Future Cities ME — Volume 1 Issue 12

Volume 1 - NUMBER 12

CONTENTS The Sections

GOVERNMENT

smart technologies

KSA Announces Transformation Plans p.30

Lighting the Way Towards Smart Connected Cities p.64

transport

q&A Roundtable

Limak signs $4.34 billion deal to build Kuwait International Airport terminal p.72

In the Air We Breathe... p.08

construction

health & communities The Rise of Digital Healthcare in the Middle East p.76

Dubai Holding unveils “Marasi Business Bay” p.40

sustainability

food & agriculture

Hundreds of Cities Commit to Combating Emissions p.60

Smart Agriculture for Food Security and Sustainability p.80

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Editor’s note

I

n this edition of Future Cities we focus to an oft neglected and “unseen” issue – Indoor Air Quality. It is the natural element that we are most exposed to – we breathe more than 20,000 cubic meters of it every day! Clean, unpolluted air is not just critical to our health but to every single aspect of our day-to-day lives.

We had a series of discussion with a number of experts in the region’s construction industry to discover current trends in technology, design and legislation dealing with indoor air quality that circulates within the buildings we create. We discovered that this critical area of our living and working spaces has been sorely neglected in the Middle East region so far. Solutions were offered, suggestions were made. Read more about it in our special Indoor Air Quality section.

As another special summer treat we bring you two roundtable discussions in this issue. The first, held in Abu Dhabi, focused on how cities need to adopt a holistic approach to create successful and sustainable futures for themselves.

In Dubai, we hosted a lively discussion on the role that lighting and related infrastructure can play in creating smarter and more energy efficient cities.

Governments in the region are finally making firm plans to wean themselves off their dependence on oil revenues with Saudi Arabia announcing its National Transformation Plan to reshape its economy. The Dubai Government too has announced its Industrial Strategy that will have the Emirate focus more on industrial productivity.

For the present though the construction industry - along with football fans, of course - have AED 3 billion reasons to cheer with the announcement of the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid football stadium.

Healthcare is another industry with huge investment potential in the region. With its high speed data networks and widespread access the internet the GCC region is ripe for a digital healthcare revolution. We round things off with a feature on smart agriculture how it can solve the world’s food shortage problem while at the same time reducing the severe environmental impact of today’s intensive farming practices.

Loads of information with hints of change. That’s this issue of Future Cities for you. We hope you enjoy reading it.

FUTURE CITIES ME . VOLUME 1 Number 12

Publisher & CEO Liam Williams liam@flipflopmedia.ae

Managing Director Harry Norman harry@flipflopmedia.ae +971 4 369 9062 Editorial editor sunil Thakur sunil@flipflopmedia.ae +971 4 369 9063 Katy Elliot info@flipflopmedia.ae

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printed by Printwell © Copyright 2016 FlipFlop Media All rights reserved While the publisher has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

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special focus: Indoor air quality

in the air we breathe...

Air may be invisible and we often take it for granted but it's quality is critical to our comfort and well-being. We often discuss vehicular and industrial pollution and the effects it has on our health while sitting in the comfort of our airconditioned homes. But what is almost always overlooked is the quality of the air we breathe within our homes themselves.

A

s a modern population we spend almost 90% of our time indoors. Even more so in the extreme climates like the Middle East where life as we know it would not be possible without air-conditioning. However air conditioning serious pollution problems itself and most of our exposure to environmental pollution occurs by breathing the air indoors.

These pollutants come from activities, products and materials we use every day. The air in our homes, schools and offices can be 2 to 5 times more polluted, and in some cases almost a 100 times more polluted, than outdoor air.

Indoor air quality is a significant concern, because when the hours spent sleeping, working in offices or at school are added up, people on average spend the vast majority of their time indoors where they are repeatedly exposed to indoor air pollutants. In fact, the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) estimates that the average person receives 72 percent of their chemical exposure at home, which means the very places most people consider safest paradoxically exposes them to the greatest amounts of potentially hazardous pollutants.

What Contributes to Poor Indoor Air Quality?

Chemicals: The primary sources of indoor exposure to airborne chemicals are products used in interior environments, including furnishings, building materials and other household and office products, that can emit thousands of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particles into the air. Of all the culprits that can affect IAQ, chemical emissions are the most harmful as they can contribute to a wide range of health effects.

Mould: Moisture problems are another common source of indoor air pollution as they can lead to indoor mold growth.

Mold can also emit VOCs and particulates, compromising indoor air quality and

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leading to negative health effects. Since it is impossible to eliminate mold spores, the best way to reduce the impact of mold on indoor air quality is to prevent or promptly repair the moisture problems that enable mold growth.

Particulates: The particles emitted from products such as furnishings, building materials and other household and office products are another source of indoor air pollution.

Airborne particulates can also come from dirt and dust that is tracked in from outdoors.

Particulates can trigger allergies and other respiratory problems in many people.

Installing walk-off mats at doorways and changing air filters regularly are both good strategies to limit these pollutants.

Poor Ventilation: Most of the buildings in which people spend the majority of their time are tightly sealed and insulated to keep out unconditioned outdoor air. Furthermore, most ventilation systems are designed to bring in very little outdoor air and instead recirculate the indoor air that has already been heated or cooled. While this strategy is effective for minimizing energy costs, it can have a negative impact on indoor air quality.

THE SOLUTION: Keep Pollutants Out in the First Place Improving the quality of indoor air is vital for human health. The USEPA names source control as the best strategy to reduce indoor air pollution and limit chemical exposure. Source control can include selecting products that have been certified for low chemical emissions. These products have been tested for more thousands of chemicals to ensure they are safe and healthy for indoor environments.

Indoor Air Pollution and Health Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) refers to the air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially as it relates to the health and comfort of building occupants. Understanding and controlling common pollutants indoors can help reduce your risk of indoor health concerns.

Health effects from indoor air pollutants may be experienced soon after exposure or, possibly, years later.

Effects Some health effects may show up shortly after a single exposure or repeated exposures to a pollutant. These include irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. Such immediate effects are usually shortterm and treatable. Sometimes the treatment is simply eliminating the person's exposure to the source of the pollution, if it can be identified. Soon after exposure to some indoor air pollutants, symptoms of some diseases such as asthma may show up, be aggravated or worsened.

Certain immediate effects are similar to those from colds or other viral diseases, so it is often difficult to determine if the symptoms are a result of exposure to indoor air pollution.

Some effects may be made worse by an inadequate supply of outdoor air coming indoors or from the heating, cooling or humidity conditions prevalent indoors.

Other health effects may show up either years after exposure has occurred or only after long or repeated periods of exposure. These effects, which include some respiratory diseases, heart disease and cancer, can be severely debilitating or fatal. It is prudent to try to improve the indoor air quality in your home even if symptoms are not noticeable.

While pollutants commonly found in indoor air can cause many harmful effects, there is considerable uncertainty about what concentrations or periods of exposure are necessary to produce specific health problems. People also react very differently to exposure to indoor air pollutants. Further research is needed to better understand which health effects occur after exposure to the average pollutant concentrations found in homes and which occurs from the higher concentrations that occur for short periods of time.

Indoor air quality is an essential aspect of the Green Building Sector, the importance of which cannot be overlooked. l

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Building green but feeling blue?

In the last few years the UAE has made commendable efforts to promote and create environmentally sustainable Green Buildings. A critical element of a healthy building however, is the quality of air circulating within. This is an area that requires a little more attention from government authorities and the industry as a whole. We spoke with industry experts on the subject to find out the importance of indoor air quality and what industry and government can do to improve regulations and construction practices to improve levels of indoor air quality in our buildings.

Stephan Frantzen Architect and Managing Partner, P&T Architects Ahmed Mosa Senior Architect | Sustainability, P&T Architects Steven McFadden MENA Regional Manager, nora Systems GmbH Harry Norman Managing Director, Flip Flop Media FZ

What does indoor air quality mean to you?

Steven: Presently, we focus on the two critical areas of Education and Healthcare.

