board, an improvement in transparency is critical to restoring confidence and sentiment. This was highlighted in the findings of Jones Lang LaSalle’s second Investment Sentiment Survey (ISS) undertaken in March 2009. We asked our sample of the regions leading real estate investors what factors they considered most important in their decision to invest in a particular market – the results, which are shown in the chart below, highlight the importance of transparency, with improved regulation and reduced market risk being identified as the two leading influences.
T h e I m p o r t a n c e o f T r a n s p a r e n c y
0 .0% 5. 0% 1 0.0 % 15 .0 % 2 0. 0% 2 5.0 %
Cost of D eb t
A va ila bility of D eb t
T ra nsp ar e ncy / C or po r ate Go ve rn an ce
A va ilab ility of P r od uc t
E xit S tra teg y
A va ila b ility of E q uity
Le ve l of R etu rn ( Ca pital G ro wth )
Le ve l of R etu rn ( Re ntal I nco me )
M a rke t Risk
Re gu la tion /Le gisla tio n
R e s u lt s f r o m J L L ’s 2 0 0 9 I n v e s t o r S e n t im e n t S u rv e y
P l e a s e r a n k t h e i m p o r ta n c e o f t h e f o ll o w i n g f a c t o r s i n f l u e n c e o n y o u r d e c is i o n to in v e s t i n a p a r t i c u la r r e a l e s t a te m a r k e t / a s s e t c l a s s .
Tran
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ency
form and creating a transparent market will provide the surety that investors require to re-enter the market with the enthusiasm they, once had.
While Dubai saw a major im-provement in real estate market transparency between 2006 and 2008 (scoring the world most im-proved market in its 2008 survey), there is no doubt that the market remains far less transparent than more mature markets such as Aus-tralia, Canada, the UK and the US.
At a recent Cityscape Connect breakfast, participants from differ-ent sectors of the real estate market shared what they believed could be done to restore confidence to the market and, once again, transpar-ency was identified as a key factor. One of the participants summed up the general consensus when he noted that the lack of market trans-parency had contributed to the feeling of ‘delay and pray’ which was currently characterising the Dubai market.
The good news is that the Dubai government has recognised the
importance of improving sentiment and restoring confidence in the real estate sector and a key component of this strategy has been to improve the openness and transparency of the market. It is in this area that RERA is playing a key role. There has been widespread industry support for the raft of measures to improve transparency being implemented by RERA including:
Availability of better quality •market data through the REIDIN sales database and the Projects Progress IndicatorPublication of regularly updated •rental indicesImprovements to the legal •framework through new regula-tions governing strata titles, Es-crow accounts, lease registration and mortgagesBetter enforcement and im-•proved mechanisms for real es-tate dispute resolutionOperational improvements, •agreements on codes of mea-surement and licensing proce-dures for real estate profession-als
The continued role of RERA in im-proving the regulatory environment and market transparency will have a significant impact on the recovery of the Dubai Real Estate market. Continued transparency improve-ments through 2009 and 2010 will provide a foundation for stability ahead of what we believe will be a recovery of transactions and pricing levels in 2011.
Craig Plumb
Jones Lang LaSalle’s second Invest-ment Sentiment Survey (ISS) under-taken in March 2009. They asked their sample of the regions leading real estate investors what factors they considered most important in their decision to invest in a par-ticular market – the results, which are shown in the chart on this page, highlight the importance of trans-parency, with improved regulation
and reduced market risk being iden-tified as the two leading influences.
The company is certain that es-tablishing a solid regulatory plat-
The Role of Transparency in Restoring Confidence in the Dubai Real Estate Market
Dubai has been one of the fastest growing real estate markets in the world over the last 15 years, with Jones Lang LaSalle identifying Dubai (along with Dublin and Las Vegas) as cities of growing influence on the world stage back in 2001. As we all know, the market continued to grow rapidly before reaching a ‘tipping point’ in the third quarter of 2008 as a result of the liquidity crunch which triggered a major global economic slowdown.
The availability of capital was one of the key ingredients fuelling the spectacular growth of the Dubai market and its abrupt withdrawal triggered a major correction, with rentals and values having fallen in the order of 50% over the ensuing 9 months, returning to 2007 levels in some sectors. The rapid turnaround in market conditions in Dubai has demonstrated the truth of the old investment adage that ‘sentiment moves markets’. The question now on everyone’s lips is ‘what strategies are required to restore confidence and rebuild brand Dubai?’
While the answer to this question will clearly vary across different stakeholders in the real estate market, one theme appears common across the board, an improvement in transparency is critical to restoring confidence and sentiment. This was highlighted in the findings of Jones Lang LaSalle’s second Investment Sentiment Survey (ISS) undertaken in March 2009. We asked our sample of the regions leading real estate investors what factors they considered most important in their decision to invest in a particular market – the results, which are shown in the chart below, highlight the importance of transparency, with improved regulation and reduced market risk being identified as the two leading influences.
T h e I m p o r t a n c e o f T r a n s p a r e n c y
0 .0% 5. 0% 1 0.0 % 15 .0 % 2 0. 0% 2 5.0 %
Cost of D eb t
A va ila bility of D eb t
T ra nsp ar e ncy / C or po r ate Go ve rn an ce
A va ilab ility of P r od uc t
E xit S tra teg y
A va ila b ility of E q uity
Le ve l of R etu rn ( Ca pital G ro wth )
Le ve l of R etu rn ( Re ntal I nco me )
M a rke t Risk
Re gu la tion /Le gisla tio n
R e s u lt s f r o m J L L ’s 2 0 0 9 I n v e s t o r S e n t im e n t S u rv e y
P l e a s e r a n k t h e i m p o r ta n c e o f t h e f o ll o w i n g f a c t o r s i n f l u e n c e o n y o u r d e c is i o n to in v e s t i n a p a r t i c u la r r e a l e s t a te m a r k e t / a s s e t c l a s s .
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Sherwoods Independent Property Consultants held an auction in early June featuring properties in The
Palm, Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, and other locations in the UAE. The of-ferings covered a broad price range and featured a mix of ready-to-use, nearly completed and off-plan resi-dential and commercial units, as well as a number of plots. On the night, however, just one plot of land was sold.
“To be honest we knew it was going to be a real challenge to ac-tually conclude a sale on the night of the auction. Before we started we said we would be pleased if there was a good turn out and if we succeeded in getting people in the room to bid. Just shy of 200 people turned up so this was a good result. On several of the Lots we also managed to get people to bid and came close on two of the Lots to the reserve level. So again this was satisfying,” stated Jeremy Mayhew-Sanders. “We did sell one unit immediately after the auction, Emirates Crown penthouse for Dh6-million, and we are genuinely in dis-cussions with three other buyers on two other Lots.
Having said that we know there is still a lot of work to be done. We still have a way to go to get people to understand the auction process; and this is understood and will be worked on for our next auction. Price and confidence in the market
A good turnout at the auctionLinda Benbow asked auctioneer Jeremy Mayhew-Sanders, Head of Investment & Developments at Sherwoods, on what happened at a recently held property auction.
generally remain the main barriers and this is a challenge for everyone in the property industry. You can't hide behind the auction process, it's a public arena and open for all to see and judge and this should be seen as a positive move in an industry that is shrouded in gossip, rumour and hearsay!
The lack of confidence in the whole auction process perhaps played a bigger part than I prob-ably thought. The company had to reduce the number of proper-ties on offer from 50 to 20 as many sellers were unwilling to accept lower reserve prices proposed by the company. We could not get to a level of reserve that we thought
would be of interest to the market with the sellers. That pricing has been the key issue.” Mayhew-Sand-ers explained.
High expectations of sellers and bargain-hunting buyers seem to be the stumbling block for auctions currently. According to Mushtaq Ahmed, a Dubai-based business-man, properties with high reserve prices should not be in the auc-tion market. His bid of Dh70 per square foot for a 6,142 square foot villa plot in Dubailand was the high-est but did not meet the reserve price. “I came here to get a better deal. I don’t need to come here to get properties at market price. Why should I waste my time?” he said.
Expectations were high on Sherwoods to put lower-to-mid range properties on offer as indus-try experts felt that the absence of it caused the failure of an auction in May by another company which had offered three villas and one penthouse apartment in upscale areas of Dubai. Only one property, a three-bedroom villa in Arabian Ranches managed to draw buyers’ interest. It received a highest bid of Dh2.3 million, which according to organisers was below the mini-mum price the seller was willing to accept. However, Sherwoods auction did not offer lower-to-mid range properties.
“We will definitely be holding another auction and this is likely to be in October or November,” stat-ed Jeremy. “There are two types of buyers who we want to encour-age into the room. Investors and owner-occupiers, people who want a set of keys and move in. Next time, for the investor, we will endeavour to get more inventory that has income. Both commercial and residential property that is cur-rently let out and will provide the investor with ready income and a yield. For the owner-occupier we need to source property of low to mid-range values. More affordable stock.
Another lesson learnt is to ex-tend the marketing period to al-low people more time to inspect the property and to ask questions about the auction process.”
Jeremy Mayhew-Sanders
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It is a fact that in a real estate en-vironment, we need sales. With-out sales we are not in business. Non-performance has lead to
the closure of many businesses re-cently, and although everyone be-lieves it is the non-performance of the markets, I can assure you that in most cases, it is the non-perfor-mance of sales staff.
In the previous issue of Dubai Real Times, the value of improving your market knowledge was high-lighted as the first step to improv-ing your sales ‘bottomline’. One of the underlying recommendations was that agents should dedicate two hours each week, educating themselves by reading and study-ing the wealth of information avail-able on local and global property markets. Possession of this informa-tion will quickly translate in client acknowledgement of their new-found expertise.
Conversely, I was in a hotel lob-by and could not avoid overhearing a conversation from what I would presume was a relatively new en-trant to the UAE property market, advising a group of evidently dis-illusioned businessmen “that the market will definitely go up” and “they are guaranteed to get dou-
Human resources that will make you winWhilet the market focus has moved from ‘off plan’ to ‘resale’ many estate agencies are finding it hard to overcome the need for a new business model. Overlooking one of the key factors in their business - non-performance of staff - could be the toughest challenge. Cecilia Reinaldo, Managing Director of Fine & Country, explains how to identify the non-performance signs and to become resilient.
ble digit rental yields.” I will never know whether a deal was made! But, as the old saying goes if you think it’s expensive to hire a profes-sional to do a job, wait until you hire an amateur (Paul ‘Red’ Adair).
Here are a few points that estate agency owners should have a close look at:
Resources: In practical terms a few have the resources to take on extra financial commitment but, remem-ber, when a company recruite a top-agent, it uses its current resources to draw this high profile estate agent to join them. When the company does not supply the resources to assist the agent to do the job, the company is to be blamed for the non-performance of the agent. Lack of resources can include: Understaff-ing (admin and marketing support), Tools and equipment (website, computers, and advertising), Bud-get and Marketing material.Capacity: Non-performance be-comes the result when the agent does not have the skill to perform the job. In real estate we often find that the agent does not have the ability to close the deal, or he does not know how to negotiate - knowledge, skill and attributes are key to this business. There are cer-tain activities that are essential for an agent in order to be successful, and the education approach must therefore focus on the ability to do the things that will result in generat-ing an above average income. Pre-viously, most business training be-came "manager-centered", focusing on teaching agents in a classroom
about what to say and do, and memorising what must be done. This method is fast changing back in favour of "agent-centered" and task-based approaches whereby an agent first performs role plays in the office to prepare them before they do it in the field. This is an excellent opportunity to interact with a se-nior agent or manager and to learn the finer skills of negotiating. Behaviour: The agent decides not to do certain tasks and simply ig-nores it. They ignore the guidelines prescribed by the company and sometimes deliberately refuse to cooperate with colleagues. One to one meetings with your agents will give you a closer understanding on the above. A close inspection might give you the exact reasons for underperformance.
In the end we all need to go back to basics:- estate agents in the UAE need to learn to let go of the past. Holding back on the thoughts of the ‘big deals’ you made and the ‘record’ reservation forms you man-aged to conclude are never going to get you to where you are trying to be; and time immemorial has il-lustrated that these thoughts are the very same that will hold you back from here to eternity.
The value of improving your market knowledge is the first step to improving your sales bottomline
Cecilia Reinaldo
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Transparency: the best surprise is no surpriseBy Aziz Valliani & Carla Polkinhorn
The concept of Settlement and Escrow services is not a new one. Over a century ago certain companies be-
gan routinely offering their services to sellers and buyers of real estate to assist them with the safe and expe-dient transfer of property and funds in accordance with local laws. Many countries around the world have some form of settlement services whether it is called Settlement, Clos-ing, Escrow, Conveyance or Guaran-tee services. Basically these compa-nies offer a failsafe way to document the terms of a closing and execute the instructions accordingly.
The word ‘escrow’ has its roots in Middle English and old French and basically translates to ‘scroll’ which in today’s terms means ‘checklist’. In the 1930s, during the Great Depres-sion, escrow accounts were imple-mented heavily in the United States to gather funds from property own-ers regularly to pay property taxes or loan amounts owed so that they would not fall behind on payments. These escrow accounts are still used in most, if not all transactions, as a means used to account for all costs associated with buying and selling property.
In uncertain economic times the services of a Settlement and Escrow company are highly valued. Buyers know that their deposits of funds are safeguarded with the Settle-ment Agent -even if their sale and purchase agreements do not con-tain all the requisite items that are on the standard ‘checklist’ to prop-erly close a property transaction. For example, buyers are generally expected to sign an MOU to pur-chase a property before the seller has signed; and it may be missing key elements such as the amount of sellers existing loan that is secured against the property, the amount of rent paid in advance by an existing tenant or the amount of strata fees that will become due.
. The unbiased third party in-termediary, neutrally monitors the specific requirements of each and every closing while overseeing and controlling the documentation that is required by local authorities, at-torneys, lenders, insurance and real estate brokers. These various par-ties to the deal, whose representa-tive industries have done their best to introduce initiatives that address the problems faced by the current economy, can rely on the Settle-ment Agent to become the cost effective checks and balances sys-tem during closing of a real estate transaction.
