Dubai Construction Update: January 2010

Sunday, January 31, 2010

23 Marina Tower construction photos,Dubai Marina, 29/January/2010

The Atlantic construction photos,Dubai Marina, 29/January/2010

Sales Price Index for Dubai residential properties increases 0.7 per cent in Q4 2009

Sales Price Index for Dubai residential properties increases 0.7 per cent in Q4 2009

REIDIN.com launches ‘INDEXFocus-UAE’ to improve transparency across the market and help real estate professionals benchmark and analyse residential price trends
January 31, 2010

The ‘Sales Price Index for Dubai’ (SPID) for residential properties (‘SPID – All Residential’) has risen by 0.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009 as against Q3 2009 (base quarter 2003 Q1), according to figures released by REIDIN.com, the world’s first and leading global online information services provider. The figures have been computed via the company’s new online service – ‘INDEXFocus-UAE’, which is designed to allow accurate tracking of price fluctuations in the residential market. Launched in partnership with the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) and Dubai Land Department (DLD), the new service provides the market with a series of indices and data sets that can help improve transparency across the market and help real estate professionals benchmark and analyse residential price trends.

‘INDEXFocus-UAE’ takes the latest information from the comprehensive database of REIDIN.com’s proprietary real estate indices and tools. According to the latest information released by the company, the ‘SPID – Villas’ (Base quarter 2003 Q1) rose by 2.6 per cent during the fourth quarter compared to the third in 2009, but has slid by 19.7 per cent versus the comparable period in 2008. Some of the 10 main districts covered by ‘INDEXFocus-UAE’ include ‘Palm Jumeirah’, where SPI – All Residential (Base quarter 2007Q1) increased by 2 per cent (Q4 versus Q3 2009). However, the quarterly SPI for both ‘Emirates Hills’ and ‘Jumeirah Lake Towers’ fell by 19 per cent during the same period (Base quarter 2004 Q1).

“REIDIN.com’s mission is to supply real estate professionals with online information services and tools that improve transparency across emerging markets, and ‘INDEXFocus’ is a significant step towards the realisation of this goal,” said Ahmet Kayhan, CEO, REIDIN.com. “Given the dynamism of Dubai’s property market, we are confident that ‘INDEXFocus - UAE’ will provide analysts, investors, financiers and other real estate professionals with valuable market data analysis tools including accurate residential property benchmarks and trend analysis to help them grow their business. The unveiling of our latest offering in Dubai, following the successful launch of ‘INDEXFocus – Turkey’, underlines the product’s rapid evolution, and we are pleased to announce that we are currently working on a similar product for the Abu Dhabi market.”

Similar to the Turkey Real Estate Indices platform, which covers seven major cities of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Izmit, Bursa, Adana and Antalya), ‘INDEXFocus-UAE’ compares house price indices with commodity prices (such as oil and gold), financial and economic indicators (such as inflation and interest rates) which are relevant to the real estate industry. The Dubai indices and calculations are based primarily on transaction records from DLD (powered by ‘DUBAIFocus’, REIDIN.com’s exclusive online information product for analysing real estate transactions in Dubai) and Property Listings through its partnership with RERA, using a proprietary moving average median series methodology solely developed in-house by REIDIN.com. The main districts and major communities and projects covered by ‘INDEXFocus-UAE’ include about 7 city-wide indices and a total of 19 district and project-based indices – ‘Business Bay’, ‘Downtown’, ‘Dubai Marina’, ‘Jumeirah Beach Residence’, and ‘The Greens’, among others.

“Ensuring the accuracy of market data and relevance to local market conditions is our top priority, which has prompted us to appoint an advisory committee, comprised of academicians and industry professionals from different emerging economies to monitor the quality of the indices. Furthermore, we have established a Property Indices Oversight Committee to be responsible for reviewing and recommending changes in index policies and procedures, required data elements, qualifying properties, monthly index production review and taking of any other actions deemed necessary to assure index statistical integrity,” concluded Kayhan.

About REIDIN.com
REIDIN.com is the world's first online information company providing a range of intelligence products dedicated to meeting the unique requirements of real estate market professionals interested in emerging markets. REIDIN.com services are used by investors, fund managers, developers, consultants, researchers, valuation experts, construction and project managers, occupiers, as well as many others who are interested in monitoring and understanding the market trends and business challenges relevant to them in real estate markets.

REIDIN.com provides hard to find proprietary business news, analysis, research, data and intelligence with online tools and services that enable real estate professionals to enhance their understanding of emerging markets such as United Arab Emirates, China, India, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Brazil, Argentina and more.