Education grooms the future leaders of the nation, while indoor air quality is a critical factor in a healthcare environment. Indoor air quality in Education to us means to reduce respiratory illnesses in schools. Most of the absentee in European and the US schools is due children with respiratory problems, specifically asthma. In the healthcare industry too what we are aiming to do is reduce VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) and particulate matter in the air. In a nutshell, indoor air quality to me is creating a healthy indoor environment particularly for those most susceptible to VOCs and particulate matter.

Ahmed: From an architect’s perspective we not only have to look at it from a health point of view but of the overall modern lifestyle and the interaction between indoors and outdoors.

According to statistics we spend nearly 90% of our time indoors. Even more so, in an extreme climate like the Middle East. So you have to make sure that airborne contaminants are below a specified level otherwise it affects performance in the workplace, recovery of patients in hospitals, quality of education in schools and overall quality of life in homes and public places.

Indoor air quality is an area that definitely needs more attention. Today we have sensors that let you instantly monitor the air quality of a room so if you are uncomfortable you can check levels of contaminants and then try to bring them down.

More research and better practises are the way forward.

Stephan: I think you can boil it down to something fairly obvious, which is that the air touches us. And where? The skin, which is the biggest organ we have.

And in the lungs that process the air we breathe.

Indoor air quality needs to be given much more attention than it is getting today. We have glossy awards and ceremonies for all these high profile projects that are still to be built, which make the winners very happy but don’t really do much else. Air quality, which is so critical to living and working spaces is totally neglected. So we have bad insulation that in turn has more ventilation fans throwing more wind, which means more dust floating around. In an office building like this, only 10% of the circulated air is fresh 90% is recycled! After all, we are what we eat and what we drink and what we breathe. Eating and drinking right is a big trend these days and we are more conscious about that. But we are not thinking about what we are breathing though most of the day. Not really. Maybe in your car. But that’s the only place where most of us are thinking about what we are breathing in and even there, it’s more to do with smell than the quality of air really.

Harry: Stephan, if you remember, in one of our early editions you had written an article about the rural to urban transition, so from a city perspective for a city like Dubai, how does air quality impact our lives?

Stephan: If you talk about air quality, all the construction that goes on in Dubai throughout the year kicks up a lot of dust. All the empty floors accumulate a lot of sand and dust. And when there is a strong wind, it provides a perfect “launching pad” for it. I live next to the Emirates Palace Hotel and we have terrace flat. One day we had to

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change the windows because of the sand that had accumulated in the window tracks and we couldn’t slide them. So the windows were left open for about half an hour at the end of which I noticed some patches on the floor. To my surprise they were patches of sand that had flown in through the open windows.

And this is not pure sand but dirty sand. It’s a pity but with all the construction in the city it’s very difficult to avoid this kind of air pollution.

What we would like to understand is that if a company like P&T has a serious approach to air quality and a manufacturer and supplier like nora has a serious approach, what’s holding the industry back then? Does our attention need to be focussed on legislations at the government level?

Or is the case where contractors or sub contractors are just not following the rules? Where do you see the scope for improvement?

Stephan: It’s a bit everywhere. I think we cannot expect contractors to suggest better systems than what is specified. Quite the contrary, most of them will go for something cheaper than what is specified and see if that can be allowed. And unfortunately many developers agree to that. Many are even willing to pay fines. That’s where bodies like the Dubai Municipality (DM) can make a big difference by being much less tolerant and not simply issue fines.

Steven: With regard to what Stephan has just said there are a number of different areas where things can be improved. But first we need to nail down where to start. The DM Green Codes would be good place to start. With regard to their improvement and the details within the code. Such as the requirement for meeting indoor air quality standards and testing.

At the moment its optional so it’s almost never gets done. Indoor air quality at the beginning of the life of building is very different from indoor air quality six to twelve months down the line. Speaking from a flooring perspective a lot of products come to site with a superficial coating on the surface and get excellent indoor air quality certificates. What a lot of people don’t know is these products get tested at 14 days and 28 days post installation and then they get their certification. We have proof from university studies done in hospitals in Austria and Germany that over a period of about three months you completely loose that superficial coating. Take PVC for instance,

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"I think you can boil it down to something fairly obvious, which is that the air touches us. And where? The skin, which is the biggest organ we have. And in the lungs that process the air we breathe. Indoor air quality needs to be given much more attention than it is getting today. We have glossy awards and ceremonies for all these high profile projects that are still to be built, which make the winners very happy but don’t really do much else. Air quality, which is so critical to living and working spaces is totally neglected. " Stephan Frantzen Architect and Managing Partner, P&T Architects

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incentive. And that is where I feel Dubai is heading as we get better and better. We are here today to help that process and enhance the development of Dubai. That is what we are passionate about.

If you want to really control air quality every installed material has to be strictly according to specified standard in letter and body.

Ahmed mosa senior architect | sustainability P&T architects PVC molecules require an phthalate chemical to make them mouldable. But these phthalates do not chemically bond with PVC. So to contain the phthalate chemicals the flooring requires a superficial coating. This coating then gets rubbed of in about three months and we then have SVOCs and VOCs being freely emitted from the flooring into the room.

Ahmed: We have the Green Building codes here and we have the laboratories of DM here. So we have a base to actually implement better indoor air quality regulations. Many projects do very well in energy efficiency and water savings but indoor air quality is an area that has so far been neglected. So we need to make sure all regulations are clear to all architects and engineers in the market and then make sure that they are being followed. Another important thing that can be done is retesting all the buildings for air quality every three years or so according to the latest standards. The code has to change from being a question of just getting a building permit to an issue of meeting operational regulations.

Stephan: But you see, taking away the green accreditation after three years may not be enough. The original developers may not care by that time. But then also if you overregulate you are likely to stifle creativity and development. Practicality has to be considered so the trick is balancing the right amount carrot with the right amount of stick. If it becomes prestigious to get this certification five years after project completion and if its actually handed over by the highest power in government, that would mean something. That would be an

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Steven: Incentivising is a very important factor. For example the KHDA conduct school inspections every year and then give schools a certain rating. At the moment they do a basic facilities review. They don’t look at indoor air quality but focus only the academics.

Now that’s one area that can be incentivised. If DM could tell KHDA that they should include an indoor quality report in their surveys every year which should be factored into the schools rating. That would encourage schools to take indoor air quality more seriously. The same system could transfer to the Dubai Health Authority for hospitals. Even for retail spaces the government could subsidies on rent depending the levels of indoor air quality of the mall or shop. It’s a lot of work but its not impossible as long as we put a concrete plan in motion. Take the Dubai Green Building code for instance. I was reading it in detail the other day and I was absolutely astonished.

Majority of the approved green product suppliers in the code were trading companies not manufacturers.

Now don’t you think that is very odd?

Ahmed: Many trading companies supply to projects based on standards certificates issued by one manufacturer but what actually reaches the site is from another. Specs on paper are important but equally, if not more, important is how contractors translate the same into installations on the floor.

Steven: One way to combat this is to have a mandatory country of origin certification. At least if they are going swap products it will hopefully come from more or less the same origins.

Ahmed: If you want to really control air quality every installed material has to be strictly according to specified standard in letter and body.

Stephan: So an obvious and straightforward solution is the appointment of qualified who should be held accountable. Appointed either by the government or from the construction company on project and he or she would regularly, physically check the properties of

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Another point of action for creating healthier indoor environments would be the refining of the Green Codes on this aspect and widely distributing a comprehensive set of guidelines among the developers and contractors of the UAE. steven mcfadden mena regional manager nora systems gmbh installed materials on site and report the same to DM. So that it becomes a practical and collaborative effort between DM and the appointed person. We as architects, when requested, are also there to oversee and control what goes into a project.

Apart from regulation do you think there is way to educate and incentivise the end user of the property to prefer buying a property with better indoor air quality?

Stephan: I think if we were to survey the priorities of people buying apartments, the number one factor is location, the second issue is price per square meter. If these two things are satisfied 90% of the buyers would not really consider other things like indoor air quality in deciding on their homes or offices. Also, in Dubai many of the properties are owned by one party and rented out to another. So the owning party doesn’t really care as much.

