ITP MEDIA GROUP / BUSINESS AUGUST 2020 • ISSUE 766 “A NEW WAY OF LIVING FOR DIRIYAH’S RESIDENTS” BUILDING THE WORLD’S LARGEST CULTURAL AND HERITAGE DEVELOPMENT IN SAUDI ARABIAWall and Floor: CURTONCONTENTS AUGUST 2020 • ISSUE 766 Diriyah Gate Development Authority speak to CW’s Ashley Williams about the world’s largest cultural and heritage development CO V ER S TOR Y 24 BIG 5 SAUDI Anup Oommen rounds up what the next 10 years may look like for construction in Saudi Arabia KSA REPORT Ranju Warrier analyses USSABC’s Q1 2020 report on the KSA construction market BIG PICTURE Architecture fi rm Chapman Taylor reveals its Airport City masterplan in Jeddah EDITOR’S LETTER Ashley Williams discusses the momentum of off-site development across the built environment INTERVIEW Disha Dadlani fi nds out what it takes to be a smart and sustainable city PROJECT UPDATE The Construction Week team reveals all its site visits from the past 12 months giving you exclusive details about each development 10 14 18 20 22 30 STAT OF THE MONTH 60% SALES SPIKE FOR JUNE Dubai’s real estate is beginning to stabilise following COVID-19 QUOTE OF THE MONTH “THE PERFECT STORM” AESG MD Saeed Al Abbar comments on the inevitable transformation of the sector 08 06 AUGUST 2020 CONSTRUCTION WEEK 3 EVENTS After the impact of COVID-19 forcing our events to be postponed, our remaining events for 2020 will be held virtually apart from the CW Awards 344 CONSTRUCTION WEEK AUGUST 2020WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM PUBLISHED BY AND © 2020 ITP MEDIA GROUP FZ-LLC. PO Box 500024, Dubai, United Arab Emirates TEL +971 4 444 3000 WEB : www.itp.com Offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, London & Mumbai ITP MEDIA GROUP CEO Ali Akawi MANAGING DIRECTOR Sue Holt EDITORIAL CW EDITOR ashley.williams@itp.com CW DEPUTY EDITOR anup.oommen@itp.com CW REPORTER ranju.warrier@itp.com CW MULTIMEDIA REPORTER disha.dadlani@itp.com MEP EDITOR tom.oxtoby@itp.com PMV EDITOR dennis.daniel@itp.com FM EDITOR rajiv.pillai@itp.com ADVERTISING GROUP COMMERCIAL MANAGER Saraswati Agarwal TEL +971 4 444 3352, EMAIL saraswati.agarwal@itp.com SENIOR SALES MANAGER Moutaz Gadelhak TEL +971 4 444 3177, EMAIL moutaz.gadelhak@itp.com ITP LIVE GENERAL MANAGER Ahmad Bashour TEL +971 4 444 3549, EMAIL ahmad.bashour@itp.com STUDIO SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERS Efraim Evidor, Adel Rashid STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Aasiya Jagadeesh, Ajith Narendra, Fritz John Asuro, Jessica Samson PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION GROUP PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION DIRECTOR Kyle Smith PRODUCTION MANAGER Basel Al Kassem PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR Mahendra Pawar SENIOR IMAGE EDITOR Emmalyn Robles CIRCULATION DISTRIBUTION & WAREHOUSE MANAGER Praveen Nair MARKETING DIRECTOR OF AWARDS & MARKETING Daniel Fewtrell ITP GROUP CEO Ali Akawi CFO Toby Jay Spencer-Davies WEB www.ConstructionWeekOnline.com SUBSCRIBE online at www.itp.com/subscriptions NOTICE The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for errors or omissions contained in this publication, however caused. 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MEDIA WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM The most important project, contract, and tender information, updated every week To have your copy of Construction Week delivered to your doorstep, subscribe by logging on to www.itp.com/subscriptionsBringing structures to life • Developed to keep up with the changing needs of the building sector • A versatile and economical solution for the construction of multi-storey slabs • Quick to erect, strike and reposition • Minimal number of components required Quick and versatile solution for multi-storey slab construction • Developed to keep up with the changing needs of the building sector • A versatile and economical solution for the construction of multi-storey slabs • Quick to erect, strike and reposition • Minimal number of components requiredQUOTE OF THE MONTH WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM6 CONSTRUCTION WEEK AUGUST 2020 “BREWING THE PERFECT STORM FOR THE BUILDINGS SECTOR” I was recently asked to share my views on what the built environment would look like in 2030 as part of the World Green Building Council’s MENA Green Building Congress. Whilst it is impossible to predict the future, it is clear that the sector is set to go through its greatest transformation since the technological revolution of the late 1800’s that spurred the boom in high rise construction. So why is this so? When you look at the components that have sparked major transformations to a sector it effectively boils down to two factors; the necessity and the means. If I look at the building and construction sector today, never before have these two forces been as prevalent and I would even go so far as to say the ingredients are in place for a ‘perfect storm’. Whilst it may not feel like it amidst the economic turmoil in the sector, the current demand for construction globally is unprecedented. We are currently going through the largest wave of urban growth in human history and we expect to add almost 2.5 trillion sq ft of floor area to the global building stock by 2060, effectively doubling it, and building the equivalent floor area of Paris every week. Alongside this however, the sector is crippled with a productivity crisis. Construction lags significantly behind the rest of the economy in productivity growth. Between 1997 to 2017, productivity growth in manufacturing eclipsed construction by a factor of six. For those working in the sector this probably does