Currently sellers are experiencing difficulty in finding qualified buyers who will risk making any deposit of funds into a transaction which may fail to complete. The trust fac-tor has evaporated. The chances of a deal going through get much better when a Settlement Agent is involved. His best practices require that the details of the transaction
become more transparent to both the buyers and sellers. The agent creates Settlement Instructions that all parties sign off on detailing all ma-terial aspects of the agreement and the terms and conditions that must occur in order for the transfer of the property to be effectuated. He cre-ates an accounting of all funds owed by the buyer, or the buyer’s lender, as well as the amount of funds due to the seller’s existing lender (if any) and both parties are required to sign off on this accounting for complete transparency.
Lenders become more willing to transact on deals that accurately reflect the current ownership and financial details of the transaction. Deposits of funds or cheques for the
purchase of property are insured in bank accounts that are regulat-ed and all property transfer details, including mortgage details, are documented and registered with the local authorities.
Best practices yield best resultsRecently, a buyer borrowed Dh 800,000 to purchase his dream home from a seller. The seller had an existing mortgage of Dh700,000 that he was supposed to pay off with the proceeds at close. Well, after re-ceiving the funds from the buyer’s lender, the seller - for some reason - decided to back out of the deal and leave the country in a hurry, with-out even returning the buyer’s earnest money deposit. So the buyer is now required to make payments with interest on his Dh800,000 loan to the lender for a property that he does not even own.
Best practices would dictate that all funds be placed with a neutral third party (Settlement Agent) right when the agreement is reached between the principals. If the seller decided not to go through with the deal, then the Settlement Agent would be compelled to return buyer’s loan amount of Dh800,000 to the lender and the buyer’s ear-nest money deposit. Settlement services of a neutral third party could have alleviated this problem for the buyer.
This article was written by Aziz Valliani, Managing Director, & Carla Polkinhorn, Sr. enTrustee at enTrust & Title Ltd., www.entrusttitle.com. In addition to real property transactions, the company also provides Settlement Services for the transfer of personal property, business as-sets and rental or lease transactions. Non real estate settlement solu-tions are available for individuals or corporate entities. The same con-cept of having a neutral third party act as the intermediary between the parties is applied.
Aziz Valliani Carla Polkinhorn
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Investing for the long termFacilities management solutions and value-added real estate services take the spotlight as companies invest for the long term
While unprecedented global economic challenges have af-fected real estate
and construction markets, several companies have managed to stave off extinction by harnessing all available resources that help im-prove competitiveness. The key to this approach, analysts note, is to invest in solutions and services that enhance long-term sustainability and improve operational efficiency.
In the property sector, for in-stance, firms are taking proactive steps to counter the effects of di-minishing demand by investing in facilities management solutions and other value-added real estate services, which are now a lot more accessible because of a more com-petitive pricing structure.
“There had been a prolonged period of diminished construction costs as a result of reduced prop-erty demand and slow construction activities. The corresponding price corrections naturally reverberated across the real estate value chain, including facilities management so-lutions. I believe this is a very crucial situation wherein businesses must be able to correctly assess how they should be able to take advan-tage of competitive pricing struc-tures to offset the effects of a slow demand,” said Sobhi Agha, General Manager, The Specialists.
“Some companies capitalise on the low costs by optimising their construction activities. On the oth-er hand, property owners, based on our experience, are investing more on products and services that en-hance long-term sustainability such as facilities management solutions.
Either way, I believe they are mak-ing the right decision by focusing on the future. Demand gaps and fluctu-ating construction costs are short-term issues and the best way to take advantage of the situation is to think long-term,” added Agha.
Agha has revealed that the com-pany has seen a significant increase in the number of developers and building owners that are now ag-gressively seeking suitable facilities management solutions and other complementary real estate services to boost business value and long-term prospects. Just recently, The Specialists has sealed an agreement to deliver sales, leasing and property management services to Dunes Vil-lage, a Dh300 million development in Dubai Investments Park. Agha also noted that the growing emphasis by
local authorities on green building regulations has likewise increased demand for the company’s energy-efficient property management so-lutions.
“It’s all about consolidating your business. Different economic situ-ations present different challenges and opportunities. In this period of economic difficulties, property man-agement solutions and other value-added real estate services serve as important consolidating measures that definitely help developers and building owners boost business and asset value. Moreover, government-led efforts to promote green build-ing standards have likewise further enhanced the demand for the ser-vices that we offer. This is why busi-ness has remained upbeat as usual for us as our value-added real estate
solutions offer companies an op-portunity to focus more on their long-term business prospects and abide by green building regula-tions,” said Agha.
While costs of construction materials have previously declined by up to 30 per cent, recent re-ports show that they have recently jumped by 15 per cent. However, analysts say the fluctuating figures do not suggest anything concrete at the moment and may be the re-sult of companies buying to replace stock, and not necessarily because of a sudden sharp surge in con-struction activities.
“Things don’t change overnight. The best approach is still to prepare and invest in solutions that offer the best long-term value. In this regard, there have been several companies that are now reaping the benefits of adopting facilities management services through re-duced maintenance costs, stream-lined operations, energy efficiency, and long-term sustainability. Surely, such an investment puts them in a very good position to weather the downturn and, more importantly, capitalise on the excellent opportu-nities when the real estate and con-struction industries finally stabilise,” concluded Agha.
The Specialists delivers a com-prehensive range of services to cov-er all types of property transactions within both the commercial and residential markets, for lease and for sale. The company additionally of-fers comprehensive property man-agement services to clients in the UAE, while it has also been expand-ing across other key markets in the Middle East, including Lebanon.
Sobhi Agha
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Middle income housing segment maintains price despite market slump
“There is still a reason-able demand for middle income hous-ing,” declares Ashok J.
Galgotia, CEO of Triveni Builders and Promoters Limited, developers of the Dh80 million middle income resi-dential development at La Fontana in Dubailand.
And although some projects by other developers have been can-celled Galgotia is undeterred. “La Fontana has started its construction, and has never been in danger of be-ing cancelled. The project is support-ed by a company that has substantial capitalisation and remains competi-tive despite the current property slowdown,” he continues.
The six-storey, low-rise building located in the Arjan Master Com-munity, a one-of-a-kind community that promotes nature, greenery and
a family-first, amenity-rich lifestyle is still a hot property among those on the lookout for residences to move into. La Fontana offers a choice of 105 units comprising studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apart-ments ranging from 352 square feet to 1,219 square feet, all surrounded by calming greenery and judicious use of light and space.
And while property prices have tumbled down as much as 35 per cent since the start of 2009, Triveni is maintaining a status quo on its cur-rent offer, with prices ranging from Dh498,600 for studios to Dh1,315,900 for two-bedroom apartments. “There is no need to slash prices, because the best thing about La Fontana is
its value-for money location. Pro-spective buyers appreciate the value they will get in return for their invest-ment,” continues Galgotia.
Galgotia likewise confirmed that construction has been in full swing since May 2009, and assured inves-tors that the project will be delivered just after Eid Holidays of 2010. The change in completion schedule was caused by a slight delay in the provi-sion of permanent power and water supply from the master developer of the Dubailand community, Mizin.
Triveni Builders is a subsidiary of Triveni Group, which has appointed Al Shafar National Contracting L.L.C. (ASNC) as the general main contrac-tor for La Fontana.
Ashok J. Galgotia
Witnessing a positive market reaction
Better Homes real estate agency has witnessed some positive results over the past few weeks, where
both general enquiries and transac-tions are on the rise, after a dip in recent months in light of the effect the global financial crisis has had on the UAE. The company has en-gaged in a number of promotions and campaigns throughout the first half of 2009, where it has fo-cused on offering carefully selected units to its clients, through various marketing methods and channels, within both the sales and leasing segments of its business.
Following a summer promotion-al ‘Open Day’ event at its Jumeriah Beach Residence branch in line with the start of Dubai Summer Sur-prises, it recorded an overwhelm-
ing response to its summer offers of inventory for sale and for rent. “There were no signs of repressed customers during our Open Day weekend” said Jannie Biddulph, Sales Manager, Better Homes. “Our promotion received over 350 walk-in customers, seeking both proper-ties for sale and for rent.”
Since then, the company has fo-cused on promoting competitive-ly-priced units in areas of demand and received over 1,400 calls in just two days during the selected pro-motions. “The positive result indi-cates that despite the recent mar-ket downturn, if the right product is offered to the client at the right price, at the right time, there is a good opportunity to transact units within both sales and leasing” said Ms Billy Rautenbach, Director of
Operations, Better Homes. With a specific customer and the
right product in mind, it has been able to successfully match buyers and tenants with units, at a price which aims to satisfy its clients, cre-ating positive results. “For example, our number of leasing transactions
is looking very positive”, added Ms Rautenbach. “In May this year, we executed 24 per cent more leasing transactions than in May 2008”.
With general enquiries on the increase and talk in the market of mortgages becoming available soon, Better Homes expects to see contin-ued success in leasing and see an in-crease in property purchases sooner than expected. “As soon as lending becomes available on a wider scale, we expect to see a rise in sales trans-actions”, added Ms Rautenbach. “It is difficult to forecast an exact trend, but if the UAE real estate market, spe-cifically in Dubai, is bottoming out as many have suggested (and Bet-ter Homes has noticed an increase in prices in select areas), then now would be the definitive time to invest in property”.
Billy Rautenbach
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Lieutenant General Dahi Khal-fan Tamim, Chief of Dubai Police, has made an official visit to Dubai Industrial
City (DIC) in which he was briefed about the various development and infrastructure projects located across the six zones of the industrial des-tination. Dubai’s top police officer and his delegation were welcomed by Rashed Al Ansari, Vice President of Dubai Industrial City, as well as heads of departments at the destination.
The light and medium weight industrial zone currently features 2.8 million square feet of open storage yards, three million square feet of warehouses in addition to 64 show-rooms and four office buildings. Dubai Industrial City is also witness-ing the construction of 30 manu-facturing facilities that are due to be operational by the end of 2010.
The 560 million square feet proj-ect is a comprehensive one stop-shop industrial and commercial destination featuring six industrial clusters including food and bever-age, base metal, mineral products, chemicals, transport equipment and parts, as well as machinery and me-chanical equipment.
The Chief of Dubai Police was also provided with an overview of safety standards at DIC which will house more than 500 light and medium
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Burgeoning projects
industrial factories when the city is completed in 2010. The industrial destination is also expected to house around 350,000 people across its in-dustrial and commercial zones.
The delegation toured the main offices of DIC, the offices of Dubai Industrial Academy (DIA), and were also given a presentation on the growth and development of the city and its future plans. They were also introduced to the services of Taa-sees, the largest government service centre in the UAE through which businesses can access the services of ten government departments all under one roof.
Lt General Dahi Khalfan said: “Dubai Industrial City is one of the strategic projects in the UAE that plays a key role in promoting local industry, supporting the national economy, and elevating services to international standards.”
Praising DIC’s efforts to create an ideal environment for attracting industrial investments, he called for a proactive approach to facilitate investment in the sector in addition to re-examining any regulations that might impede this progress. He also noted the need for nurturing indus-trial leaders through programmes such as those currently being of-fered at DIA.
Al Ansari said the visit underlined
the vital role the Dubai Industrial City plays in supporting the indus-trial sector across Dubai. “His visit re-flects the increased cooperation be-tween us through the exchange of expertise and sharing of knowledge on various issues of mutual interest such as safety and traffic manage-ment. These factors have assumed added significance with several factories commencing production and development work progressing across various parts of the city.”
Property prices in Jumeirah Vil-lage have climbed by five to 30 per cent from their low levels in January this year, according to recent reports, signifying an early recovery for the Dubai property market, which has witnessed a nine-month period of decline. Driven by its commitment to offering high-value units within luxury community developments, Memon Investments is fast-tracking the construction of ‘Gardenia I & II’ - a project strategically located in Jumeirah Village which has been master developed by Nakheel, and is set to provide authentic Mediter-ranean-inspired residential, com-mercial and retail space.
According to recent reports, the 811-hectare integrated master community has not been impacted to the same degree as the large number of residential properties in
various locations across Dubai, and thereby presents a more profitable investment option for property pur-chasers today. Consequently, an in-creasing number of investors are re-portedly looking at Jumeirah Village for a more solid investment oppor-tunity with a lower risk percentage. As one of the first to develop within the Jumeirah Village development, Memon Investments has reported increased demand and inquiries for its ‘Gardenia I & II’ project.
“Our capacity to identify the best master developments to build our projects in, not only in terms of facilities and prestige but more im-portantly in their potential to pro-vide excellent investment returns, is the foundation of our strength as a developer,” said Ahmed Shaikhani, Managing Director, Memon Invest-ments.
Located near the Cultural Centre and Central Park, Memon Invest-ments’ five-storey residential devel-opment will incorporate studios, one and two-bedroom units; lavish townhouses and loft apartments, with retail units on the ground floor. Based on the vision of Dimensions Engineering Consultants (DEC), it was splendidly designed with stuc-coed walls, tiled roofs, rustic arches, solid wrought iron balcony grills, carved doors, ornamental spiral col-umns, marble flooring with thematic and floral patterns. Two leading sup-pliers and contractors are also col-laborating for the project, including the International Foundation Group (IFG), who is undertaking the Dh 2.4 million shoring and excavation con-tract; and Shanghai & Arabian Elec-tromechanical LLC (SAE), who will install high-speed elevators within the towers.
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Facilities management in demand
Looking after buildings af-ter they have been built is big business nowadays, and looking to get bigger
as laws are introduced to encour-age centralisation of those who fix things. Strata practices are being adopted more and more by interest-ed groups who are being taught the ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ of hiring a plumb-er, gardener, electrician, mechanical engineer and other tradesmen and professionals who see to our home-ly and workplace needs. Wouldn’t it be nice to just call one company to organise all the others. Well, yes, actually, it would be nice. It happens elsewhere – Australia has an estab-lished strata system for looking after its buildings, projects and people – and it going to happen in Dubai.
Imdaad, an integrated facilities management company under Dubai World, has announced plans to re-cruit more staff this year to match projected growth in its operations. The decision will raise its staff count by 25 per cent by the end of 2009 compared to the number of staff in 2008. Imdaad sees this as a strate-gic necessity designed to meet the increasing demand for its services across an expanding geographical footprint.
Jamal Abdulla Lootah, Chief Ex-ecutive Officer of Imdaad, said: “The decision to increase our manpower base is a forward-looking strategy. The company has set ambitious targets for expansion in the region and to cement our leading position in the facilities management sector. Augmenting our human resources will enable us to meet our contrac-tual commitments and deliver ser-vices of the highest standards.”