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Steven: I have been shopping for a house in Ireland these days and whenever I look at the description of a property the first thing mentioned on the paper is the energy rating of the property. Indoor air quality should also be next to it. When will that happen, I wonder. The key factor here is incentive. The government needs to provide some financial benefits to developers and contractors for creating buildings with better indoor air quality. Another point of action for creating healthier indoor environments would be the refining of the Green Codes on this aspect and widely distributing a comprehensive set of guidelines among the developers and contractors of the UAE. That would create certain awareness and a sense of corporate social responsibility, which is as important as regulation in creating better indoor environments.

Stephan: Yes it is a matter of balance. It is up to authorities to find the right balance. How much is too much and how little is too little? It’s also a matter of simplification. If you make things too complicated people often ignore it. Back in Denmark we have a book of building regulations that is very simple. Its not very lengthy but its very specific so you can’t manipulate your way around the codes if they don’t suit you. It’s so short and simple that most architects know it by heart. This way, by keeping it simple, you cover what you need to cover and people actually follow it. This is the way we can actually collaborate with DM to produce a tool that can be used to easily follow the right guidelines in letter and spirit.

Ahmed: One more important exercise before passing effective legislation is the creation of a feedback mechanism. Before a government body issues a regulation it could circulate a draft of it among a select and varied group of experts in the industry who could review and provide their suggestions for improvements on the same. This will more likely make any new regulations more widely understood, accepted and implemented. l

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special focus: Indoor air quality

"The human being is the yardstick and his/her well-being is our goal" Continuing the discussion on the importance and implications of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) we sat down with experts from TROX Middle East, a recognised global leader in indoor air technology and world-renowned P&T Architects, to find ways of setting better standards and improving air quality in the region’s construction projects. matthais KASPROWICZ, MAnaging Director, TROX middle East, jASON sHILLIDAY, sales manager, trOx middle east Stephan Frantzen, Architect and Managing Partner, P&T Architects Ahmed Mosa, Senior Architect | Sustainability, P&T Architects Harry Norman, Managing Director, Flip Flop Media FZC

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Matthias Kasprowicz: ”The human being is the yardstick and his well-being is our goal.“ These words from our late chairman Heinz Trox have been the philosophy that has guided our company from the start unto this day. We breathe more than 20,000 litres of air everyday, so no another natural element is more vital to our health and wellbeing. TROX is involved with two universities in Germany where over a 120 students are working on our research and development projects related to indoor air comfort, health and sustainability. We have always worked with our customers from the very early stages of design. We are now bringing this philosophy to the region with our products and working methods. The region has seen a number of high-profile projects where everything we see is of very high quality but behind the scenes quality of systems is not maintained. To change this mindset

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Air conditioning systems in a building are used for heating or cooling the air within. In the Middle East they are always for cooling. Controlling and cooling air is expensive so one cannot always bring in fresh air from outside and control its temperature. jason shilliday of the air itself may be good with lots of oxygen but how the air is blown and at what temperature determines how comfortable people indoors are. So it’s not just about the quality of the air but also how the air is distributed in the indoor environment.

and bring about a greater awareness of good quality indoor air distribution systems we decided to create the XsmartAir project. The XsmartAir project aims to create healthier and more comfortable levels of indoor air in the UAE and the wider Middle East region at a later stage. We have been in discussions with the Government and see a number of encouraging signs so far.

When we talk about IAQ and the sick building syndrome what are the actual issues we are dealing with here?

Jason Shilliday: Air conditioning systems in a building are used for heating or cooling the air within. In the Middle East they are always for cooling. Controlling and cooling air is expensive so one cannot always bring in fresh air from outside and control its temperature. So a large percentage of air within a building is recycled. How that is done determines indoor air quality. The quality

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Is the building design community in the GCC aware of the affects of indoor air quality?

Ahmed Mosa: Yes definitely. The majority of the design community are aware of it, for P&T, we have buildings standing for more than 100 years; it was always and will remain a core issue to address for us. From our opinion, it is not an issue of awareness for most; it is more of unorganised priorities and this make the issue of IAQ more serious.

The most common example is Tobacco Smoke Control. Everybody knows and aware of the negative impacts of secondhand smoke but still, we see a lot of places that allows smoking indoors, to attract customers, and do not have proper exhaust facilities; we can see that clearly in the older buildings. IAQ is a major concern worldwide but it shall be even bigger here in Middle East, for multiple reasons, first we tend to spend more time indoors with minimum access to fresh air, then due to the weather, our lifestyle and design of buildings. In other climatic zones, we can often just open the window to improve the air quality, easily and relatively quickly. In our climate, we cannot do that in summer months and sometimes all year because of the type/design of buildings we currently have - particularly skyscrapers where you may not be able to open the windows in the top floors safely due to higher wind speeds - our reliance sometimes is fully on mechanical ventilation to provide the required fresh air, which is then limited by energy consumption aspirations.

We believe that projects need a design brief for Indoor Air Quality. Not a generic one but a document that specifies values for each aspect of IAQ such as (VOC, formaldehyde, particulate matters concentrations in indoor air); this can be tested before handover and then tested post construction. We think this is the best way to tie in the architects and the design team post construction towards operations, and that will make good IAQ become a bigger design priority.

Matthias Kasprowicz: We are talking about 24x7 exposure to the air throughout the year in skyscrapers. In normal residential areas in the region, in winter we are fine when we open the windows we feel better. But for about five months a year we cant open the window. I have hardly seen and air ducting systems in any apartment or villa here where

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the return air is not going into the supply air and the supply air is not sourced from the rooms themselves. So there is almost no external source of air for the building.

In this room where we are sitting, for example, there are two supply vents and two exhaust vents. The exhausts usually just go into the false ceiling and not a duct.

This air above the ceiling is then sucked in by a fan coil unit back into supply vent. This endless recirculation of the same air gives rise to a number of respiratory ailments and other diseases. We have a couple of studies, which scientifically prove the effects of bad air systems because there is no sufficient supply of fresh air and unsufficient air treatment. There are adverse effects on students in schools.

There is a study by a professor from Berkeley University called William Fisk and it has proven that in a working environment productivity will increase by 4% if there is a proper supply of fresh air. Now convert that in GDP terms we are talking of increased productivity in billions of dirhams only in the UAE. There is another study on room satisfaction, which shows that with only 5% supply of fresh air you have a dissatisfaction level of 55% among the occupants of the building. If supply of fresh air is increased to 25% the dissatisfaction levels will drop to just 8%. A satisfied staff in the office will drop levels of absenteeism due to ill health by over 30% thus increasing productivity and again increasing the GdP. We are talking health, but for others it’s also talking money in the same context.

Do you think the Government is aware of the economic benefits of good IAQ? Matthias Kasprowicz: That’s a very good question.

They are starting to become aware and are creating

I 100% agree with that. The problem here is that we have mainly design and build projects, so developers have a very limited view and they don’t really care about operations.

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regulatory systems to improve air quality. But we are still at the beginning of a long process.

One of the key mandates of a project is initial cost and often costs for regularly testing air quality over a period of time post construction are neglected. Is that a common trend here? What are your thoughts on this?

Ahmed Mosa: Any given project will have different stakeholders whom sometimes include non-technical members that are concerned mainly by cost related matters, most of the time they will ask questions with focus on initial costs, and you may get disqualified immediately if the initial budget of the project is exceeded, even if the project saves, and generates revenue on the longer term. On that subject, we like to highlight that if we look at the costing of a building over period of fifty years, the initial cost will not exceed 25% and the rest will be operational. But it is only this 25% that is focussed on in the planning stages and that leads to wrong decisions. You can buy a cheap product, get the initial testing approved, but after one or two years of operation, no one knows about its functioning. Initial cost is indeed very important but operational cost must also carry its own weight in a project’s cost considerations, therefore we shall always look at the Life Cycle Costs (LCC).

Matthias Kasprowicz: I 100% agree with that. The problem here is that we have mainly design and build projects, so developers have a very limited view and they don’t really care about operations.