not come as a surprise. Our techniques to build have largely remained unchanged in decades with very little capitalisation of technology breakthroughs. This really is its own topic for another day but in my opinion, we will not change this until we fundamentally break down and rebuild our current approach to project delivery which I can best describe through the lens of the manufacturing sector as; ‘A team of over 100 different firms that have never worked together all with competing commercial motivations trying to deliver a one-off prototype where the majority of components are non-standardised and at the end of the exercise everyone disbands and never works together again and the prototype is never produced again’. This in my view is the fundamental root cause of the economic crisis that we are facing in the sector. Clients are in essence unwilling to pay a high price for wastefulness and inefficiency, driving margins down to decimals of a percent and ultimately resulting in the liquidations and bankruptcies the sector has experienced in recent years. The world needs us to build at an unprecedented rate so we need to address our productivity and economic glitches so we can deliver a high-quality built environment in a resource efficient manner. Whilst I paint a fairly gloomy backdrop, I am also confident that we have the means as a sector to emerge out of the current COVID-19 crisis in the right shape to make radical productivity gains and take major leaps towards decarbonisation of the sector. The productivity crisis and climate crisis that need to be overcome by the building sector are intrinsically linked. The current global crisis is an opportunity for us to rebuild better and truly advance this crucial sector. If not now when? AESG’s managing director Saeed Al Abbar shares why we need to “radically transform” how we develop buildings to meet decarbonisation targets Saeed Al Abbar, managing director of AESG Image: SuppliedJOIN US ONLINE FOR THE FIRST EVER CONSTRUCTION WEEK OMAN VIRTUAL AWARDS ConstructionWeekOnline.com/CWAwardsOman R SILVER SPONSORSTRAINING PARTNERASSOCIATION PARTNER FOR SPONSORSHIP ENQUIRIES SARASWATI AGARWAL Group Commercial Manager T: +971 4 444 3352 M: +971 52 895 2214 E: saraswati.agarwal@itp.com MOUTAZ GADELHAK Senior Sales Manager T: +971 4 444 3177 M: +971 58 287 6309 E: moutaz.gadelhak@itp.com FOR EVENT ENQUIRIES DANIEL FEWTRELL Director of Awards & Marketing T: +971 4 444 3684 M: +971 50 276 5706 E: daniel.fewtrell@itp.comSTAT OF THE MONTH DUBAI REAL ESTATE STABILISES AFTER 60% SALES GROWTH IN JUNE 2020 “Attractive prices” and “villa/ townhouse demand” are among the factors for soaring sales transaction in Dubai’s real estate market after a 60% growth in June 2020 compared to May 2020, according to UAE-based real estate marketplace Property Finder. Property Finder has found that over the past four weeks the Dubai real estate market has been transacting more than 570 sales transactions weekly on average, while over the past three weeks the number of weekly real estate sales transactions have increased by almost 11% on average. They added that Q2 2020 had 5,564 total sales transactions worth $2.9bn (AED 10.8bn) which is half of what transacted in Q1 2020. The secondary market (ready properties) only accounted for 28% of total sales in April and 33.5% of total sales in May 2020. However, in June 2020, this returned back to the normal trend we have seen since 2019 as the secondary market accounted for 53% of total sales transactions. The top areas for secondary sales transactions in June 2020 were Dubailand, reaching 8.2%; Business Bay at 6.3%; Dubai Marina hitting 5.9%; Town Square at 5.7% and Dubai Hills Estate lastly at 5.2%. The top areas for off plan sales transactions in June 2020 were Mohammed bin Rashid city, Jumeirah Village Circle, Downtown Dubai, Business Bay and Dubai South. Property Finder’s director of research SALES GROWTH IN JUNE 2020 Property Finder found that interest in villa/townhouses grew by over 400% since the beginning of COVID-19 and data, Lynnette Abad, said a strong June laid the foundation for a faster recovery and they are seeing patterns of a “V shaped recovery” and are back to the transaction levels of February and early March 2020. “We have clearly seen pent up demand during this time and some real estate agencies are having record breaking months. Mortgage enquiries are high, interest rates are at an all time low and the banks are giving their best offers yet,” said Abad. She added: “The demand for villa/ townhouses have increased by over 400% since the crisis started and I believe the summer months will continue to be busy as most will not travel and prices are very attractive.” 8 CONSTRUCTION WEEK AUGUST 2020WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM Demand for villa/townhouses in Dubai have shot up by 400% [Image: Damac Properties]FOR SPONSORSHIP ENQUIRIES Anup Nagpurkar Group Sales Manager +971 4 444 3373 + 971 52 895 0931 anup.nagpurkar@itp.com FOR NOMINATION ENQUIRIES Tom Oxtoby Editor, +971 4 444 3419 tom.oxtoby@itp.com FOR EVENT ENQUIRIES Daniel Fewtrell Director of Awards & Marketing +971 4 444 3684 daniel.fewtrell@itp.com FOR TABLE BOOKING ENQUIRIES Anthony Chandran Table Sales Executive +971 4 444 3865 anthony.chandran@itp.com Visit www.mepmiddleeast.com/awards for more information or contact one of the team today SUBMIT YOUR NOMINATIONS TODAY Wednesday 30th September 2020 GOLD SPONSORSPLATINUM SPONSOR The MEP Middle East Awards are an opportunity to highlight the excellence in MEP design and installation underpinning those iconic projects contributing to the evolving construction landscape in the Middle East.Next >