The recruitment plan is consis-tent with the steady expansion of Imdaad’s workforce over the past
two years in line with its increasing operations. The company’s current manpower base shows an increase by 26 per cent compared to the num-ber of employees in 2007.
Armed with several new high-pro-file FM contracts, Imdaad has already set it expansion plans rolling by add-ing to its service fleet, which present-ly has 129 vehicles, including tipper trucks, skip loaders, dump trucks, tip-per trucks with cranes, double cabin pick-ups, sand sweeping machines, beach cleaners, buses, tankers and compactors. New compactors and other vehicles have been ordered to strengthen waste collection and dis-posal services.
In line with Dubai’s commitment to sustainable development, Imdaad has stepped up efforts to deliver ‘green services’ to ensure environ-ment protection, and implement all safety and health parameters at its various projects. The Beati en-vironmental awareness initiative it launched in Dubai schools has gen-erated a tremendous response from the student community.
Imdaad provides integrated facil-
ity management solutions and con-sultancy from the conception to the completion of projects, as well as customised long-term FM solutions.
The company’s client base in-cludes major corporate and service establishments such as Nakheel, Jafza, DP World, UAE Region, Dubai Customs, Limitless and Tamweel. Among major projects on its portfo-lio are Palm Jumeirah, The Gardens, Atlantis, International City, Jebel Ali Port and Free Zone, Ibn Batuta Mall, Dubai Maritime City and Wasl-DREC.
The increasing emphasis by the UAE Government in the UAE on green building regulations has boosted demand for facilities management (FM) services not only in buildings under construction but in existing buildings as well, noted Sungwon OBO, a member of Makateb Hold-ing. Sungwon OBO pointed out that while it will primarily focus on providing facilities management ser-vices to buildings in various stages of construction that are committed to adopting new green building regu-lations, it is also expecting a height-ened demand for its consultancy services from owners of existing buildings who wish to reap the ben-efits of a sustainable facility.
Eric Raes, CEO of Sungwon OBO, said, “With the UAE Government’s growing focus on green buildings and sustainability, both developers, and in several cases, owners of exist-ing buildings, are keen to improve day-to-day operations in energy consumption, water use, indoor en-vironment, and waste management. Incorporating sustainable practices in existing facilities will result in sig-nificant financial benefits in the long run, and building owners will not be burdened by the costs involved in replacing existing building systems if the improvements are made one
step at a time. The company intends to complement government initia-tives to promote sustainability by of-fering our expertise to developers in designing and constructing facilities that truly adhere to internationally accepted green building standards.”
Raes highlighted that in the case of new buildings, the development of truly sustainable facilities must start at the drawing board to en-sure that buildings are designed to match their intended purpose, which will ultimately help cut down maintenance costs, improve build-ing efficiency and ensure sustain-ability. He noted that the success of this process to a large extent de-pends on the expertise of architects and building designers to effectively integrate green building concepts in the design.
A green building is an outcome of a design which focuses on increas-ing the efficiency of resource use — energy, water, and materials — while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment during its lifecycle. This is achieved by efficiently using energy, water, and other resources; protecting occupants, health, improving em-ployee productivity, and reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation.
Aside from a comprehensive range of FM services, which include mechanical and electrical mainte-nance, cleaning, security and energy management, Sungwon OBO also provides consultancy service dur-ing the design and construction of building developments to help im-prove the building’s lifecycle. The expanded line-up of services is part of its growth initiatives in the UAE’s FM market, where the company aims to grow between 15 to 20 per cent within the next three years.
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Energy reduction has be-come a hot topic of global discussion recently for both environmental and
financial reasons, since in addition to saving the planet, ‘going green’ can also help to save money. The subject is particularly relevant given the current financial climate, and especially so for the UAE, where en-ergy consumption has quadrupled over the last two decades. Accord-ing to a report issued last year by the World Energy Council, the rate of consumption is now estimated to be around 10 per cent annually, which is both environmentally and financially unsustainable.
At present, the UAE’s energy (in this article meaning electricity) is generated mainly from natural gas, supplemented by oil where neces-sary. The country is at the forefront of global efforts to develop alter-native energy sources such as solar power, but as renewable technolo-gy alone cannot yet satisfy high lev-els of demand for power, reducing consumption still remains crucial.
The need for more prudent us-age should not, however, cause alarm. Since energy is often used wastefully, cutting back should be achievable simply through improv-ing energy efficiency, leading to potentially huge cost savings for consumers, businesses and the economy as a whole.
Knowledge is power: How energy efficiency in build-ings can save costs
Although many power-saving mea-sures are widely known today, a cer-tain lack of awareness still generally exists about why and how to con-serve resources. This has been rec-
By Alice Tapfield
“We believe this will have a sustainable impact on our immediate surroundings and also motivate other stakeholders across the region to emulate our example”
ognised by the Dubai Government, which has begun a co-ordinated effort to educate the public in this matter. Both the Dubai Municipal-ity and DEWA (Dubai Electricity and Water Authority), for example, are running numerous programmes aiming to demonstrate how energy efficiency helps to protect the envi-ronment as well as leading to sub-stantial personal savings.
“Through a series of initiatives towards safe-guarding the environ-ment, such as the ‘Best Consumer’ and ‘Conservation for a Better To-morrow’ campaigns, DEWA aims to encourage the community to adopt and endorse green concepts within their homes and offices,” ex-plained Engineer Amal Koshak, Se-nior Manager of Demand and Tariff Management at DEWA. “We believe this will have a sustainable impact on our immediate surroundings and also motivate other stakehold-ers across the region to emulate our example.”
Statistics show that the schemes are already making a substantial im-pact among the public. According to DEWA, electricity consumption decreased by six per cent and water use dropped by 37 per cent amongs all sectors which participated in the DEWA ‘Your Decision’.
campaign in 2008. This suggests that consumers across all sectors are keen to embrace new methods for increasing energy efficiency.
There is undeniably a strong case for sustainable living and re-ducing our carbon footprint from an ecological perspective, which is reason enough to cut back on con-sumption. However, the monetary advantages to energy saving are equally clear, and assuming (if cyni-cally) that the majority of people Amal Koshak
Energy reduction
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Kamal Azayem
are motivated more by potential financial gain than environmental concern, classic economics should dictate a decline in consumption. Yet energy continues to be squan-dered on a surprisingly large scale in Dubai, which suggests a block-age somewhere in the proverbial system.
Government initiatives to lead the way
Dubai is serious about tackling en-vironmental issues, and as part of its Strategic Plan 2015, it is committed to setting a global precedent in sus-tainable development. While the government has always been reluc-tant to impose legislation unnec-essarily, the effects of the market’s ‘invisible hand’ are still not as appar-ent as one might expect in the cur-rent financial climate, where cost-cutting has become of paramount importance across all sectors.
Realising, therefore, that regu-lation would speed up the drive to ‘go green’, in October 2007 a directive was wisely issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, stipulating that all construction within the Emir-ate must henceforth comply with green building regulations. Follow-ing a thorough review of over 250 international rating systems, includ-ing US-based LEED, UK BREEAM and Australian Green Star, the Dubai Mu-nicipality and DEWA will shortly be issuing a new green code. This will cover all aspects of building design, construction and operation and will be mandatory, thereby surpassing all other (voluntary) international
building codes in the scope of their application.
Kamal Azayem, Mechanical En-gineering Expert at the Dubai Mu-nicipality, is the co-ordinator of the green building committee from the Municipality’s side. “The green build-ing regulations we are developing will be instrumental in helping to save energy and water throughout the Emirate”, he commented. “Dubai is positioning itself to be one of the world’s greenest cities and this col-laboration between DEWA and the Dubai Municipality will result in the world’s first comprehensive system of green building regulations.”
The legislation, which will be implemented in four tiers and apply to both new and existing buildings, will undoubtedly accelerate adher-ence from developers in Dubai to energy-saving. Yet the question still remains as to why, given the potential cost benefits of conserv-ing power, consumers have so far
Dubai is positioning itself to be one of the world’s greenest cities and this collaboration between DEWA and the Dubai Municipality will result in the world’s first comprehensive system of green building regulations
apparently been reluctant to cut back.
Paying for what you use... cutting costs with consumption-based energy billing
One possible reason for the con-tinuing disinclination to save energy is that prudent usage is not being fostered through current meth-ods of billing. Currently, although all buildings in Dubai are metered, the choice still lies with develop-ers as to how tenants are charged for electricity and water consump-tion. Consequently, many landlords have traditionally chosen to include utility payments within annual rent or service charges, be it for ease of implementation and/or financial gain. Usually, the total energy bill for a building is divided between individual units based on their floor area. The system therefore assumes that greater floor space equates to higher power consumption, which neither rewards tenants who use less power, nor penalises those who use more. This creates no incentive to save; residents must pay for en-ergy even when it is not required, and this inherent unjustness has led to many recent complaints from tenants.
Juergen Schmidhofer, is a flat owner in Discovery Gardens, where residents are charged Dh11 per square foot for cooling energy.
“Regardless of actual usage, every-one here pays the same,” said Mr Schmidhofer. “This system is ex-tremely wasteful and it would be much more efficient, and cheaper for all of us, if we were metered.”
Studies carried out by the E.V.V.E. (European Association for the con-sumption-based billing of energy costs) have shown that energy and water consumption is typi-cally around 20 per cent lower in sub-metered buildings. This points to a direct and positive correlation between tenants’ responsibility to pay for what they use and their pru-dent consumption of resources. As such, real estate developers stand to make substantial gains from in-stalling advanced metering and billing systems in buildings, since the cost savings from lower energy consumption can be passed on to tenants in the form of lower ser-vice charges. The latter now repre-sent an important factor for both residential and commercial tenants in choosing new premises, so the ability to reduce fees is significant for developers.
A high proportion of service charges are frequently attributed to cooling energy, so landlords who are able to keep their costs down and consequently offer lower, and more equitable, service charges to tenants automatically become more attractive than their less energy-efficient competitors. With this in mind, metering and
Landlords who are able to keep their costs down and consequently offer lower, and more equitable, service charges to tenants automatically become more attractive than their less energy-efficient competitors
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“One of the most important roles of the Facilities Manager is to improve the energy efficiency of buildings by making the most of their existing technology
billing systems also constitute a powerful weapon in the armoury of FM companies. The latter will be directly answerable to Home Owners’ Associations as soon as Strata Law takes effect in Dubai, and therefore must be able to ad-vise clients about the most energy-efficient products and services on the market if they are to remain competitive and renew existing contracts.
“One of the most important roles of the Facilities Manager is to improve the energy efficiency of buildings by making the most of their existing technology,” said Fer-gus Appleton, General Manager of Towers and New Business at Con-cordia Community Management. “Many buildings don’t currently have centralised, energy manage-ment technology in place so FM companies need to adopt an in-novative approach and utilise their resources effectively to constantly improve efficiency.” Mr Appleton emphasised that the really suc-cessful FM companies will be those which address the specific needs of the end user. “Approximately 45 to 55 per cent of a building’s bud-get is currently taken up by utilities. Therefore, in addition to providing excellent overall FM service deliv-ery, facilities managers must also focus on increasing the efficiency of buildings in order to minimise the environmental impact and overall cost.
“Concordia has achieved some fantastic results from implement-ing practical energy management strategies (we reduced chilled
water consumption by over 40 per cent on one contract) at little extra cost,” he added. “The companies that pay attention to detail, moni-tor the information frequently and constantly tweak their solutions will lead the market.”
Looking to the future
The most forward-thinking real es-tate developers realised a long time ago that energy-efficient buildings are potential future goldmines, and consequently incorporated sustain-able designs at the outset. Others have now seen the (green) light and are busy retro-fitting. The forth-coming building regulations will soon oblige the rest of the industry to follow suit and will undoubtedly
be that people are unable to reap the benefits it should bring in the form of lower bills. So far, no leg-islation exists in Dubai governing metering requirements. The Emir-ate is, however, fully aware of the need to preserve its precious en-ergy resources; significant savings have been achieved in other parts of the world through introducing comprehensive regulations for me-tering and billing practices, and this presents a strong case for Dubai to do the same.
As His Highness Sheikh Mo-hammed has stated “energy con-servation represents one of the greatest challenges today towards sustainable development. Dubai has already set the wheels in mo-tion through some excellent gov-ernment initiatives, of which the forthcoming green building code will represent a global first in the scope and depth of its coverage. While the support of consumers for energy conservation is also growing, for both economic and ecological reasons, creating further financial incentives to save would acceler-ate the process and help to assure Dubai of its status as a future world leader in environmental practices.
Alice Tapfield is Senior Editor at Bridge Media News
… landlords who are able to keep their costs down and offer lower, and more equitable, service charges to tenants automatically become more attractive than their less energy-efficient competitors.
Fergus Appleton
assist in reducing energy consump-tion throughout the emirate.
The carrot-and-stick approach is generally accepted as an effec-tive method for change, even if the relative proportions remain in dis-pute. In the case of energy saving, the stick is regulation, with the car-rot being the potential financial re-wards from cutting consumption. Yet it seems that this particular carrot is currently dangling out of reach for many consumers. That is, a reason why energy saving is not widely taking place in Dubai, could
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At a time when the word property lies hand-in-hand with the word un-certainty it is a pleasant
surprise to note that buildings are being built, owners are collecting their keys and the business of mov-ing in and living a life are going on quietly in the background of every-day life.Zabeel Properties has officially handed over its first development to its owners at Tiara Residence, comprising of 644 resort style resi-dences, located on the main trunk of Palm Jumeirah. About 70 per cent of the development has been sold and home owners began moving in during April.Emaar Properties has highlighted its commitment to project deliv-ery, despite the challenges of the global financial crisis, with the hand over of Alma townhomes in Ara-bian Ranches five months ahead of schedule. The company had recent-ly also completed and handed over La Avenida, a cluster of 17 luxury villas within Arabian Ranches, eight months ahead of schedule.
Acommunity of 212 luxury homes, Alma townhomes had gained overwhelming investor re-sponse when launched in 2007. Emaar was to have delivered the
A set of keyshomes in November but has now completed the villas and customers were given a preview of the homes before the hand-over process start-ed in June.
Mr Ahmad Al Matrooshi, Manag-ing Director – UAE, Emaar Properties, said: “Emaar achieved this milestone by working in close cooperation with contractors and consultants with a focus on optimising resource use efficiency and maximising pro-ductivity.”