Ahmed Mosa: But this is the case in most global cities, short period for return on investment is always a key objective. Therefore, I

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we drink only two or three litres of water and eat about a kilogram of food. So you can imagine how important breathing good air is - both outdoors and indoors.

personally believe that change, especially for long term benefits, can be brought about with financial incentives or extra allowable leasable areas to the developer/ design team and with simplification of the topic further to the public. When it comes to the later, I think comparing Air quality issues to Water Quality is the key as both goes inside our body and crucial to our wellbeing.

Imagine if you gave someone contaminated coloured water to drink. Nobody would touch it because they know they would get sick immediately. The problem with low IAQ is that sometimes we cannot see or smell how bad it is, its effects are generally noticeable only over an extended period time such as Asthma. We hear about improved IAQ so far largely in the context of green buildings only, instead IAQ should be a core factor, like clean water, in the primary MEP considerations of any building project.

Matthias Kasprowicz: The problems caused by bad air-conditioning are now self-evident - especially, in the Middle East where we spend more time indoors than elsewhere. As I mentioned earlier we breathe more than 20000 litres of air every day. By contrast

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Jason Shilliday: From the first cost point of view in terms of mechanical and engineering design it’s a lot cheaper to install an air flow system with a very low fresh air flow rate because the actual cooling capacity required of the coil is a lot less - in villas especially. Most developers almost never factor in good IAQ supply in initial costs.

So accordingly you, what percentage of fresh air in an indoor system’s circulation is considered healthy?

Jason Shilliday: In the UK, for homes about 10 to 12 litres per second per person is considered good. It also depends on the size of the room and the application or activity it is being used for.

Matthias Kasprowicz: This also defined by standards. The DIN EN15251 standard specifies how many litres per second of fresh are required in separate categories - depending on whether it is an office environment, hotel, school, and so on. Another one is DIN 13779 for indoor air that takes into consideration the filtration process and the supply of outdoor air into the room and how often the system needs to be cleaned. Filtration and maintenance is another critical area. A developer or contractor has to get several approvals - including approval for air supply systems - from all kinds of Government agencies in order to construct a building. But one or more years after commissioning those certifications and approvals, particularly for indoor air conditioning systems might not be able to be achieved anymore.

Jason Shilliday: There is quite a lot of research data out there on post occupancy conditions of IAQ and more of that kind of research should be done here as well.

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spreading awareness of a better IAQ standards, similar to what’s happening in water, the public will feel its importance and we will start to see faster rate of change in the industry in general and society as a whole.

Jason Shilliday: Due to its regional importance the weightage of LEED points for IAQ should be different here compared to that in other parts of the world.

The task becomes harder in existing buildings, surveys are definitely mandatory to identify problems; the action required can be simple such as more regular maintenance but can end with major retrofit in mechanical systems if it does not provide a good quality air. ahmed mosa

As mentioned earlier, incentives can hold the key to creating better IAQ systems for buildings. Where does attention to that first need to be drawn?

Is it at the developer, contractor level, end user or is at government level?

Matthias Kasprowicz: Incentivisation requires a holistic approach that needs to be top down. It must come from the government first. It needs to be formulated as a mandatory policy requirement that will also be monitored throughout the life cycle of a project. There must be a mindset change in the whole construction community including the owners and end users of the building. They should not take a bad air conditioning system for granted.

As they don’t take a cheap carpeting for granted they should not tolerate below par air quality standards. And this requires people to be educated and made aware of the risks of a bad indoor air system. It’s not normal to feel cold in one corner of the room and warm in the other. It’s not normal to feel dizzy and lethargic because of excess CO2 or VOCs. “Value Engineering” is often misused to replace high quality systems with sub standard equipment to reduce costs. In public buildings good IAQ is responsibility that governments need to take on if they care about their people’s well being. And its not so difficult if you plan it. Take the capex of a building. Air conditioning is not more than 2% of the total cost. And the cost difference between a low quality and good quality system may be 100% (in the extreme case) at the time of installation. But considering the life cycle cost/benefit analysis of the building this initial investment pays off handsomely in terms of the health and overall productivity of the occupants. This is a point that needs to be emphasized at ALL levels. Our company, TROX, has products that solves all these problems and more.

Matthias Kasprowicz: A good place to spread awareness on the importance of good IAQ is in schools.

But what about existing buildings? How we can put in place a system to improve the air quality in existing buildings?

Jason Shilliday: You can change older buildings. It’s a matter of doing surveys in the rooms of the building to find out what the problems and working backwards to find the solutions at the source of the system. A good maintenance team would be able to do this.

Ahmed Mosa: The task becomes harder in existing buildings, surveys are definitely mandatory to identify problems; the action required can be simple such as more regular maintenance but can end with major retrofit in mechanical systems if it does not provide a good quality air.

Matthias Kasprowicz: This is where good quality systems can be used to create better indoor air quality by optimizing distribution and circulation using high-performance equipment for air-conditioning systems.

The discussions concluded with everyone agreeing that one practical way to effectively spread awareness about the topic would be to set up testing and rating standards for the IAQ of every building in the UAE. The rating could be displayed prominently at the entrance of all buildings. So everybody knows exactly what they are “getting into”. Just like energy and environment ratings are displayed on labels of products, similar ratings for air quality can be displayed on buildings. Schools would be a very good place to start this practice. l

Jason Shilliday: When the governments starts improving IAQ within their own buildings then the philosophy and mindset will start to filter down.

Ahmed Mosa: We definitely do have regulations that cover the percentage of fresh air required indoors, they are aligned with the latest standards from ASHRAE (62.1 & 62.2), but these are minimum to follow. We need and can go a step further by looking at the concentration of different pollutants. When the authorities start

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We help to understand how Internet of Things can reduce costs, improve efficiency and create new business models. We provide inspirational seminars, workshops for innovation and business case modeling. We create, integrate and deliver various IoT vertical applications. But it is more than just words, we have a long track record of the handcraft of technology – coming from the tech side we help you realize your strategy.

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CONSUMER

CITY

CITIZEN

special focus: Indoor air quality

'Actively' purifying The air inside our homes Indoor air can contain a dangerous cocktail of pollutants released by everyday activities and by the glues and chemicals used in cleaning products, floor coverings and furniture. In modern airtight buildings, concentrations of airborne pollutants, such as formaldehyde, present a real threat to health.

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yproc Activ’Air linings, however, have been shown in tests to actively remove up to 70% of this dangerous chemical, leaving air cleaner and protecting occupants from a range of associated medical problems.

With Activ’Air technology incorporated into their core, wall and ceiling linings will go on protecting building users for years to come.

Following the launch of groundbreaking new plasterboard, designed to remove health-damaging pollutants from indoor air, Jason Hird, Senior Technical Development Manager at Gyproc Middle East, reports on recent tests that prove its effectiveness in permanently removing 70% of airborne formaldehyde concentrations.

To answer the growing problem of pollutionlinked health problems in offices, schools, hospitals and similar buildings, Saint-Gobain central research has developed a groundbreaking new technology, designed to actively remove much of the formaldehyde concentration present in indoor air, which is known to be a major cause of health issues.

The new technology has already been applied to a range of plasterboard wall and ceiling lining products currently available from Dubai-based Gyproc Middle East, a member of the Saint-Gobain worldwide group.

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The new technology revolves around a patented additive in the plasterboard core that ‘captures’ formaldehyde in polluted air and converts them into harmless inert aldehyde compounds.

Initial tests proved the effectiveness of the Activ’Air technology, but they were concerned to justify claims concerning both the long term performance of plasterboard products containing the new technology, and to quantify the amount of formaldehyde-based pollutants that would be removed.

Formaldehyde reduction is based on experimental data following ISO16000-23 standards form 0.4m2 to 1.4m2 installed/m3room. Lifetime is calculated assuming linear performance with indoor formaldehyde concentration of 25µg/m3 covering ceiling, wall and combined configurations.

A series of tests were therefore commissioned at the Saint-Gobain research centre in Vaujours, France, which would replicate actual room conditions.