Moreover, to cater to the specific demands of Dubai’s dynamic property market, REIDIN.com has teamed up with the Dubai Land Department to establish DUBAIFocus, the first exclusive online information product tracking real estate deals and transactions in Dubai. DUBAIFocus – which has data from the year 1973 - provides daily information on all types of land, villa and flat deals (sales, mortgage, lease, grant, inheritance, etc.) in Dubai.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Sulafa Tower pictures,Dubai Marina , 29/January/2010

Botanica Tower pictures,Dubai Marina , 29/January/2010

Marina 101 Tower pictures,Dubai Marina , 29/January/2010

Friday, January 29, 2010

Burj Khalifa pictures, Burj Dubai, 25/January/2010

Business Bay photos,Dubai, January 2010

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Infinity Tower construction photos collage,Dubai Marina , 22/January/2010

Dubai Marina night pictures,22/January/2010

Burj Khalifa pictures,Burj Dubai, 25/January/2010

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Al Hikma Tower photo ,Al Hekma Tower,Sheikh Zayed Road, 25/January/2010

RTA entertains special needs persons in a metro tour

RTA entertains special needs persons in a metro tour

The gesture is set to further integrate the disabled into the community

Dubai (UAE) – The Marketing and Corporate Communication Department at the Corporate Administrative Support Services Sector of Roads & Transport Authority (RTA), in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, organized a recreational metro tour for people with special needs of the Emirates Center for Special Needs from Al Rashidiya Station to Nakheel Harbour and Tower Station.
Hind Al Tajir, Acting Director of Corporate Communication Dep’t at the RTA Corporate Administrative Support Services Sector, said: “The recreational trip is meant to enhance the integration of people with special needs into the community. RTA attaches paramount importance to this category of people, who constitute an integral part of the UAE community; which cares so much for providing decent live to all those living on its soil. It also aims to communicate the idea that this category is welcome to use the metro at any time at par with their unimpaired counterparts”.
Hind further stated: “During the trip the participants familiarized themselves with the facilities available at the metro stations and services provided to people with special needs. In addition, an elaborate description was provided to the attendants escorting special needs people highlighting the advantages offered to metro commuters, the safety systems, and all matters relating to the use of the metro”.
She pointed out that RTA provided an intelligent directional system through tactile directional floor signs to guide visually-impaired commuters, and aid them to move confidently and independently through various parts of the metro network. It has also provided low-floor ticket counters such that they are easily accessible to the wheel-chaired commuters, provided custom-built toilets, and launched a dedicated website for special needs.
In attendance were Fahd Hadi, Manager of Public Relations Section from the RTA; Abdul Rahman bin Ali, Deputy Director of Government Communication Dep’t at the Ministry of Labour; and Saeed Mohammed Abdul Ghani, Director of Emirates Center for Special Needs.

Empower to expand district cooling infrastructure to meet rising demand in Dubai

Empower to expand district cooling infrastructure to meet rising demand in Dubai

Total district cooling provided by Empower reached 40 million sq. ft. in 2009

Dubai, UAE, 27 January, 2010: Emirates Central Cooling Corporation (Empower), the TECOM-DEWA joint venture that has emerged as the largest district cooling service provider in the region, has announced expansion plans to meet the rising demand for district cooling.
The announcement comes at a time when total square footage committed to district cooling provided by the company reached 40 million sq. ft covering 80 buildings in 2009.
The plans included bidding for more projects which are keen to gain from the benefits delivered by district cooling and its environment-friendly features.

Demand for district cooling has been increasing rapidly in the last decade. In the UAE, it was firstly used in the 1970s at the Dubai International Airport. It started being adopted commercially in 1998 with the real estate boom in the country. The adoption rate in this technology has remarkably increased in the past five years especially amongst large scale projects.
Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Empower said: “We succeeded in building world class district cooling infrastructure that is considered an ideal economic and environmental solution for residential and commercial units, offices and hotels.”
In Dubai, residential units are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of using district cooling system as an alternative to conventional AC systems, leading to energy saving and environment conservation, as well as lower operations and maintenance costs. This is in sharp contrast to lower awareness of its importance in other parts of the Middle East.”
The operational savings percentage in a residential unit compared with conventional AC technologies ranges between 40 and 45 per cent.

Empower was created to provide energy-efficient district cooling services to large-scale real estate developments. The company unveiled plans to diversify into other energy efficiency and conservation services.

Bin Shafar added: “DCS achieves economies of scale by using centralized plants instead of individual cooling units in each building. The centralized system results in less capital and operating costs, thus reducing air-conditioning set-up and energy costs per building.”

The Dubai based company tops the list of companies providing district cooling service in the region. It adopts a clear strategy to preserve environment through aggressively disseminating this technology and conducting campaigns to highlight its strategic value in the short and long run to the people and the society in general.

Empower is providing district cooling service to a wide array of projects in Dubai, including Dubai International Financial Center, Dubai Healthcare City, Jumeirah Beach Residence, Culture City, Business Bay and City Of Arabia.

Empower's district cooling systems (DCS) provide effective and efficient means of air conditioning. Water is cooled in central plants and distributed through a network of piping systems to individual customer buildings.

About Empower:
Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower) is a joint venture between Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone (TECOM) Investments and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), created to provide energy-efficient district cooling services to large-scale real estate developments. Empower plans to diversify into other energy efficiency and conservation services. Empower's district cooling systems (DCS) provide effective and efficient means of air conditioning. Water is cooled in central plants and distributed through a network of piping systems to individual customer buildings. DCS achieves economies of scale by using centralised plants instead of individual cooling units in each building. The centralised system results in reduced capital and operating costs, thus reducing air-conditioning set-up and energy costs per building. Empower is set to become one of the largest district cooling companies in the region.