Emaar is progressing on the com-pletion of its projects, which are in varying stages of development. The company has four established com-munities in Dubai already – Emirates Living, Arabian Ranches, Dubai Ma-rina and Downtown Burj Dubai. Omniyat Properties has handed over the keys of Bayswater, its com-mercial tower in Business Bay, to investors. The scissor-shaped tower has 293 offices and 11 retail units. Omniyat Strata Management will control and manage the administra-tive and financial requirements of the building's common facilities and assets.
Dubai-based Deyaar Develop-ment has begun handing over all 470 residential units at four of its residential projects at Dubai Silicon Oasis. The four projects comprise
the Coral, Jade, Ruby and Sapphire Residences. This follows the recent delivery of all 312 units at Madison Residency in the Technology, E-
Commerce and Media (TECOM) free zone, and brings the total number of projects delivered in the first six months of this year by Deyaar to
five, the company added.Joint-venture partners, Nakheel
and IFA Hotels and Resorts have started handing over the keys to the residential units at Golden Mile on Palm Jumeirah. Golden Mile is made up of 10 buildings with a to-tal of 860 residential units, in addi-tion to the first freehold offices on Palm Jumeirah, as well as an exten-sive retail area. All residential units are managed by the neighbour-ing Fairmont Palm Jumeirah hotel, which is set to open in 2010.
Dubai Silicon Oasis
“Emaar achieved this milestone by working in close cooperation with contractors and consultants with a focus on optimising resource use efficiency and maximising productivity.”
HANDOVERS
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UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Many cranes in Dubai are actually mov-ing as construction moves on at a less
hectic pace. Cement is still being poured and interior designers are sharpening their pencils waiting to beautify these edifices.Cayan Investment and Develop-ment has announced that it iconic Infinity Tower development in Dubai Marina has accelerated its construction work and has already achieved significant progress on site. The 80-storey tower, which will offer a spiral view with a 90-degree curve design to give a stunning view of Dubai Marina, has reached floor 16 of the core wall and floor
Cranes are moving
seven for the typical floors. The podium levels, which make up six floors, are all complete. Arabtec, the main contractor for the proj-ect, has over 1,000 workers on site, working around the clock on shifts to ensure the construction schedule is followed.
In his comments on the project construction, Mr. Ahmad Al Hatti, Chairman of Cayan, said: “Cayan In-vestment and Development has al-ways remained committed to time-frames on its various projects and Infinity Tower is no exception. We have moved from basement to level seven in the past six months when recession has hit hard and where many developers have stopped or slowed down their work; Cayan, on
the other hand, has accelerated its construction work on site.”
The development has already garnered a total of six design awards over the last three years, including the International Archi-tecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum. Cayan has already carved a niche with the hand over of La Residencia Del Mar, Dorrabay and The Jewels projects in Dubai Marina and Cayan Business Centre in Tecom.
Arabtec Construction LLC is the main contractor for the proj-ect, while Drake & Scull has been awarded the MEP works. Khatib & Alami are local consultants for Infin-ity, Currie & Brown are the Project Management Company and SOM is
the main consultant. Memon Investments has an-nounced that it is on track with the construction of all its projects in Dubai, which are collectively valued at Dh1.34 billion. The devel-oper is asserting its commitment to delivery, despite the massive delays and cancellations of 48 real estate projects in the UAE. The report, which was released by REIDIN.com also revealed that the majority of the troubled projects are high-end residential and commercial devel-opments, as the drop in sales and strict financing have forced devel-opers to reconsider their project’s viability.
Underlining its capacity to pro-ceed with the construction of all its
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launched projects given its strong financial standing, Memon Invest-ments has pointed to the first de-velopment within its ‘Champions Tower’ series, and the ‘Cambridge Business Centre’ which is expected for delivery by the end of 2009. Hav-ing strictly adhered to the Escrow Law and registered with the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA), the developer is expecting a boost in investor confidence as a result of its efforts to ensure security for their investments.
“The global recession has cre-ated an astounding backlash to the regional real estate sector that has even the largest real estate players in the region reeling from its blows,” said Ahmed Shaikhani, Managing Director, Memon Investments. “We are proud to be still standing strong amidst the downward momentum that is sweeping the regional real estate market, and we believe that this has been the result of our un-wavering commitment to meeting our clients’ needs, combined with our strong fundamentals and finan-cial backing. We are confident that the current economic conditions will have little effect on the con-struction of our projects.”
Memon Investments has launched a total of five projects in Dubai Sports City, including four towers within the ‘Champions Tower’ series and ‘Frankfurt Sports Tower I’, in addition to 'Gardenia I & II’ in Jumeirah Village, and 'Cam-bridge Business Centre' in Dubai Silicon Oasis. In line with the re-ported decline in the construction cost per square foot within the UAE since the onset of the economic crisis, the developer has committed to further strengthening its part-nership with leading construction companies.
“The challenges posed by the current economic crisis are true tests to the commitment of or-ganisations to delivering their promises and to their resolve to overcome difficult situations. As an established player in the real estate realm, we have taken the necessary adjustments to combat the reper-cussions of the crisis, which we be-lieve can be further countered with a continuous stream of positive
Omniyat Asset Management (OAM) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dubai-based u concept, a premier health and fitness service provider, to offer unique lifestyle services to tenants of the Dh507 million One Business Bay, which will soon be delivered. Under the agreement, u concept will operate the entire podium roof consisting of approximately 21,500 square feet for recreational, beauty as well as food and beverage offerings
measures spearheaded by the UAE Government. Through the com-bined efforts of the government and the industry, I have high hopes that we will be able to weather the challenges brought by the current slump in the market,” concluded Shaikhani.Omniyat Asset Management (OAM) has signed a Memoran-dum of Understanding (MoU) with Dubai-based u concept, a premier health and fitness service provider, to offer unique lifestyle services to tenants of the Dh507 million One Business Bay, which will soon be delivered. Under the agreement, u concept will operate the entire podium roof consisting of approxi-mately 21,500 square feet for recre-ational, beauty as well as food and beverage offerings. This area will form the cornerstone of the OYS-TER, and Omniyat lifestyle initiative which stands for Offices Yielding Superior Targets through Efficiency
and Relaxation. The OYSTER is built on the belief
that developing ground-breaking and interactive work facilities can contribute to revolutionary high work performance. The concept was originally introduced after the launch of One Business Bay, but Omniyat has allocated additional budget to integrate these services and principles into its current flag-ship. The company is dedicated to constantly enhance the personal well-being of people who live and work in Omniyat buildings.
OAM, the Dubai Business Bay specialists, together with u con-cept will be the first to give life to this harmonious workplace focused on providing a healthier work/life balance for the first batch of office workers in Business Bay.
u concept has made its name with a custom offering called ‘u plan’, working on the premise that each person has unique fitness
needs and is committed to tai-lored wellness plans. A customised health programme is devised to enable individuals to reach specific goals centred on stability, strength and power.
Another offering is ‘u fuel’, which pertains to all nutritional aspects – advising and educating individu-als on healthy eating habits that complement one-to-one training. Food is freshly prepared at the res-taurants, fit for a gourmet and tai-lored to the specific dietary need of each person. The food services are available as part of the overall wellness plan, but also provide a healthy and considered alternative for business lunches.
OAM and u concept will work closely on diversifying the OYSTER offering into new categories and avenues across the Omniyat Port-folio, making them a strong player in the healthy lifestyle business sector.
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FOCUS
The construction industry is showing signs of defiance with over 200 projects com-pleted or to be completed
this year, more than the total for the whole of 2008. Research by industry analysts Proleads has revealed that only 2.4 per cent of UAE construction projects worth $1.28 trillion, which were under way at the start of the year, have been cancelled.
The figures were highlighted as development plans were released for the Big 5, one of the world’s larg-est trade shows for the construction industry, when it takes place for the 30th year in Dubai in November. A new purpose built temporary struc-ture and outdoor exhibit area is be-ing constructed at the Dubai World Trade Centre to accommodate the
A defiant moodCompanies are defying the global slump by putting their minds to a variety of ways to continue working hard to deliver their goods. Work is continuing on building projects and keys to completed properties are being handed over to owners. Interior designers and office furniture suppliers reap rewards by updating and modernising businesses which have decided to rent and stay in their present locations. There is now time too, to sit, think and draw up feasible telecommunications infrastructure plans for both future and current buildings. Even old machinery is being given a new lease of life as auction companies sell off previously owned industrial equipment to overseas customers.
Big 5 PMV, the specialised focal point of the exhibition for manufacturers and suppliers of construction plant, machinery, vehicles and equipment.
Peter Sutton, Vice President – Ven-ues at DWTC said: “Building on the success of the decision to relocate the Big 5 PMV to Dubai World Trade Centre last year, which led to a 29 per cent increase in visitors over 2007, Car Park C site is undergoing signifi-cant re-development. The entire site is being levelled and surfaced with a grid network laid throughout for electrics and drainage and the PMV indoor area will be a fully functional purpose built temporary structure.”
Despite negative effects of the recession on the construction sector, companies like Al Nawi Group, UAE representatives of Finnish manufac-
turers Scanclimber, see a silver lin-ing for the construction equipment business and the industry as a whole. “The construction industry is witness-ing a slowdown at the moment, but I believe that if the right measures are taken by the governments, things will start picking up again by the end of the year,” said Aamer Hammoudi, General Manager, Al Nawi Group.
Hammoudi said the economic cri-sis has led to the company focusing its resources on serving its existing top five customers who generate 80 per cent of sales in the Middle East. “We know that these customers have projects that will take us through the downturn. At the same time, we are streamlining our operations to cut all unnecessary overheads. We are care-fully applying our resources into ar-
eas that are productive and gener-ating business. Now is not the right time to expand.”
While the UAE had a strong presence with 72 exhibitors, the international pull of the show and the lucrative nature of the Middle East construction sector were high-lighted by the fact that 28 countries were represented including Italy, Germany, France, USA, Taiwan and China.Summertown Interiors has found that the economic downturn has a positive side for business. The de-sign team has seen a trend in many corporations investing in new office fit-outs and refurbishments for their office space; using money saved as a result of the decrease in the rental market. “In this current economic
The Big 5 PMV, now in its third year, will be staged at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre alongside the Big 5, from 23-26 November, 2009
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climate commercial rental proper-ties have adjusted, at times falling by up to 40 per cent, and this has opened up avenues for new busi-ness for us. Some corporations have almost halved their rental costs and many have been directing this extra capital to new office fit-outs or of-fice refurbishments or alternatively some decide to move premises as they get more value for their mon-ey in terms of location or square metres” said Marcos Bish, Managing Director, Summertown Interiors.
A market leader in eco-friendly design, the company is compliant with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certi-fication, in the gold category. In a time of economic crisis, the LEED certification is a further coup as businesses are realising that they can actually save money with their new or refurbished office, whilst si-multaneously minimising the com-pany’s corporate carbon footprint.
“There has been a significant increase in the uptake of green ini-tiatives in the UAE, as companies become more aware of cost-sav-ings during the current economic climate. By incorporating environ-mental designs which are LEED compliant, we can create an office which uses up to 35 per cent less energy, 40-50 per cent less water and can divert over 90 per cent of its waste from the landfill. When you add all this up on a yearly basis, it can be a considerable saving for a company,” said Bish.
The company recently opened its new corporate headquarters and showroom in Jafza (Jebel Ali Free Zone), Dubai. The new premises of-fer water efficient fixtures to reduce water consumption; usage of LEED certified furniture, products and materials with high recycle content and reduced energy consumption through sensor-controlled lights. The premises also incorporated into their design star-rated energy electrical equipment; indoor CO2 monitors; water usage reduction through sensor based systems and waste segregation for recycling pur-poses – all of which will save money for the company.Buildings Department of Dubai Municipality organised its fifth
meeting with the engineering of-fices and construction companies, developers and government prop-erty firms in Dubai. The meeting, which comes within the framework of the municipality's commitment to the continued development to provide services for customers, was held at its training centre in June. It introduced the World Bank's con-cept of building licensing process and the necessary steps for the es-tablishment of a comprehensive building, starting from the land map to getting an NOC, submitting plans, obtaining building permits, require-ments of the work site, supervision, obtaining completion certificates and application procedures for final delivery of the services.
Eng. Khalid Mohammed Saleh, Director of the Buildings Depart-ment pointed out that the purpose of this meeting was to reduce build-ing permits procedures and to hear the complaints of owners of com-panies, consultants and contractors regarding the issuance of permits and approvals by the municipality. He noted that the municipality has carried out a study of the building permit process, to develop and im-prove the licensing and construction process within Dubai to raise the lev-el of international competitiveness, and has an inventory of all the steps required (compulsory and optional)
of the construction of buildings in all stages, in addition to holding a number of workshops within and outside the Municipality with the clients.United Corrosion Technologies (UCT), a provider of corrosion engi-neering services and solutions has launched a new range of innovative products that safeguard against the financial and structural threat of cor-rosion of exposed steel rebar. The launch of the product range comes at a time when a large number of projects in the region are on ‘hold’ or progressing at reduced pace, leaving rebar exposed to the ele-ments. Steel reinforcement corrodes rapidly when exposed for prolonged periods to the erosive environment of the Arabian Gulf region, making protection and preservation vital.
UCT’s new range of products is available in many forms, allowing the prevention of flash rusting and providing protection of exposed re-bar for up to five years. Without such treatment, the resultant accelerated rates of corrosion can compromise the future integrity of the struc-ture, with potentially severe safety and cost implications. The com-pany’s products have been utilised in many projects throughout the Middle East, including Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest structure.
In-line with its commitment to
bringing top of the line telecom-munication services to its custom-ers, du has introduced new building infrastructure guidelines supporting FTTx technology. This will benefit all categories of property develop-ments to include existing and new projects, in terms of providing state of the art, future proof telecommu-nications and multimedia services to their tenants.
Existing and future property developments will benefit from the latest building infrastructure guide-lines leading to increased flexibility in installing telecom infrastructure, reduced efforts and space, and less complexity in managing electrical installations. These guidelines cover different building types like resi-dential villas, buildings, commercial towers, shopping malls and others. It is structured to cover all aspects of telecom infrastructure such as telecom spaces, electromechani-cal works, pathways and telecom cables specs. The complete guide-lines are available for viewing and download on www.du-noc.ae The brochure guides property develop-ers through a No Objection Certifi-cate (NOC) process that includes de-sign validation, materials checking and site inspections, through to final implementation.