Two identical life-size sterile rooms were constructed, each with a volume of 33 cubic metres.The rooms were lined to three walls with plasterboard – the only difference being that the plasterboards in room 2 contained the special Activ’Air additive.

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typical 30ug/m 3 airborne formaldehyde concentration to below the recommended 10ug/m 3 threshold.

These tests have proved beyond doubt that Activ’Air plasterboards, currently available as wallboards and perforated acoustic ceiling products, are effective in permanently reducing pollution levels within buildings. They can be redecorated without any adverse effect on their absorption performance and require no maintenance once installed, unlike mechanical air filtering systems, which require constant maintenance to ensure ongoing effectiveness.

They can be redecorated without any adverse effect on their absorption performance and require no maintenance once installed, unlike mechanical air filtering systems, which require constant maintenance to ensure ongoing effectiveness.

Air was drawn from outside and conditioned in an airlock to 23oC and 50% relative humidity before being pumped into the test rooms at a constant air exchange rate of 1 volume/hour.

Conditions within the two rooms were therefore known to be identical.

Two identical cupboards, constructed in Oriented Strand Board (OSB), a known emitter of formaldehyde gas, were introduced into the rooms to increase the formaldehyde concentrations present in the air.

Tests were then carried out over a period of 2.5 months to measure the ongoing concentration of airborne formaldehyde in each room.

The tests showed that the Activ’Air lining in room 2 began to reduce the formaldehyde concentration within 1 hour of the test commencing and continued to work throughout the 2.5 month test with no reduction in effectiveness throughout the period. The level of Formaldehyde concentration in Room 2 was reduced by 70% over that in the control room, sufficient to reduce and permanently maintain the

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Gyproc Activ'Air Gyproc Activ'Air board is a high performance board consisting of an aerated gypsum core with other additives encased in, and firmly bonded to, strong paperliners and is suitable for drylining internal surfaces. Gyproc Activ'Air boards actively improve indoor air quality by permanently removing formaldehyde circulating indoors.

Key facts • Permanently reduces formaldehyde - even after multiple renovations.

• Provides at least 50 years of formaldehyde absorption based on tests and analysis.

• Can be used with most water based acrylic and epoxy paints and breathable wallpaper.

• Is a passive system - more effective in reducing formaldehyde than additional ventilation.

• Gyproc Activ'Air is also available in a Moisture Resistant, FireStop, DuraLine and M2TECH variant.

• Part of the Gyproc Eco-Innovation Sustainable Products Strategy.

• Formaldehyde reduction is based on experimental data following ISO16000-23 standards form 0.4m2 to 1.4m2 installed/m3room.

• Lifetime is calculated assuming linear performance with indoor formaldehyde concentration of 25µg/m3 covering ceiling, wall and combined configurations.

Application Gyproc Activ'Air is suitable for most system applications where normal fire, structural and acoustic levels are specified. Suitable for direct decoration.

Board color Ivory face paper Brown reverse side paper

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Healing Cities – Transforming ‘Sick Cities’ to Landscapes of Health and Wellness Steven Velegrinis, Associate Principal, Perkins+Will

‘Health’ in its broader sense has been defined as “the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living organism. In humans it is the ability of individuals or communities to adapt and selfmanage when facing physical, mental or social challenges” .

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I

n our view, cities must be regarded as living organisms and in doing so we must see urban health as an absolute responsibility of urbanists. This is of course an extension of the increased global interest in health and wellness generally.

Steadily the interest in health has pervaded most discourses about the city in direct or indirect ways and the environmental design professions should feel compelled to respond.

But why is health and wellness important?

Recently research – particularly in the USA - has demonstrated the need for far better health creation both from a financial perspective and from a quality of life perspective. The following graphic clearly illustrates the urgent need for preventative healthcare which is a situation that is mirrored in all of the developed economies of the world struggling with ageing populations.

Very simply, the cheapest way to address the rising costs of healthcare is to delay the need for it as long as possible. Traditionally the spectrum of healthcare is heavily weighted towards the clinical care typologies but increasingly we need to be conscious of our impact on the health of our cities.

As one example, the often quoted sensationalist phrase ‘Sitting is the new Smoking’ is actually of far more significance to urbanists than it might seem. Dr. James Levine, director of the Mayo Clinic-Arizona State University Obesity Solutions Initiative is credited with coming up with the saying and he has been studying the adverse effects of our increasingly sedentary lifestyles for years. He sums up his findings in two sentences.

“Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death.”

The question of sedentary lifestyles deserves deep attention by those who are involved in the creation of cities and sites. In the UAE and the Gulf sedentary lifestyles and contemporary eating habits have led us to a situation where diabetes is more than twice as prevalent as the global averages. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have diabetes rates of almost four times the rate prevalent in Continental Europe and double that of the United States . By 2035 the UAE will see a 245% increase in the number of cases of diabetes . If nothing else that should underscore the importance of how urban design responds to the impending crisis.

This moral imperative has coincided with greater interest in the health of our urban and non-urban landscapes. Climate change has necessitated a different approach to city building that does not simply accept city as one thing and landscape as other but rather conceives of the city as a hybridized landscape – part machine and part nature. This has found its expression in the discourses of Landscape Urbanism and Ecological Urbanism which seek to ensure the health of urban landscapes.

Landscape Urbanism’s stated aim is to “mobilise landscape’s conceptual scope; its capacity to theorise

“Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death.”

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sites, territories, ecosystems, networks and infrastructures, and to organise large urban fields. In particular, thematics of organisation, dynamic interaction, ecology and technique point to a looser, emergent urbanism, more akin to the real complexity of cities and offering an alternative to the rigid mechanisms of centralist planning” . In other words, it compels us to treat the city more like an organism that responds flexibly over time.

Similarly the Ecological Urbanism discourse suggests that “The prevailing conventions of design practice have demonstrated a limited capacity both to respond to the scale of the ecological crisis and adapt their established ways of thinking. In this context, ecological urbanism can be seen as a means of providing a set of sensibilities and practices that can help enhance our approaches to urban development” .

Various other discourses in the field of urbanism variously referred to as Metabolic Urbanisation, Emo Urbanism, Green Infrastructure and Smart Growth have reinforced these concepts and all in essence extrapolate the logic of Ecological Urbanism towards a more sensitive and health-oriented urban landscape.

In response to climate changes’ impact upon cities, this has also found expression in the concept of urban resilience. The ability of cities to respond to chronic stresses (like chronic disease, unemployment, violence or food and water shortages) or acute stresses (like earthquakes, floods, fires, terrorist attacks or infrastructure failure) are clearly related to the level of functional or metabolic health of cities.

By the same token we must recognise that cities exacerbate the potential spread of poor health as is evidenced by recent pandemics such as MERS in the Middle East, SARS in South East Asia or Ebola in Africa. So in short, cities are both a great threat to human health and our best opportunity to intervene in the health of people and of the planet.

So how should urban design professionals respond? It seems that the scale of the problem is such that governments and institutions like hospitals are the best placed to respond to this challenge.

This has been an important area of research for

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Perkins+Will who have long practiced in the design and construction of both Cities and Healthcare facilities.

Urban Health and Health Improvement Districts Our research into health is partly driven by our experience designing hospitals and research facilities but increasingly is it being driven by how we envisage cities. While the idea of ‘sick buildings’ and ‘sick buildings syndrome’ are widely understood relatively little is understood of the concept of ‘sick cities’ or the ways that cities promote poor health.

At Perkins+Will we have developed the concept of ‘Health Improvement Districts’ which look to surgically diagnose the urban causes of health issues and provide practical design solutions to revolutionize the health of future urban populations. One of the most fundamental facts that all urban designers must be aware of is the fact that we have a far greater influence on population health than any hospital or government agency.

As the graphic above demonstrates, more than 70% of public health is actually related to Environment and Healthy Behaviors – both key areas in which the cities we design have a primary impact. This underscores the fundamental importance of our social responsibility to design cities and sites that support healthy living. In simple terms, automobile-oriented cities lead to sedentary lifestyles whose natural outcome is obesity, heart disease, diabetes, reduced life expectancy and social fragmentation. Quite simply, if we will eliminate the environments that promote poor health the symptoms go away.

If we remain ignorant of our role in public health then we simply doom populations to further health degradation.

To date these groups of concerns have found their expression in a number of modest ways. Standards such as LEED, WELL Building, Living Building Challenge and Passivehaus have all heartily embraced the concept of healthy buildings with specific concentration on material health (low VOC materials for example) and Indoor Air Quality (including the use of plants indoors). The recently developed FitWell standard has focused on healthy indoor environments and promoting movement in buildings. As yet these measures have focused entirely on buildings and Interiors and not on the design of cities or entire urban quarters.

But if we are to accept that ‘sitting is the new smoking’ we cannot continue to design cities that are only navigable by cars. We cannot continue to design inert urban environments with no ecological health and no connection to surrounding developments. Moral responsibility requires us to start with urban planning because if we don’t get the basic structure of our cities right then everything else urbanistic is compromised.

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Baton Rouge is a 1,100 acre master plan study was initiated in 2013 to improve traffic flow and guide smart growth around two regional medical centers in South Baton Rouge.

We cannot continue to design cities that segregate and degrade human health.

We must not shirk our responsibilities by assuming a higher authority of bureaucrats and public servants will take care of the issue. The governments of the region are beginning to do their part. With the Public Open Space Masterplan and Fareej Models in the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council’s Plan 2030 we have practical regional examples of a starting point for making our cities healthy.

At Perkins+Will we have tried to extend this through our work on Health Improvement Districts. At the global level we have completed projects such as the Baton Rouge Health District which have helped us define our trajectory of Health Improvement Districts. Baton Rouge is a 1,100 acre master plan study was initiated in 2013 to improve traffic flow and guide smart growth around two regional medical centers in South Baton Rouge. We led a year-long participatory planning process involving thirteen healthcare, academic and research institutions, as well as government and non-profit partners, and residential communities in South Baton Rouge. The resulting Health District

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Plan includes a much broader scope and vision, ranging from healthy place-making to population health initiatives that prepare Baton Rouge for the future of healthcare.

The Baton Rouge Health District Plan creates a framework for transforming the medical corridor into a Health District—an efficient, safe and balanced community that supports healthy living, every step of the way. The District is more than a place: it's also a coalition for improving efficiency and community health outcomes through partnership initiatives. Among the proposed initiatives is the Baton Rouge Diabetes and Obesity Center—a community asset that will bring together healthcare providers and researchers working to reduce the burden of chronic disease in Baton Rouge and Louisiana. Growth of existing academic and research institutions, including the addition of a potential four-year medical school, is also accommodated in the District framework. The District also enables greater collaboration around transportation improvements and emergency preparedness efforts between partners.

The emerging Health District will support the vitality of its members and deliver health and economic development benefits to Baton Rouge and beyond.

In the Gulf a number of recently completed projects have also furthered our work into creating healthy environments. A recent Masterplan for an 800 hectare site at Jebel Bausher in Muscat Oman was fundamentally based on the concepts of health improvement districts. At its core were a series of wellness and medical facilities for traditional preventative medicines and a series of landscape frameworks that aimed to stimulate a healthy environment where people would choose to walk within their neighbourhoods and engage in socially meaningful contact.

The entire development was planned from the landscape up with the landscape dynamics of topography, hydrology, geology, soils and site-generated energy and water recycling structuring the entire development.

Our ongoing work for the Bogacay Creek Masterplan also furthers these efforts with a broad water management framework preparing the basis for a series of walkable districts planned as health improvement districts.

We remain committed to the idea that cities must be regarded as living organisms where urban health is our absolute responsibility.

We remain hopeful that this interest in health will pervade most discourses about the city in direct ways and that the profession feels the compulsion to respond. l

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GOVERNMENT

KSA Announces Transformation Plans Saudi Arabia has unveiled its National Transformation Program that aims to more than triple its non-oil revenue by 2020 while cutting state handouts, in a broad bid to reshape the kingdom’s economy amid falling energy prices.

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government

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he Government plans to achieve long-term economic change in an era of cheap oil and plans to more than triple its non-oil revenue by 2020 to SAR530 billion ($141.33 billion). The changes, focused on generating revenue from sources other than oil, aim to revamp the country’s economy by rolling back the role of the state.

The NTP follows on from long-term reform roadmap Vision 2030, announced by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in April. The overall goal is to both diversify the economy away from oil and implement social reforms after the country posted a nearly $100 bln deficit last year linked to tumbling crude prices.

Developing industries like mining and tourism and the creation of some 450,000 private sector jobs by 2020 are part of the NTP, which

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will cost around SAR270 billion to implement in its initial five-year phase.

One key element of the plan is to increase government debt to gross domestic product to 30 per cent from 7.7 per cent today.

Non-oil revenues will be boosted by value-added tax, taxes on tobacco and sugary drinks and fees on the private sector. VAT is the only tax commitment approved so far.

Other major initiatives of the NTP will be the reduction of public salaries

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Top government officials will outline what the NTP means for their respective departments in coming days. The shift away from fossil fuel presents a formidable challenge to the ruling monarchy, which has long relied on oil revenue to provide its citizens with generous welfare benefits and cushy government jobs as a proportion of the budget to 40 per cent, from 45 per cent by 2020, and an SAR 200 bln cut to water and electricity subsidies.

A prolonged period of cheap oil has made diversifying the economy a priority for the government. Efforts to reduce oil dependence have been tried before with little success, but some analysts have said the new urgency means there is greater political will to support the current plan.

The kingdom’s Council for Economic and Development Affairs, a body headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, drafted the plan, dubbed NTP. The vision also includes plans to sell under 5% of state-owned oil giant Saudi Arabia Oil Co. and to transfer ownership of the company, known as Saudi Aramco, to the kingdom’s sovereign-wealth fund.

The kingdom will look to install 3.5 Gigawatts of renewable power by 2020 and spend SAR 300 mln on identifying locations for nuclear electricity plants. Other spending plans include SAR 4.7 bln on improving hospital emergency rooms and intensive care units, SAR 2.1bn to restructure the postal sector, SAR 5 mln to set up an intellectual property authority, SAR 8 mln to improve civil service performance and SAR 3.5 bln to maintain cultural heritage.

The plan sees the country’s oil-production capacity maintained at 12.5 million barrels a day until 2020. Output capacity of dry gas would reach 17.8 billion cubic feet per day versus 12 billion currently. The country will produce 4 per cent of its power from renewable energy by 2020.

The mining sector is to contribute SAR 97 bln to economic output from SAR 64 bln presently.

A total of 24 government entities were involved in preparing the NTP. Top government officials will outline what the NTP means for their respective departments in coming days. The shift away from fossil fuel presents a formidable challenge to the ruling monarchy, which has long relied on oil revenue to provide its citizens with generous welfare benefits and cushy government jobs. Last year, oil revenue accounted

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for more than 70% of overall government revenue.

Two years of low oil prices have strained the kingdom’s finances, resulting in a record budget deficit of about $98 billion in 2015.

It has also drawn down its foreign-exchange reserves, which fell to about $581 billion at the end of April from a peak of $746 billion in August 2014.

The government has taken some steps to address this, issuing domestic bonds, cutting spending and raising the domestic cost of fuel, water and electricity. It borrowed $10 billion from a consortium of global banks in April and could raise as much as $15 billion by selling bonds for the first time to international investors, some bankers said.

The kingdom’s debt is likely to grow further: The NTP document says the nation’s ratio of debt to gross domestic product is expected to widen to 30% by 2020, from 7% today.

As part of the plan, Saudi Arabia aims to boost its credit rating to Aa2 by 2020, after several rating agencies downgraded the kingdom in recent months. Moody’s Investors Service in May cut Saudi Arabia’s long-term issuer ratings to A1 from Aa3.