Summertown Interiors headquarters and showroom in Jebel Ali Free Zone
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FTTX is a form of fibre optic communication delivery in which the optical signal reaches the end user’s liv-
ing or office space. It can carry high-speed broadband services integrat-ing voice, data and video on a single connection. Other acronyms such as FTTP, or FTTB are used, but these are essentially interchangeable. FTTH is becoming the catch-all description for all fibre to the home, premises, business and “x” technologies.
From September this year, SMG (Specialised Management Group) will run courses for women by wom-en. This initiative is in response to the growing interest in women working in projects and their desire to learn in a non-mixed environment. Courses will range from basic to advanced project management and will include preparation courses for certification as a project management profes-sional. The courses will be tailored to suit the female project management professional and will be adapted to relate directly to the industries in which female attendees work.
“The interactive nature of our courses means that all attendees will be able to get involved in activities while still adhering to cultural sensi-tivities,” said James Norbury, Execu-tive Director of SMG. “Women are natural multi-taskers and the very nature of projects requires this skill. There is a need for more qualified women to work in projects as man-
FTTX overviewagers and project team members”.
In the UAE, local literacy rates of women currently match those of men, and there are now more wom-en at university than men. Women are accountable for an increasing portion of the national workforce and occupy jobs ranging from teach-ing and healthcare, to engineering and banking. Many women have se-cured senior roles and work in vary-ing positions within an organisation. The recognition of the value and skills of women in a modern Arabic and Islamic society has given rise to women making their presence felt in the workplace.
For women, achieving the Certi-fied Associate in Project Manage-ment (CAPM) qualification is much easier than it used to be, requiring 23 hours of project management training from a recognised PMI in-stitution, followed by an exam. This globally recognised qualification can lead to greater earnings, career opportunities and advancement, and greater recognition from peers. The credential also increases project management skills and knowledge.
Dubai witnessed the exciting unveiling of the luxurious Coca-Cola Light Very Important Apart-ment (V.I.A.) in June at Uptown MotorCity. In line with the recently launched Coca-Cola 2009 “Open Happiness” campaign, Coca-Cola Light introduces one lucky winner from the region to experience the
glamorous side on the Coke Side of Life. Tune into MBC’s hit show Style & Stars to catch a glimpse of the most tastefully done, hip, exquisite and modern three-bedroom, fully-furnished apartment and enter the regional SMS draw for the V.I.A.
The company has taken a life-style route to highlight the modern well-being and contemporary living aspects of the brand through part-
nership with Union Properties (UP), one of the UAE’s leading property developers. In cooperation with the ongoing Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS), the campaign makes its debut during the region’s most famous, an-nually-awaited festival, bringing lim-itless opportunities with elements of fashion, glamour and style.
MBC’s Style & Stars TV pro-gramme, airs every Thursday at 8pm UAE time during which Aline Watfa, Lebanese supermodel and popular host guides fans through the V.I.A. each week and welcomes celebri-ties, designers and personalities to the apartment. The contemporary-chic V.I.A, decorated by popular in-terior designer Bara Zaher, will also become a home to one-of-a-kind celebrity signed souvenirs and me-mentos.
Entrants must be 21 years or above and a resident of the UAE, KSA, Syria, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain or
Kuwait. The competition will run until August 9, 2009. Regional SMS codes will be broadcast every week on the Style & Stars show and are also available on www.cokelightvia.com The winner will be revealed on the final show airing on August 20, 2009.
Regional auction companies have been reporting an upturn in sales despite, or perhaps because
of, the economic slowdown. Earlier in the month, RB Auctions in Jebel Ali held its busiest ever sale at the location. Almost 700 people from 50 countries registered to bid in person or online at the unreserved auction of construction and other machin-ery.
Around 2300 heavy equipment items and trucks were sold over three days, generating almost $46 million in gross auction proceeds, with around two-thirds of the items finding homes with overseas bid-ders. A lot of the equipment went to buyers from the Middle East, though there were bidders on-site at the auction from as far away as Singa-pore, India and Africa.
“The auction went exceptionally well,” said regional manager Steve Barritt. “This was our first Dubai auc-tion in which we sold more equip-ment to buyers from outside the United Arab Emirates than within.You can win the Coca-Cola Light Very Important Apartment (V.I.A.) at
UPTOWN MotorCity
RB Auctions in Jebel Ali held its busiest ever sale in June
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DMCCA sets Jumeirah Lakes Towers plan for members
Registered member compa-nies of Dubai Multi Com-modities Centre (DMCC) can now be part of the fast-
growing community at Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT), with direct and immediate access to all commodity-related facilities being offered by the Centre. According to an announce-ment from DMCC, all member companies, including those await-ing membership approvals, will be brought together to form a physi-cal commodities cluster within the 200-acre JLT free zone, facilitating optimum operational and admin-istrative streamlining. This will also enable DMCC’s registered members to access a comprehensive com-modities knowledge base compris-ing all stakeholders of the trade, and will facilitate the development of mutually beneficial synergistic relationships across the entire value chain of each commodity sector.
According to the announcement, DMCC member companies, which until now have been operating from locations across Dubai, will now be required to relocate to the JLT free zone on completion of the first year of operations. The renewal of licenc-es for existing members currently operating outside the free zone will be linked to their relocation to JLT.
This move is part of a strategic initiative from DMCC to help its reg-
istered members make use of the exceptional advantages that Jumei-rah Lakes Towers currently offers, including low property and rental rates. DMCCAuthority members can now choose from a variety of prop-erty options at any of the 79 towers within JLT, the first mixed-use free zone in Dubai offering freehold property options. Core commod-ities-related businesses operating within the JLT free zone are issued DMCC licences while others (non-commodity related) are issued JLT free zone licences.
Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of DMCC, said: “This ini-tiative aims at long-term growth for the commodities industry via the creation of a dedicated cluster. DMCC has taken great care in de-signing the business facilities here, to offer our members the best in all areas. The move will facilitate higher integration of the commodi-ties market, sharpen our members’ competitive edge and strengthen Dubai’s status as the most active trading hub in the region.”
The move is also in response to the impressive rise in the number of registrations at DMCC and JLT, following the progress in the free zone’s development and the increas-ing interest from investors to set up offices. Despite the current climate of economic downturn, the first five
months of 2009 saw a total of 281 registrations being issued in JLT and DMCC. This included 85 DMCC core member company registrations, 142 registrations for JLT-based com-panies and 54 Residential Service Company (RSC) registrations.
DMCCA is also working closely with the sub-developers of the Jumeirah Lake Towers project to ensure that the towers and office fa-cilities are completed on schedule, which will help companies finalise their relocation strategy.
Commenting on the new initia-tive, Sudhakar Tomar, Managing Director, HAKAN AGRO DMCC, a DMCCA member company, said: “We consider this a wise move. Op-erating from the JLT Zone as a com-munity will streamline commodities trading activity in Dubai. The free zone advantages and the state-of-the-art facilities are sure to provide a competitive edge to companies.”
The JLT zone is Dubai’s most ambitious business-cum-residential community. Close proximity to the Emirate’s new developments and projects adds to its potential to sup-port the sustainable growth of the commodities sector.
DMCC offers its members several unique benefits including access to physical facilities like the Almas Gold and Diamond vaults, market infra-structure and trading platforms like
the Dubai Gold and Commodities Ex-change, Dubai Diamond Exchange, Dubai Pearl Exchange, Dubai Tea Trading Centre and Dubai Cotton Centre, plus a range of commodities backed financial investment tools including Shariah compliant hedge funds and Dubai Gold Securities, the region’s first Shariah-compliant gold security listed on NASDAQ Dubai .
The Jumeirah Lakes Towers Zone
Almas Tower (Almas meaning ‘diamond’ in Arabic) is a landmark building, purpose built to cater to the specific needs of the Precious Gems industry.
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DUBAI FOCUS
Region’s largest medical waste incinerator
DM and Zenath Group team up to set up world’s second-of-its-kind plant
The UAE’s first and largest vertical medical incinerator is also the world’s second-of-its-kind. The project was
implemented by Dubai Municipal-ity and Zenath Group, the recycling and waste management arm of ETA Star Group. Located at Dubai Munic-ipality’s waste treatment complex at Jebel Ali, the Dh 24 million-inciner-ator has a total treatment capacity of 19.2 tonnes of medical waste per day on a 24 hour continuous run.
Dr. Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, Minister of Environment & Water in-augurated the medical waste treat-ment plant recently. Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality, Mr. Kenji Saito, Japanese Consul General in Dubai, Mr. Essa Al Ghurair, Director, ETA Star Group and Mr. Syed M. Salahuddin, Managing Director, ETA Star Group
and senior officials of the Municipal-ity were present on the occasion.
Mr. Lootah, said: “The new incin-erator represents the use of intel-ligent technology. Its design allows for high energy efficiency and envi-ronment friendly emissions. There has never been a better time to in-troduce this treatment facility, given the steady increase in the number of healthcare facilities in Dubai,” he added.
Lootah said that private compa-nies as well as individuals can bring hazardous medical waste to this fa-cility.
Reinforcing the group’s commit-ment to environmental safety and public health, Mr. Salahuddin, said: “Emissions captured from the new medical waste incinerator with dou-ble bag filter have been put through extensive tests. Results revealed that
the quality of emissions were far better than expected - making it the second incinerator in the world that meets the highest control of emis-sion norms and purity standards.”
Mr. J.S.A. Bukhari, Executive Di-rector, Zenath Group, pointed out that “The total medical waste gen-erated in Dubai is approximately six tonnes per day, but is expected to double with the upcoming facilities in Healthcare City. The current spare capacity could therefore be utilised to treat hazardous, non hazardous industrial waste and municipal solid waste including sewage sludge.”
The ETA Star group has tied up with Mitsubishi Corporation and Plantec Corporation of Japan to obtain the vertical incineration technology, known for effective treatment of infectious waste. The new incinerator will run for 330 days
in a year, with 30 days set aside for maintenance work and operational shutdown. Unlike other waste, treat-ment of medical waste has always been a very daunting task as it con-tains infectious microbes that vary in calorific value. Plantec Corporation has devised the technology for treat-ing such material through the use of vertical incinerators. This technology was first incorporated in Japan and has been successfully used over the last 15 years.
Omniyat Property Services (OPS), a division of Omniyat Asset Management, have
appointed Kinnarps Project Solu-tions (KPS), a leading commercial in-terior design and build company, to partner in the complete turnkey fit out of Omniyat’s three premier proj-ects; One Business Bay, Bayswater and the Square - all set to be com-pleted this year.
Lloyd Budd, Commercial Director of Omniyat Asset Management, ex-plained: “This is another milestone
Omniyat’s fit-out partnertowards providing our customers with a personal, seamless, end-to-end property management solu-tion. Through a single point of con-tact, Omniyat customers can now manage, design, fit-out and lease their property. With tenants now demanding a fit out solution before committing to a lease, I am pleased to announce that we appointed KPS to provide our clients with tailored, turnkey fit-out solutions.”
KPS will create full packages unique to the client’s brief and
needs, and manage the complete process from original concept de-sign through to final completion, providing practical design advice and adding value to the build-abili-ty of the proposed solution.
Chris Watson, Managing Di-rector of KPS noted: “KPS’ array of fit-out solutions include; superior quality materials in base building works, partitions and custom-made furniture, fully integrated IT & audio/visual solutions, security and phone systems.”
“Utilising the combined pur-chasing power of both KPS and Omniyat, we are able to offer land-lords and tenants the best pos-sible rates in the market regardless of unit size, and have tested this through a rigorous tender process involving six leading commercial fit out companies operating in Dubai,” adds Budd.
Financing options for fit out are also available through Indepen-dent Finance, one of Omniyat’s partners.
Dr. Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, Minister of Environment & Water; Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality; Mr. Kenji Saito, Japanese Consul General in Dubai; Mr. Essa Al Ghurair, Director, ETA Star Group and Mr. Syed M. Salahuddin, Managing Director, ETA Star Group and senior officials of the Municipality in front of the newly inaugurated medical waste treatment plant.
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Region’s largest medical waste incinerator
The market for water and wastewater treatment equip-ment in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries ex-
perienced rapid growth during 2008 driven by huge investments in infra-structure, real estate, petrochemicals, oil and gas and other sectors. How-ever, the sub-prime mortgage crisis that hit western economies changed the business climate and there was a considerable decline in demand for most commodities. Crude oil prices plummeted to about $50 per barrel from a historic high of $145 per bar-rel, making investors wary of funding new projects.
Governments in GCC countries have exhibited strong political will to continue investing in important in-frastructure projects. Environmental and health hazards related to the dis-posal of untreated effluents, marine pollution, and deteriorating ground water quality are some of the issues that are keeping market prospects alive. Though these forces have been overshadowed by short-term con-cerns, they are expected to positively impact market dynamics from 2009 to 2013.
The extent to which markets across GCC member nations will be affected by the current economic slump largely depends on factors that include government depen-dence on oil revenues, dependence of economic growth on external debt, and ability to absorb the shock based on the inherent economic re-silience. The core municipal sector is expected to cushion the impact of this slowdown. Governments in GCC
Economic slowdown temporarily restrains commodities growth
countries have identified municipal wastewater treatment as the priority area for multiple reasons including the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Some large private real estate de-velopers of lifestyle townships, lux-ury villas, and shoreline apartments are utilising advanced wastewater treatment technologies to assist in maintaining a hygienic and odour-free environment. Wastewater treatment and reuse is likely to see widespread adoption across GCC countries, representing an expand-ing market for advanced technolo-gies. On the other hand, desalina-tion has been the prime driver for the water segment.
“The market is fraught with chal-lenges in spite of its immense op-portunities," says Frost & Sullivan Sr. Research Analyst Vivek Gautam. "The complex business environ-ment, slow decision making process, and customer preference for low cost solutions regardless of the per-formance makes it difficult to pen-etrate the market."
Further, the mass market is high-ly price sensitive, triggering intense competition in lower technology products. Profit margins for such products are also under pressure. Owing to the lack of technical com-petence, cost considerations dictate buyers' decisions. Component sup-pliers, in particular, are facing hyper competition due to the availability of low-costproducts from supplier nations such as India and China. The onus is on technology providers to roll out cost-effective products to
successfully navigate tough market conditions.