The International Monetary Fund said in May that it expects Saudi economic growth to slow this year as cheap oil continues to weigh on the kingdom’s economy, but the IMF also praised the country’s efforts to promote changes and reduce its dependence on crude sales. l

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ARCHITECTS I MASTER PLANNERS I DESIGNERS Bogaรงay Creek Master Plan - Antalya, Turkey

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GOVERNMENT

Dubai Industrial Strategy Launched

Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has launched the Dubai Industrial Strategy that aims to elevate Dubai into a global platform for knowledgebased, sustainable and innovation-focused businesses.

H

is Highness reiterated that the UAE is on track to achieving its objectives with regard to integrating and complementing its economic sectors and optimising industrial capacity to supplement the GDP and other revenue streams to the national economy in the coming years.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said: “The Dubai Industrial Strategy aims to platform for innovative industries and a destination of choice for international companies seeking an integrated and favorable environment for growth and sustainability.”

He added: “With the launch of the Dubai Industrial Strategy, we are taking one more step towards the future. We have laid down a strong foundation that blends our strategic location and infrastructure with our ambition, confidence and experience.

Today we have put in place the basic framework needed to compete globally in the industrial sector and develop national talents. We are one step closer to achieving the goal of making Dubai a homeland for innovators, a favorite place to live and work in, a global economic hub, and a preferred destination for visitors.”

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum further pointed out: “Sustainable development involves activating all pillars of the economy. A conducive environment is required to achieve our targets that focus on knowledge, science, and research, which form the foundation for the development of industries.”

He added that a sound economy today means a diverse and integrated economy led by the industry and manufacturing sectors and built on pillars of innovation and creativity. The Vice President said: “Nations are recognised for what they produce and offer in products and services and the value they add to the global economy.”

The development of the Dubai Industrial Strategy was led by Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (Jafza) and Dubai Industrial Park in Dubai Wholesale City with support from the Executive Council of Dubai.

Numerous industry experts from more than 25 government entities

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and the private sector were also involved during the development phase.

The strategy aims to develop and implement longterm industrial policies to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of the industrial sector in Dubai and across its free zones. It identifies target industrial sectors and focuses on strengthening industrial integration - connecting the target sector with educational and research institutions to stimulate innovation and creativity with a view to developing strategic industries.

In addition, the Dubai Industrial Strategy aims to create an attractive environment for these strategic industries.

The Dubai Industrial Strategy is based on five key objectives that will serve as the foundation for Dubai’s industrial future. The Strategy aims to increase the total output and value-addition of the manufacturing sector, enhance the depth of knowledge and innovation, make Dubai a preferred manufacturing platform for global businesses, promote environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient manufacturing and make Dubai a center for the global Islamic products market.

The Dubai Industrial Strategy has further identified six priority sub-sectors: Aerospace, Maritime, Aluminum and Fabricated Metals, Pharmaceuticals and Medical Equipment, Food and Beverages and Machinery and Equipment. These sub-sectors were chosen based

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on their importance to the Dubai Industrial Strategy and Dubai Plan 2021, as well as their future growth prospects, export potential and mid-term to long-term economic impact.

Aerospace In the aerospace sector, Dubai can play a pivotal role through manufacturing spare parts for aircraft and providing maintenance and repair services. As per the strategy, Dubai will leverage its position as a global hub for aviation to increase the market added value (MVA), increase job creation and step-up the levels of research and development in this sector.

The crucially important aviation sector that supports the movement of passengers through Dubai has grown substantially over the years to reach 70 million in 2014. The Dubai-based Emirates Airlines alone currently owns a fleet of 239 aircraft in service and a further 269 that have been ordered.

Maritime Industry Dubai is considered a front-runner in the field of maritime maintenance and repair through its Dry Docks World and Dubai Maritime City. The emirate also has a unique global location as a centre of trade and maritime services - comprising Jebel Ali Port, the largest seaport in the Middle East with a capacity of 21 million containers. Dubai is in prime position to expand its activities to attract more traffic to its facilities, especially larger ships and offshore structures. Dubai can also foray into manufacturing yachts and boats to meet the domestic demand.

Aluminum and Fabricated Metals Dubai is home to one of the largest aluminum smelters worldwide. The UAE is among the top global exporters of aluminum - it exports 88% of the 2.4 million tons it produces annually. According to the Dubai Industrial Strategy, the emirate has the opportunity to raise its production capacity in metal fabrication through the development of its current base in aluminum production. This will be achieved by enhancing the capabilities of the downstream and finished goods manufacturing domains to increase the overall added value and maximise benefits from the existing smelters.

Pharmaceuticals The Dubai Industrial Strategy has chosen the pharmaceutical sub-sector for its vital importance and added value. With low local and regional production capacities, the countries

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in the GCC region currently import 80% of their pharmaceutical requirements. Lucrative opportunities exist to develop this strategic sector. The first phase of the strategy will focus on manufacturing cosmeceuticals (cosmetics that are claimed to have medicinal properties) to benefit from the growth of this niche market – particularly given the increasing demand for halal cosmeceuticals. The initial focus on this sector will help increase investments in R&D, infrastructure and building capacity and help step-up to the next phase of manufacturing pharmaceuticals that requires advanced technology, skilled human capital and strong R&D capabilities.

Food and Beverages The global F&B market was valued at approximately US$4 trillion in 2014. Dubai’s exports in the same year were worth AED47.7 billion (US$13 billion). With countries in the GCC region importing 70% of their food needs and registering an annual growth of more than 3%, Dubai can play a significant role in becoming a major hub for food products in the region. Dubai’s infrastructure, airports and ports, and logistical capabilities serve as drivers for the success of the F&B sector as it relies heavily on ease of access and speed of delivering raw materials and products.

The Dubai Industrial Strategy also aims to leverage the growing demand for halal products to enhance Dubai’s position as the Capital of the Islamic Economy and expand local manufacturing capabilities for producing high quality halal products.

Machinery and Equipment The Machinery and Equipment sector is one of the largest industrial sub-sectors in Dubai and accounts for about 25% of the industrial GDP due to the high domestic and regional demand for construction machinery and equipment. The global market for Machinery and Equipment is estimated at US$3.5 trillion. Developing this sector will add significant value to the GDP - especially given Dubai’s location and reputation as a hub for machinery and equipment in the region and beyond.

Strategic Initiatives The Dubai Industrial Strategy has identified 75 initiatives to transform Dubai into a global platform for industries based on knowledge, innovation and sustainability. The strategy is projected to help generate an additional AED160 billion by 2030.

According to the Dubai Industrial Strategy, the industrial sector is expected to grow by an additional AED18 billion by 2030 creating 27,000 jobs with exports forecast to increase by AED16 billion. Meanwhile, investment in research and development will increase by an additional AED700 million by 2030.

The contribution of the industrial sector to the GDP was around 14% in 2014. The sector’s resilience and competency led to its continued growth over the past years - even during the global financial crisis. l

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World’s first 3D-printed office opens for business in Dubai The use of 3D printing in architecture is a new technology and the logistics and mechanics for large scale applications are still being ironed out, but a new proof of concept has just been unveiled in Dubai. The 250-square-metre space is the world’s first functioning 3D-printed office building.

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H

is Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, stated that the UAE has emerged as one of the major incubators of innovation and future technology in the world today, and its focused initiatives to shape the future have become global models that can be emulated in all sectors.

“We implement what we plan, and we pursue actions not theories. The rapidly changing world requires us to accelerate our pace of development, for history does not recognize our plans but our achievements,” His Highness Sheikh Mohammed said while the opening of the ‘Office of the Future’, the first 3D-printed office in the world.

The unique 250-square-metre facility on the Emirates Towers premises in Dubai will house the temporary office of the Dubai Future Foundation.

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government

Innovative features have been adopted in the office building to reduce energy consumption such as window shades to offer protection from direct sunlight and keep the building cool.

Latest technology has been used in the management of information systems within the building.

Present were Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation His Highness stated: “We announce today the opening of the first 3D-printed office in the world, after less than a month of launching Dubai 3D printing strategy which showcases a modern model of

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construction. This is an experience we present to the world on implementing future technology in our lives, and it represents a new milestone for the UAE as a global leader in strategic achievements.”