District cooling is fast emerging as the most viable cooling solu-tion in the Middle East, where the temperature frequently exceeds 45 degree Celsius and air conditioning requirements consume 70 per cent of the power during peak electric-ity demand. As power shortage is rampant in this region, govern-ments are turning to district cooling to cool buildings, as it is a cheaper and greener alternative to air con-ditioning. This solution can not only mitigate the power crisis in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) coun-tries but also help reduce carbon footprints through increased energy efficiency and lower CO2 emissions. New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.buildingtechnologies.frost.com), finds that the market earned revenues of $580.0 million in 2008 and estimates this to reach $2.00 billion in 2013 at a compound annual growth rate of 28 per cent.
With greater involvement of the government, the market is ex-pected to become more organised, populated and competitive.
Multinational companies will be attracted to this market due to the prospects presented by the investor-friendly laws, improved standards of living and high disposable income, which has set off a retail boom in the region. With the GCC becom-ing home to the biggest shopping malls in the world, there is a dis-tinct need for district cooling in not only the residential sector, but also the commercial sector. The United
Arab Emirates alone is expecting to have 80 million square feet of office space by 2010, widening the scope for district cooling companies.
District cooling production re-quires copious water, which, like electricity, is limited and therefore, expensive in the GCC. Currently, district cooling plants use potable water, but the search is on for a technology that will allow them to use non-desalinated seawater. Even though a few plants are already us-ing seawater, the corrosion-resistant equipment needed will increase their equipment cost.
The current credit crunch will make it even more challenging for companies to acquire the systems required to deal with this issue. As district cooling is a highly capital-intensive market, huge investments are required to meet the additional capacity required.
"Market participants can blunt the effect of the reduced capital by concentrating more on small proj-ects that require less time in com-missioning and that can guarantee quick returns," remarks Darwin Kishore Selvaraj Selvaraj, Frost & Sul-livan Research Analyst. "When big projects are split into smaller units, the limited capital will be sufficient to start the project."
Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partner-ing with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the in-vestment community from more than 35 offices on six continents. For more details visit http://www.frost.com
INFRASTRUCTURE
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COMMUNITY
Victory Heights, the luxury golfing residential devel-opment in Dubai Sports City, held a special com-
munity tree planting initiative to celebrate World Environment Day and Children’s Day which saw young participants plant trees and plants in different parts of the de-velopment, highlighting the impor-tance of responsibly maintaining the environment. The children also enjoyed a number of games and competitions in Estella Park set in Victory Heights.
Victory Heights has fast be-come popular for the way its lux-ury villas are taking shape among the beautiful landscape, walkways and the world-class designed golf course. Luxury villas and townhous-es here come in a choice of classical European, Spanish Andalusian, and Mediterranean architectural styles, with custom finishes and a variety of options. Offering peace of mind, Victory Heights has appointed Bu-reau Veritas, a highly respected in-ternational firm, to provide a qual-ity accreditation monitoring service from design to delivery.
The record-breaking industrial machinery auction conducted by Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers in Dubai recently had an unusual beneficia-ry: Foresight, a Dubai-based organi-sation that raises funds to help find a cure for blindness caused by he-reditary eye disease and also helps improve the lives of people with vi-sual impairment. Southwest Middle East LLC donated the full proceeds from the sale of an unused Cat skid steer loader at the auction to Fore-sight. An on-site bidder from the
The meaning of Corporate Social Responsibility
UAE purchased the skid steer loader for US$30,000.
"I'm genuinely lost for words; this has been beyond what we would normally expect," said Sally Prosser, PR Manager at Foresight. "From the moment we heard the good news right through until the excitement of the auction, this was a unique and wonderful experience. We try to fund one research project per year and this will certainly allow us to achieve this year's objective. In addition, financial resources are always required to assist with our ongoing work in the community, assisting those who have lost their sight. Mobility training would be a prime example of this."
In addition to the charity skid steer loader, the company sold al-
most 2,300 heavy equipment items and trucks for more than 220 sell-ers, generating almost $46 million in gross auction proceeds. There are 73 unreserved Ritchie Bros. auc-tions on the calendar at http://www.
rbauction.com, including the next one at its Dubai site on August 10 to 12, 2009.
Dubai Properties Group (DPG)has announced the release of its inaugural Corporate Responsibil-ity Report, the first by a real estate company in the Middle East to be endorsed by the Amsterdam-based Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). It considers it not only a matter of phi-lanthropy, but an ethical obligation to reduce the negative impact the company's operations might po-tentially have on the environment and increase the positive influence on the market, communities and people.
Under the Society segment, nearly 150 Dubai Properties Group employees volunteered to donate blood while the group itself spent over Dh7million in employee medi-cal insurance during the year.
Under Environment, employees recycled over 28 tonnes of office waste, while DPG deployed environ-mental friendly substances (such as Inergen) for fire extinguishing sys-
tems, and utilised Green Building programmes in three major sites, one of which will comprise 73 per cent green space.
Under the Marketplace category, DPG established 'Accountability' as one of its Brand Values, trained over 22 per cent of its employees on brokerage laws and conducted 36 inspections and audits to suppliers.
In the People segment, DPG achieved zero fatal accidents for employees, conducted an appraisal process for 100 per cent of its staff, trained over 834 of them and re-ceived 495 suggestions from em-ployees, of which nearly 10 per cent dealt with CR issues.
DLA Piper's commitment to sustainability in the region was recognised at an award ceremony, where the leading international le-gal practice was given the Sustain-able Initiative Award for its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint across each of its offices in the Middle East. The company has a global commit-ment to sustainability across all its offices which includes programmes designed to reduce business travel and offset emissions, purchase items manufactured from sustain-able sources; and recycle plastic, paper, glass and cartridges. In ad-dition, DLA Piper is the first interna-tional legal practice to achieve cer-tification in the globally recognised environmental standard ISO 14001 across all its offices worldwide.
The Sustainable Initiative Award win follows a week-long internal campaign – EnergySMART – to re-duce energy output in all regional offices at DLA Piper. The campaign concluded in early May.
Mohammed Binbrek, Group CEO, Dubai Properties Group
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DLA Piper is the number one firm worldwide for real estate legal expertise, according to the sixth edition of The International Who’s Who of Real Estate Lawyers, published in June 2009. It was the most highly nominated firm in the research for the publication
with more nominations from clients and peers than any other worldwide. Twenty-two practitioners are featured from 13 of the firm’s offices across the globe including the UAE, a figure unrivalled by any other firm.
DLA Piper is the current holder of Who’s Who Legal’s Real Estate Law Firm of the Year, having won the award every year since its inception in 2006.
Dubai partner named in Who’s Who coveted legal list
research. The unparalleled levels of positive feedback we received for DLA Piper from numerous countries worldwide testifies to its continued excel-lence confirms it as the leading firm in this field.”
In 2008, Who’s Who Legal was named the Strategic Research Partner of the American Bar Association Section of International Law, in addition to its position as Official Research Partner of the International Bar Association. In 2006, Who’s Who Legal’s parent company Law Business Research was recog-nised by The Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the area of international trade. These awards are the most prestigious a British company can receive.
Research for each practice area publication is conducted •through conversations with private practice lawyers of repute in the practice area in question and in related fields, as well as with general counselSubsequent telephone and face-to-face interviews are •conducted internationally to permit the refining of the listing to a selection of between 100 and 600 lawyers who, by general agreement, are considered the pre-eminent lawyers in the fieldIt is impossible to buy entry into this publication, only lawyers •who have met independent international research criteria are listedThe International Who’s Who of Real Estate Lawyers 2009 acts •as a reference source for purchasers of legal services seeking to corroborate the reputations of expert lawyers recommended to them by another partyWho’s Who Legal aims to reduce the short-term costs incurred •in finding a lawyer, but more significantly, to minimise the transactional expense and risk of receiving poor counsel
Tom O’Grady, is a partner at DLA Piper. He is regularly asked by the media to comment on issues arising from changes in legislation in the real estate sector. He has made speeches at the Hawksmere Conference on ‘Large Scale Mixed Use Regeneration Schemes’ and has articles published on mixed use developments and establishing unit trusts. His professional qualification is: Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales.
Tom O’Grady
The book is a result of six months of independent research incorporating feedback from lawyers and in-house counsel, and covers 470 lawyers in 39 separate jurisdictions.
Editor-in-chief Callum Campbell said, “It is impossible to buy entry into this publication, only those lawyers who receive sufficient nominations from their peers are included. This book represents a truly global, highly qualitative survey of only the best real estate lawyers, based on exhaustive
International law firm Pinsent Masons has been named Global Construction Law Firm of the
Year 2009 in the Who’s Who Legal Awards. This is the third time the firm has been recognised in this way, having also won the award in 2008 and 2006. Twelve of the firm's partners are commended in the publication, spread over five differ-ent jurisdictions, including the UAE
Special commendation by legal awards for UAE workand China.
One of those given particular commendation was Michelle Nel-son, a partner of Pinsent Masons’ Dubai office. Nelson has substantial international experience and has advised on a variety of projects re-lating to roads, hotels, airports, pro-cess and power plants, commercial and residential premises. She has particular expertise in international
arbitration, especially in the Middle East. The company’s construction group is renowned worldwide for high profile work, particularly across the GCC. The UAE team is ranked number one for construction law in Legal 500.
Pinsent Masons has had an established presence in the Gulf since 2004 and offers construc-tion, projects, real estate, corporate,
outsourcing and technology law services. With over 30 qualified le-gal staff including 20 construction specialists, it has the largest single group of construction lawyers in the Gulf. From its offices in Dubai, Pinsent Masons has well estab-lished links with local law firms in neighbouring countries including Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Syria, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
WELL DONE
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Dubai Municipality won the World Architecture Award at its fourth cycle of 2009 in recognition for the restoration project on the House of Scholar Mohammad Sharif in the Bastakiya. The Municipality won the award in the category of the Best Project
that won the appreciation of the Honorary Committee. Eng. Rashad Bukhash, Director of Architectural Heritage Department
said, "This was one of the best examples of the few remaining houses in Bastakiya and surrounding areas with rich traditional architecture and en-gineering, which has become one of the most important symbols of local architecture in the UAE.
The Architectural Heritage Department had restored the house in 1997 to make the building its office. It is considered one of the main groups of architectural buildings in the world with electronic data for the reference of architects from all countries of the world. The main task was to give op-
portunity for promotion of local practices recognised internationally and to provide a directory of contemporary architectural practices in all countries, as well as the opportunity to get acquainted with the latest theories in ar-chitecture.
“This was one of the best examples of the few remaining houses in Bastakiya and surrounding areas with rich traditional architecture and engineering, which has become one of the most important symbols of local architecture in the UAE”
Global architecture award
WELL DONE
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Pix captions:
Pic 1 – Pic 2 –
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The proof of the pudding is in the eating (old English saying) and Nakheel has certainly proved that it has
a warm heart by quietly saving 5,500 tonnes of coral having devising plans to successfully move it from one lo-cation to another. And the plan has worked – as proved when one year after 1,129 five-tonne coral-covered rocks were relocated from Dubai Dry Docks (DDD) to The World, with 93 per cent undamaged, the coral eco system is now seen to be thriv-ing in its new location.
Academics and marine life ex-perts had a hand in advising the master developer on relocation methods. With a method which had never before been tried any-where in the world before, and over a period of seven weeks between April and June 2008, rocks were relocated from Dubai Dry Docks to The World breakwaters, open-ing up a large area of DDD to allow for future development while also maintaining the largest coral reef ever found in these waters. The rocks, which cover an area of 6,560 m2 (about the size of a football pitch) were, and now continue to be, home to 18 species of coral and more than 30 species of fish plus various sponges, sea-squirts and ur-chins. The successful translocation will provide a boost to The World’s potential as a tourist destination by opening up a new area of the Gulf to scuba diving and snorkelling.
A decision was taken to move the coral based on potential en-vironmental impacts of proposed
construction activities in the area surrounding Dubai Dry Docks. To minimise the damage from tradi-tional removal methods – which typically include the use of crow-bars, underwater drills and cranes – a new technique was developed by the environmental team at Nakheel. A bolt was drilled into each rock and attached to a sling used to hoist the rocks to a depth of three metres below the water surface for attach-ment to a transport barge. The cor-als remained suspended in the water throughout the relocation process, minimising stress and damage.
The coral translocation area has attracted a number of species of reef fishes that are less common elsewhere in that area, including a number of commercially important species. In addition, as many of the
transplanted corals are ‘broadcast spawners’, it is likely that they will seed the surrounding breakwater through their reproductive activities, resulting in the development of coral communities on nearby rocky struc-tures. Coral is a vital facet of Dubai’s ecosystem. It is an important link in the food chain and is necessary to maintain levels of biodiversity.
Nakheel also revealed that de-velopment of The World islands will be supported by an existing port in the Mina Rashid area, after dropping plans to build a port inside Dubai Dry Docks.Dubai Municipality- Dubai Cen-tral Lab Department has recently organized a scientific symposium on using mortar in green buildings. According to Eng. Hawa Abdullah Bastaki, Director of Dubai Labora-
tory Department, some significant tests on green materials and ma-terials from recycling old concrete were exhibited in the symposium. These materials were intentionally manufactured to mitigate power consumption, protect natural mate-rials, reduce the operational costs, strengthen the building perfor-mance and create a healthy envi-ronment for work and residence. “A quality mark system will be applied on the green building products” she pointed out.
The advanced technical facilities in the lab will qualify it to perform as the first lab for green materials in the civic body and Dubai city. The laboratory will also conduct tests on site in addition to a lot of other tests such as physical, mechanical and thermal tests.
Coral relocation The coral remained suspended in the water throughout the relocation process, minimising stress and damage
ENVIRONMENT
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ENVIRONMENT
Waste summitM
ay saw a bevy of pro-fessionals in the waste management and recycling industry
meeting to discuss waste disposal and how it is affected by the current global economical challenges. Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director Gen-eral of Dubai Municipality opened the Middle East Waste Summit 2009 which discussed various issues re-lated to waste disposal methods, sound management and recycling. In his opening speech Lootah said that the world today is experiencing a range of environmental issues that have a direct impact on human life. A high proportion of waste gener-ated in developing countries has helped global warming-an increase in levels of air pollution and pollu-tion of the ocean. He pointed out that Dubai, which has seen an ac-celeration of urban growth in recent years, has a process of sustainable management of waste issues.
During the year 2000 approxi-mately 3,000 tone per day of waste arrived at the municipal garbage dump, in 2008, this had reached 11,000 tone per day and the annual
summitrate of increase exceeds 20 per cent per annum; during the same period the amount of construction waste generated in the emirate had in-creased to approximately 30 per cent.
Dubai Municipality found sus-tainable solutions through strategic partnerships with the private sector, the implementation of several initia-tives and projects such as recycling construction waste, household waste, tyres and a plan to recycle used oil.
“Dubai Municipality has started work on three important projects i.e. a general strategy framework to reduce waste, an automated system for the collection of compressed waste, and waste from the transfer of energy in the emirate. This am-bitious project will contribute to the Municipality’s proposal to turn waste into energy to achieve sev-eral objectives, including the reduc-tion of emission levels of methane gas from landfills, reduce reliance on landfills and the health of the traditional method of disposal of household waste” concluded Eng. Lootah.
MEWS: What initiatives for sus-tainable waste management that have been implemented in Aus-tralia would you recommend to the Middle East?AQ: The pace of development has been very fast in the Middle East and it has perhaps been easy to overlook details like sustainable waste man-agement in the rush to get the next project started. Middle East govern-ments, however, should not let the opportunity pass to establish sustain-able waste management initiatives early on, whether it is in the develop-ment of new buildings, communities or cities. A little time and effort taken now will pay off in the long run.
How some Australian cities have coped with the challenge of being situated in dry desert environments can be an example to the Middle East. Perth, a city of 1.5 million people on the south-west coast of Australia, is surrounded by desert. The sandy soil and the use of groundwater for domestic purposes make land filling an unsuitable method of putrescible waste disposal. Instead, local govern-ment groups in Perth have commis-sioned and are commissioning al-ternative waste technology facilities which process municipal and other
In an exclusive interview for the Middle East Waste Summit 2009, Andrew Quinn, Senior Waste Consultant, GHD talks about Zero Waste Inaccuracies and Realities.
Zero waste
waste to produce compost and sometimes energy from gas. A facil-ity of this type is under construction in Qatar. I see this kind of approach as having a much wider application in the Middle East.
MEWS: Are ‘zero waste’ strate-gies viable in the Middle East with the current status of technology available in the region?AQ: Attempting to achieve a zero waste target is an admirable aim but in reality there is no one system that produces absolutely no waste. The best waste processing facilities still produce some residual product even if it is only small amounts of in-ert material.
In my opinion, the best way
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MEWS: What are your main proj-ects internationally?DMC: We have been proactively seek-ing partners around the world to es-tablish a low temperature (85 deg C), low pressure (50 psi) used lubricant recycling operation using our propri-etary advanced vibrating membrane technology – VMAT.
We have already set up this oil re-cycling venture in five cities and more will be installed in four countries in the next 9 to 12 months.
VMAT recycles used lubricants such as engine oil, hydraulic oil, gear oil, etc. into green lubricants again. Un-like other processes that recycle used lubricants into fuel oil, or create a lot of secondary pollution (acid sludge), VMAT has become a popular option being enquired from international re-cyclers and even governments.
MEWS: What are the best technolo-gies for waste oil recycling? What processes are currently being im-plemented in the Middle East and are they adequate?DMC: We have to define ‘the best’. There are many different options of technologies ranging from the mega scale investment hydro-finishing, to the cheapest but very polluting acid clay treatment process used in the industry. Before selecting any of the process, we have to understand lo-cal government environmental stan-
for countries in the Middle East to achieve maximum recovery will be through a combination of traditional and technological solutions. By tradi-tional, I mean the source separation of easily identifiable materials such as cardboard, plastics and possibly food for separate processing and recycling. These activities have already been go-ing on for some time. By technological solutions, I mean using modern pro-cessing infrastructure, equipment and available expertise to recover more difficult to separate materials.
MEWS: What are the biggest chal-
lenges facing clean production in the Middle East?AQ: Sustainable waste management and cleaner production are intimate-ly linked. I see the biggest challenge as raising the priority of both in the eyes of government, the community and business. Both obviously benefit the environment, but they also pro-vide for healthier and safer places for people to live. Cleaner produc-tion also often means more efficient production creating the potential to save money.
MEWS: How does the market in
the Middle East compare inter-nationally for investing in waste management?AQ: In my opinion, the Middle East is ripe for investment in waste management. Waste generation is a function of population and de-velopment and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has led the way in these areas in the last decade or so. We are seeing signs of a matur-ing in the UAE waste industry. For example, Thiess Services’ construc-tion of a building and demolition waste facility in the UAE is a clear shift towards tackling more specific
waste issues.
MEWS: What is the most important point you made at the MEWS 09?AQ: Governments, developers and the community should not ignore waste management and expect that waste will take care of itself. Careful, insightful and forward-looking regulation and assistance is required to provide an environment in which the commercial sector and their customers, governments and the community can achieve their goals while effectively and sustain-ably managing their waste.
Middle East Waste Summit 2009 talked exclusively to Daniel M. Cheng, Managing Director, Dunwell Enviro-Tech (Holdings) Ltd about Industrial & Hazardous Waste Management.
Industrial and hazardous waste management
dards, availability of local technical expertise, the market expectation on recycled oil products, market sizes, number of recyclers, etc.
In the Middle East, the acid clay process has been adopted for years. Due to the highly polluted nature of the process, most of the govern-ments around the world have re-stricted this application after they have found the acid sludge severely polluted underground water and soil. This is going to be an outgoing technology.
Some recyclers are using simple dewatering and centrifuge tech-niques to produce fuel oil, which is of low value to the Middle East mar-ket that has abundant supply of fuel products.
Some recyclers may be using high temperature distillation process, but this process is too energy consuming and requires extensive engineering support.
The Middle East market is steering towards the directions of adopting a clean (non polluting) technology that can recycle used oil into finish lube products, with a low energy level and reasonable level of engineering requirement. Our VMAT fits into this context with a fast payback (less than two years) scenario.
MEWS: When does Dunwell Envi-ro-Tech work with the oil and gas
industry? DMC: Dunwell has been involved in the oil recycling business since 1993, when we acquired and turned around a bankrupted Australian oil re-refinery operation (with a loss of US$ 10 million) in Hong Kong. For the last 16 years, we have been build-ing our engineering capability and investing in R&D for coming up with a better process for the used oil recy-cling industry.
We also work with oil fields in Chi-na to provide advanced technology for process improvement and water treatment.
MEWS: How can Dunwell Enviro-Tech positively impact the indus-trial and hazardous waste con-cerns of all stakeholders including citizens, industry and govern-ments? How can the company help reduce pollution in the UAE? DMC: Most governments nowadays are seeking ways to minimise the impact of oil related pollution in the areas of air, water, soil and CO2 emis-sion. VMAT is recycling used oil into reusable green lube products instead of heavy fuel which will emit much CO2 and contribute to the global warming.
The low temperature (85C) pro-cess does not crack the hydro-carbon structure of used oil and would not cause air pollution problems. The ab-
sence of chemical (acids) used would not cause further damage to the water and soil.
VMAT is a modular expandable process to allow users to start with a smaller volume (5000 m3/year) and ex-pand to 20,000 m3/year when they are familiar with the new business models and technology. Users can even setup the VMAT systems in various locations across the country, to minimise the transportation and enhance flexible operation.
MEWS: How does the market in the Middle East compare internation-ally for investing in waste oil recy-cling?DMC: Since VMAT received the IChemE Grand Environment Award from Lon-don in 2006, we have been approached by almost 100 Middle East companies and even government appointed con-sultants regarding the feasibility of this project.
Now with a total of four interna-tional awards received by VMAT, and actual installations around different continents, even more oil recyclers have seriously visited our industrial op-erations and are negotiating potential partnership for setting up VMAT in GCC countries.
GCC is a big market and we are open to work with industry players and wel-come referral agents to help us expand in this promising oil recycling venture.
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DEVELOPERS LIST
220 A S A Developers Ltd
594 A.C.Holdings Limited
395 A.S.A Developers Limited
514 Aa Global Limited
16 Aaa Auctions Organizing & Management
49 Aakar Developers Ltd
255 Ab Properties Limited
568 Abdulrazzq Ali Almadani
646 Abdulsalam Mohd Alrafi Real Estate Development Group (L.L.C)
670 Abwab Real Estate Limited Co Llc
46 Abyaar Real Estate Development
31 Aci Real Estate Llc
414 Acw Holding Ltd
720 Adel Mohammad Saleh Ali Naqi Al Zarooni
679 Ag - Optimo Limited
506Ahmad Abdulla Ahmad & Ayesha Ahmad Abdulla & Amir Badkoubeh & Armin
Niasar
268 Ahmed Abdul Rahim Alattar Properties
328 Al Duaa Holdings Fzc
199 Al Jawi Investment L.L.C
4 Al Manal Development Fzco
784 Al Mazaya Holding Company
289 Al Murjan Real Estate ( Fzc )
18 Al Rashid Investments
14 Al Sayyah & Sons Investments(L.L.C)
194 Al Shafar General Contracting Co Llc
812 Al Tafany Properties Limited
290 Al Tamimi Investments Limited
799 Al Zahra Properties
704 Albenaa Real Estate Investment-pjsc
479 Alduaa Residence Limited
3 Alfajer Properties L L C
78 Alfaraa Properties
304 Alfattan Properties (L.L.C)
463 Alghanem Real Estate Llc
79 Almadar Investment (L.L.C)
List of approved developers817 Almasah Middle East Investment Limited
411 Alosaimi Real Estate Investments Co L.L.C
299 Alshafar Development (L.L.C)
86 Altajir Real Estate L.L.C
448 Amesco Tower Jlt
468 Anil Adinath Bastawade
221 Anis Holdings Limited
183 Anis Property Investments Ltd
132 Antonia Resources Ltd
309 Arabia Group Development Limited
310 Arabia Group Investment Limited
378 Arabian Investments Limited
239 Aristocrat Star Investment L.L.C
525 Arra Limted
572 Arthur Fitz William (Plantation)
279 Aryene Plus Property Developers Limited
532 Aryene Property Developers Limited
696 Asadollah Hosseinali Kikha
597 Ashai Tower Jvs Limited
36 Aswan Developers Inc
23 Aswan Investments Limited
830 Aurora Limited
392 Avanti Holding Limited
131 Avetona Global Ltd
595 Avon Developers&investments Limited
317 Axon Development (Fzc)
235 Azizi Invesments (L.L.C)
391 B & M Fzco
786 Baiti Properties Development Llc
308 Bando Engineering & Construction Co Ltd
281 Bangash Builders &developers Limited
584 Bangash Developments Limited
793 Bangash Investments Limited
472 Baraq Holdings Limited
647 Bassam Said Freiha
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141 Bavaria Gulf Sandoval Ltd
148 Bay Central Developments Limited
360 Bay View Investments Limited
134 Beliza Resources Limited
838 Bella Vida Limited
413 Beney Investments Limited
829 Blue Sky And Nawaab Holdings Limited
320 Bonnington Land Limited
374 Bonyan Emirates Properties
257 Bonyan International Investment Group L.L.C
795 Bosphorus Investments Limited
296 Brighton Holdings Limited
323 Brookes Corporation
828 Bucephalus Holding Limited
449 Bukhatir International Realty Development & Investment Llc
357 Burj Alalam Holdings Limited
263 Burj Aldua'a Limited
258 Bux Holdings Limited
401 Byblos Real Estate Broker
731 C7d1 Limited
298 Capital Trust Gulf Limited
40 Cayan Real Estate Investment & Development (L.L.C)
130 Cenita Global Ltd
337 Chapal World Llc
816 Chess Tower Limited
723 City-d Investments Limited
842 Cl International Development Limited
358 Cliff Dwellings Enterprises Ltd
431 Comfort Homes Ltd
312 Condor Properties Limited
794 Cornica Tradings Assets Limited
356 Credo Investments Fze
801 Credo Investments Fze
123 Crown Holding Limited
211 Crown One Holding Ltd
733 Crown Three Holding Ltd
821 Crown Two Holding Limited
588 D10 Awf Investment Limited
192 Damac Development L L C
260 Damac Properties Co.(L L C)
42 Dana Property Development (L.L.C)
624 Das Real Estate
179 Define Properties L Lc-fzc
805 Define Properties Plot 8 Limited
318 Desert Dream Investments Llc
313 Desert Home Fzco
158 Dheeraj & East Coast L L C
6 Diamond Developers Co.Limited
60 Diamond Arch Limited
695 Diamond Properties Limited
864 District Investment & Development (L.L.C)
741 Dja414 Investment Limited
671 Dmcc Business Park Dmcc
874 Dream Estate Limited
45 Dsec Corporation F.Z.C -rak
153 Dubai Multi Commodities Center
73 Dubai Guernsey Property Investment Limited
851 Dubai Holding
862 Dubai Industrial City
867 Dubai Investment Park Llc
278 Dubai Investment Real Estate
854 Dubai Land ( L.L.C )
35 Dubai Life Style City L.L.C
858 Dubai Maritime City
850 Dubai Properties ( L.L.C )
160 Dubai Property Ring Ltd
344 Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority
200 Dubai Sports City ( L.L.C )
834 Dubai World Trade Center (L.L.C)
307 Dujon Properties Ltd
340 Dunes Property Investments Ltd
417 Dunes Village Real Estate
742 Durar Al Emarat Properties Llc
288 Earth Developers (L.L.C)
719 Edmonton Admire Properties Limited
540 Elan Investment Limited
555 Emaar Properties Pjsc
398 Emirates Sunland D1 Limited
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399 Emirates Sunland Pv Dubai Limited
860 Es Investments Limited
231 Esca Properties Llc
650 Escan Real Estate Pjs
218 Essa Bin Nasser Bin Abdullatif Al Serkal
26 Eta Star Property Developers (L.L.C)
662 Ever Green Signature Investment Limited
76 Ever Shine Dubai (Bvi)
250 Fabson Import Export Limited
536 Fahed Hamad Saif Bin Fahad And Abdulla Ali Obaid
688 Fahiman Bhatish & Nania Nagpaul
314 Fakhruddin Properties Limited
7 Falcon City Of Wonders (L.L.C)
48 First Homes Ltd O.F
541 Flamingo Investments Limited
95 Fortisplus Holdings Limited
406 Fortune Avenue Investment Limited
407 Fortune Bay Investment Limited
466 Fortune Dxb Ltd
556 Fortune Homes Investment Limited
208 Fortune Investment Group (L.L.C)
405 Fortune Serene Limited
234 Freej Development Limited
499 G&g Partners Limited
574 German Holding Group( L.L.C)
577 Gholamreza Abadi & Shahrokh Nariman&yadollah Nariman&behnam Keivan
146 Global Group Holdings Limited
190 Global Group International Limited
510 Global King Technologies Ltd
151 Global Procurment Fzc
253 Gold Vision Development Ltd
248 Golden Beach Properties Limited
841 Golden Land Development & Investment Limited
270 Gpd Investments L.L.C
271 Gpd Investments Spv One Limited
845 Grace Property Developer Limited
24 Green Desert Ventures Inc
284 Green Emirates Properties- Co.Psc
51 Grm Limited
64 Gulf Developers Fzc
285 Gulf General Investments Co. (P.S.C)
135 Gulf Investments (Fzc)
755 Gulf Line International Ltd
305 Gulf Shores Inc
498 Gulf Technical Construction Co (L.L.C)
82 Gulf Towers Investment Llc
324 Halcon Real Estates Development (L.L.C)
809 Hampstead & Mayfair Development Limited
394 Hamza Namera International Fzc
768 Heman R.E.D. & General Trading Limited
53 Her Limited
17 High Rise Properties(L.L.C)
58 Hircon International (L.L.C)
386 Hma Exec Limited
243 Horizon Infrastructure F Z C
343 Hydra Properties (L.L.C)
703 I.R.Investments Holding Company Limited
552 Ihab Sayed Mohamed Elwishy
372 Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari For Investment & Development Managment (L.L.C)
865 Indigo Valley Inc Limited
815 Infinity Emirates Investments Llc
609 Innovvarc Holding (L.L.C)
471 International Merchnant House Llc
306 Investments House Co.(L.L.C)
825 Ishraqah For Development Limited
77 Ishrat Ali
470 Jab Developments Inc
511 Jab Mosaistone Developments Inc
10 Jad23 Investment Limited
9 Jad24 Investment Limited
11 Jad25 Investment Limited
475 Jalal Ebrahimi
496 Jamal Mohammed Alhassan & Bachar Bakri Almradi
440 Jasmine Garden Limited
108 Jumeirah Golf Estates (L.L.C)
381 Jupiter Estates Limited
5 K M Properties (L.L.C)
12 Kaizen One Investment Limited (Offshore)
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238 Kamil Khan
831 Kd Paca 59 Limited
722 Kensington Global Investments Inc
242 Khalifa Majid Alabbar
32 Khuyool Investment L.L.C
663 Kleindienst Properties
500 La Ploma Limited
181 Limitless ( L L C )
71 Links Properties Investment Limited
489 Liquid Assets Limited
303 Lokhandwala Builders International Ltd
37 Lootah Real Estate Development Est
876 Lootah Real Estate Investment
429 Lux Real Estate
743 Luxor Investment Limited
796 Lyra International Limited
660 M E Development Llc
520 Maadhad Saleh Mezar Alromaithi
38 Madain Properties Co. (Mada'in) (P.J.S.C)
280 Madison Holding Fzco
21 Mag Group Fze
548 Mahdi Amrollahi (Partner) Antar Marzooq (Owner)
254 Mahmoud Reza Azizi
732 Maison Limited
44 Makaseb Properties
513 Mammut Group Fzco
282 Mandate International Limited
164 Manhattan Real Estate Holdings F.Z.C
542 Marina Arcade Real Estate Llc
352 Marina Breeze Limited
750 Marina Crown Real Estate (L.L.C)
351 Marina Exclusive Limited
329 Marina Star Limited
67 Mars Properties Investment Ltd
25 Matex Estate Ltd
420 Memon Developments (Fzc)
760 Memon Property Ventures (Fzc)
765 Mena Capital Investment Llc
353 Mera Home Ltd
859 Meraas Holding (L.L.C)
236 Merwess Abdulaziz
866 Meydan (L.L.C)
129 Mirgana Resources Ltd
286 Mismak Properties Co (L.L.C)
41 Mizin (L.L.C)
447 Mohammad Aqil Ali & Ahmad Ali Alzarooni
379 Mohd. Hussain & Bros
458 Mohd. Hussain & Bros
519 Mre Global Investment Group Fzc
52 Mrg Ltd
402 Msaab Mohammed Alzwaid & Hamad Ali Aldubikhi & Saleh Ibrahim Alqasir
240 Muhammad Nabeel Joz
716 Muhammad Nasir Muhammad Iqbal & Safia Nasir
486 Nadeem Mohammed Zafar
100 Nakheel Co.( L.L.C )
861 Nauman Abid Properties Limited
59 Ncc Urban Infrastructure
857 Neel Devcons Limited
840 Neel Properties Limited
319 Neo Solutions Limited
226 Neptune Properties Investment Ltd
355 New World Investment Ltd
128 Oakgrove Global Ltd
311 Oasis Group Ventures Ltd
388 Olive Ponit Limited
393 Omniyat Properties Development Corporation
689 Optimo Arabia Limited
709 Opulence Holdings Limited
724 Orbit Holdings Ltd
84 P&p Properties Ltd L.L.C -rak
567 Paradise Limited
367 Paramount Real Estate Llc
369 Parshwa Holdings Limited
562 Paxion International Fze
219 Pearl Dubai Fz- L L C
209 Pearl Properties
727 Petrochem Realty Fze
797 Petrokaz Limited
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863 Phoenix Holdings (L.L.C)
91 Plus Internatinal Two Limited
92 Plus International One Limlted
813 Plus International Three Limited
787 Plus Properties Llc
453 Pnd Investments Ltd
149 Point Development Ltd
761 Premier Group (Fzc)
504 Premier Group Properties Inc
835 Premiers Property Developers Limited
124 Prescott Enterprises Ltd
203 Prescott Holdings Limited
125 Prescott Investments Ltd
437 Profile Residence Limited
575 Profile Zero Five Five Limited
561 Pyamod Developments Fze
408 Pyamod International (Fze)
322 Qureshi Faisal Abdul Aziz
383 R.K.M Real Estate (Llc)
524 Raam Limited
173 Ramada Real Estate L.L.C
90 Ramadan Mousa Mishmish
66 Rani International Development (L.L.C)
450 Rashed Darwish Alketbi
428 Rashed Mohamed Mahran Al Bloyshi
137 Rayan Adnan Ibrahim Abduljabbar
264 Real Estate Bank
371 Realty Capital Middle East Fz-llc
19 Reef Real Estate Investment Co (L.Lc)
515 Reliance Estate Developmant
8 Remah Holding Limited (Offshore)
359 Rescom Holdings Limited
362 Riviera Holdings Limited
54 Rmg Limited
606 Roland Developments Fzc
444 Romeo & Juliet Tower Limited
163 Romil Investments Ltd
126 Rose Homes Investment L L C
789 Royal Holdings Limited
85 Rufi Century Tower Ltd
68 Rufi Down Town Res Ltd
161 Rufi Gardens Ltd
162 Rufi Gulf Greens Ltd
775 Rufi Heaven Limited
798 Rufi Luxury Heights Limited
336 Rufi Park View Limited
533 Rufi Rose Gardens Limited
433 Rufi Royal Crest Ltd
335 Rufi Twin Towers Limited
295 Rufi Water Front Residency Limited
811 S.P. Oasis Limited
445 Sahara Livings Limited
855 Sama Dubai
495 Sameer Mahmoud Al Ali
70 Sameet Prakash Dhamecha
184 Sanali Holding Fze
554 Sarhank Kader
13 Sariin S.R.O
204 Satnam Singh
636 Sayed Amjad Husain
384 Schon Investments Limited
452 Seasif Group Fzco
50 Seasons Development Limited
493 Seastar Properties Limted
810 Sebco Limited
534 Segrex Limited
361 Seracom Holding Limited
596 Sevanam Holdings Limited
222 Seven Tides Ltd
237 Shaikh Holdings Limited
538 Shanti Builders & Developers Limited
820 Sharm Investment Co. Limited
171 Sheffield Real Estate Llc
39 Sheth Estate (International) Limited
642 Sidra Holding Limited
65 Sidra Ltd
74 Sienna Lakes Ltd
373 Silver Star Tower Limited
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22 Sky Estate Limited
30 Smart Home Properties
491 Smart Investment Limited
819 Sobha International Limited
87 Sobha Investments Limited
283 Sobha Properties Limited
89 Sobha Ventures Limited
215 Sokook Investment Group
244 Souq Residences Fzco
800 Spain Select Limited
622 Stallion Developments Ltd
697 Star Developers Limited
159 Star Surveying & Evaluating Services
791 Sternon Developers Limited
869 Strata Fze
193 Sum Sum Developers (Fzc)
368 Sun Valley Holdings Limited
62 Sungwon F.Z.E
614 Sunland Nur (Joc) Limited
836 Sunland Waterfront (Bvi) Limited
214 Swiss Tower L L C
188 Syann Palm Ltd
186 Syann Park 1 Limited
637 Syndicate Sealine Limited
29 T F G Real Estate Broker
170 Taisir Limited
756 Takmeel Investment Limited
99 Tameer Holding Investment (L.L.C)
287 Tanmiyat Real Estate Development
490Taskeen Properties (Khaled Heikal& Hesham Heikal& Suaad Mohammed &
Ahmad Mohd)
852 Tatweer
856 Tecom
868 The Lagoons ( Llc)
55 The Onyx For Development Limited
553 The Palm Hotel And Resort Fzc
457 The Pavillion Holding Limite
120 The World (L.L.C)
581 Tiger Properties
424 Tima Holdings Ltd
527 Time Properties
147 Torch Select Ltd
266 Town Center Management Limited
292 Trend Capital Gmbh & Co. Dubai Sport City Kg
96 Trident International Holdings Fzco
165 Trinity Developers
205 Triplanet International Limited
207 Triveni Builders & Promoters Ltd
560 Uae Waterfront Group Limited
508 Uk-cig Developments (Jvs) Limited
501 Umesh Kumar Vinodrai Chug
27 Union Properties
301 Universal Developers (Fzc)
127 V Resorts Ltd Fouad Barbar(Owner) / Bsa(Developer)
474 Vascon Trading Ltd
465 Venus Properties Investment Ltd
261 Victory Heights Golf Residential And Development Company (Llc)
259 Vision Avenue Homes (Fzc)
710 Vokhid Kakharov
823 Volcano Investment Properties Limited
808 West Avenue Limited
69 Westar Properties Ltd
773 York Shire Corporation Limited
507 Yra Enterprises Limited
814 Zenith Real Estate Development Llc
228 Zero Five Zero Limited
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MARKET TRENDS & ANALYSIS //
Q & A Your questions answered by Jacqueline Latham, DLA Piper Middle East LLP
LAWS & REGULATIONS//UPDATES
Q. My lease is due to expire in the next six months and I do not plan to renew it. When I entered into my tenancy contract, I paid a de-posit of Dh10,000. Will I be able to get all of my security deposit back and do I have to give my landlord notice that I want to terminate the tenancy?
A. With respect to the security deposit part of your query, Law No.26 of 2007, which was amended in part by Law No. 33 of 2008, provides that a tenant should hand back the leased property in the condition in which it was received at the time of leasing - fair wear and tear ex-cepted. In addition, the Law allows a landlord to essentially retain the security deposit upon termination of the lease period, to ensure the maintenance of the property; however, the landlord must return any post-maintenance excess monies from the security deposit to the ten-ant. As such, if you return your property to your landlord in the same condition as when you leased the property, then in theory, your full security deposit should be returned to you.In respect of the non-renewal of your tenancy agreement, and without having seen your actual tenancy agreement, you should notify your landlord of your intention not to renew your tenancy at least 90 days prior to the expiry of your current tenancy agreement.
Q. I work at a finance company and am trying to sort out a mortgage package and am baffled by the reference of a standard mortgage form in the Mortgage Law. I have been trying to locate such a form for a few weeks now but have been unsuccessful. Where can I get this form?
A. Firstly, you should ensure that you are complying with Law No. 14 of 2008 concerning mortgages, by being registered and licensed to pro-vide property finance in the UAE by the UAE Central Bank. If you are not, then you should cease undertaking any mortgage activity until you are fully compliant with the Law. In respect of the standard form, this is more a case of standard informa-tion. The mortgage provider should have a standard letter, also con-taining the text in Arabic, that sets out specific information, namely, the loan amount; the loan term and the property details and this letter should be signed by the authorised signatory.
Q. I am currently negotiating the terms of a mortgage with a local bank and though I have read a lot about the commencement pro-cess in respect of mortgages in Dubai, I would like to know the pro-cess concerning the termination of a mortgage.
A. To terminate a mortgage, you will need to submit the original title deed, the original letter from your bank requesting the termination of the mortgage and the original mortgage contract, to the Land Depart-ment. As you would expect, a fee is payable and the current cost is Dh1,000, in addition to a knowledge fee of Dh10.
Q. I am not actually a Dubai resident but I did invest in an off-plan property in Dubai last winter, which I was hoping to use for future vacations. It is my understanding that the developer has not even started the construction yet and I feel quite helpless as I live miles away. How can I make a complaint?
A. As the law currently stands, Law No. 8 of 2007 (concerning escrow ac-counts) provides that a developer must start construction of its project within six months of receiving all of the necessary approvals relating to that project, whilst Law No. 9 of 2009 (which clarified the previous interim registration measures) gives RERA the power to cancel a proj-ect upon consideration of a grounds-based report. In such an event, a purchaser will receive a full refund in accordance with the Law No. 8 of 2007, and Law No. 9 of 2009 prescribes that this should be done within the earlier of: a) one year from the date of revocation of the contract; or b) sixty days from the date of resale of the property. As the implementa-tion of regulations supporting Law No.8 of 2007 and Law No.9 of 2009 are widely anticipated to be published shortly, and such regulations will hopefully set out some clear steps to resolve cases like yours, then as-suming that you are still fulfilling your obligations under your sale and purchase agreement (e.g. paying any purchase price instalments when due), you should initially register a formal complaint with RERA online via their website until the supporting regulations are published.
Jacqueline Latham is a Legal Consultant (England and Wales qualified), Real Estate at DLA Piper Middle East LLP, Dubai, www.dlapiper.com