He added: “We see this project as a case study that will benefit regulators as well as research and development centres at the regional and international levels on real application of 3-D printing technology. We are documenting this experience and building on it to take advantage of the most important lessons, which will serve as reference points to take this technology to new levels.”

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed pointed out that the competitive advantages of 3-D printing in terms of lower costs and faster delivery will make the UAE one of the most important sustainable economic hubs, enabling the effective use of this technology to establish future cities in all sectors.

The first 3D-printed office building of its kind in the world prepared for actual use has taken into account the integration of a unique building design and 3D-printing technology to offer key services within the building, such as electricity, water, telecommunications and air-conditioning.

The office space covers up to 250 square metres, while the exterior design reflects the most innovative forms of future work place. The design has been conceived to achieve a shift from the traditional form of work environments and provide greater opportunities to stimulate innovation and communication between work place teams. It also offers the possibilities for joint work with experts and innovators from around the world, and a platform to inspire ideas and develop relations between employees by establishing new methods for brainstorming sessions and creating a healthy and happy environment. The design also offers space for exhibitions and workshops as well as other events.

The 3D-printed office was constructed using a special mixture of cement and a set of building material designed and made in the UAE and the United States.

These materials have undergone a range of tests in both China and the United Kingdom to ensure their reliability. An arc shape was adopted for the building for safety purposes and to ensure the stability of the building.

Innovative features have been adopted in the office building to reduce energy consumption such as window shades to offer protection from direct

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GOVERNMENT

sunlight and keep the building cool. Latest technology has been used in the management of information systems within the building.

A 3D-printer measuring 20 feet high, 120 feet long and 40 feet wide was used to print the building. The printer features an automated robotic arm to implement printing process.

The labour involved in the printing process included one staff to monitor the function of the printer, in addition to a group of seven people to install the building components on site as well as a team of 10 electricians and specialists to take care of the mechanical and electrical engineering. As a result, the labour cost was cut by more than 50% compared to conventional buildings of similar size.

In order to manage the execution of the project, additional mobile printers were located at the construction site, in addition to the use of advanced computers to help ensure quality control, facilitate the printing processes, and form effective and productive basement for different projects requirements.

The full model took only 17 days to print after which the internal and external designs were adopted. The office was installed on site within two days, which is significantly faster than traditional construction

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The labour involved in the printing process included one staff to monitor the function of the printer, in addition to a group of seven people to install the building components on site as well as a team of 10 electricians and specialists to take care of the mechanical and electrical engineering. As a result, the labour cost was cut by more than 50% compared to conventional buildings of similar size. methods involving A category office buildings in such an innovative project.

The initiative comes as part of Dubai 3-D Printing Strategy, which is a unique global initiative aimed to harness this promising technology for the service of humanity and promote the status of the UAE and Dubai as a leading global centre of 3-D printing by 2030. The strategy focuses on three main sectors: Construction, Medical Products, and Consumer Products.

The opening ceremony was attended

by Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and The Future, Obaid bin Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, and a number of senior officials. l

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Construction, Development & Infrastructure

Dubai Holding unveils “Marasi Business Bay” Dubai Holding, through its real estate arm Dubai Properties Group, has unveiled “Marasi Business Bay,” a new waterfront destination and its largest development along the creek within Business Bay destination. The development embraces the longest promenade in the Emirates, spanning 12 kms, water homes, floating restaurants, retail options and five palm tree-lined marinas.

Located on the Dubai Canal Project, Marasi Business Bay is set to become a major future landmark in Dubai – an unprecedented unique waterside destination concept in the UAE and the Middle East. Marasi Business Bay features the region’s first purpose-built yachting destination with floating restaurants and cafes, alongside onshore boutique shopping and a range of leisure and entertainment facilities. The development’s residential units, which are to be built on water with boat access, provide unparalleled direct canal views and create a unique new living proposition for the real estate market in Dubai.

Commenting on the new project, H.E. Mohammad Abdulla Al Gergawi, Chairman of Dubai Holding, said: “The new project will strengthen the historic relationship between Dubai and its creek through the addition a new dimension to the residential, tourism and leisure offerings along the Dubai Creek.”

H.E. added: “Our objective is to create innovative and unique developments, that accentuate the essence of

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Dubai’s culture and heritage, and present what the future Dubai looks like; a city that enriches the lives of its residents and visitors alike through unparalleled lifestyle experiences, adding value for investors and Dubai’s economic diversification.”

H.E. added: “Located along the Dubai Water Canal, this waterfront destination embraces the longest water-side promenades, comprising a space rich with green spaces.

Our goal is to build a way of life. Our approach to the real estate landscape has gone far beyond the construction of towers and buildings, to encompass innovation and creativity; a symbol of the civilization of Dubai and the UAE and an essential instrument contributing to the happiness of the people as envisioned by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.”

“Marasi Business Bay will be developed in phases, and work has already started. The first phase, The Promenade will be completed by September 2016, in line with the opening of RTA’s Dubai Water Canal Project, followed by The Park and The Yacht Club. A substantial part of the development is set for completion by 2020, with overall

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Construction, Development & Infrastructure

Marasi Business Bay will be developed in phases, and work has already started. The first phase, The Promenade, is expected to be completed in sync with the opening of RTA’s Dubai Water Canal Project, followed

by The Park and The Yacht Club.

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works concluded by 2023. The total investment cost exceeds AED one billion, and will be self-financed in partnership with local financial institutions.”

PROJECT DETAILS 12 kms waterfront promenade, where waterfront experiences stretch to a new dimension The development embraces one of the longest water-side promenades in the Emirate of Dubai, spanning almost 12 kilometres.

Divided into three uniquely themed main areas, The Yacht Club, The Park and The Pier, Marasi Business Bay has been designed around entertainment and leisure experiences.

Five palm tree-lined marinas Presenting a world rich with wonders waiting to be discovered onshore and offshore, the unique waterfront will host five palm tree-lined marinas with 1,250 berths, alongside onshore boutique shopping and a range of leisure and entertainment facilities.

Water homes: a new way of life in the heart of Dubai The development’s residential units, which are to be built on water with boat access, provide unparalleled direct canal views and create a unique new living proposition for the real estate market in Dubai.

Water-side promenade, open spaces and floating restaurants The development will feature a range of local and international businesses and a total of 250,000 square metres of open space, including parks and the waterfront promenade. Over 100 shops and outlets span approximately 16,000 square metres. The Park area spans almost 60,000 square metres.

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The Yacht Club: A new touristic aspect along the Dubai Creek The Yacht Club will feature the first water homes in the UAE, providing views unlike any other in the region. And with its prime position along the waterfront promenade, these luxury homes will offer leisure and retail spaces for luxury dining, retail and entertainment facilities.

Fadel Al Ali, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Holding, said: “Dubai Properties Group enjoys a long standing experience of creating unique and global destinations. Dubai Properties has an extensive experience spanning more than ten years in the field of planning, developing and managing a diversified portfolio of famous destinations and projects that respond strategically to the needs of the diverse city of Dubai and the requirements of its residents.

Dubai Properties, through the smart and strategic development of destinations, seeks to enrich the lives of residents and visitors alike and to promote growth and economic diversification in the UAE.” Al Ali added, “Marasi Business Bay is yet another strategic project of Dubai Holding, set to mark a first in the city’s urban fabric with unique mixed-use landmarks. Harnessing the excellence and track record of Dubai Properties and innovation that runs across the Group, Marasi Business Bay is being developed with the aim of boosting the tourism industry in Dubai, and will reinforce Dubai’s position as a global tourism destination, in line with the UAE Vision 2021.” l

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Construction, Development & Infrastructure

Football frenzy to get Fillip with ICONIC new stadium Plans for a 60,000 capacity Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid football stadium have been revealed.

T

he AED3 billion stadium will be fully air-conditioned, with facilities including exercise pitches, a sports training hall as well as a 5,000 capacity car park, a sports museum, a multipurpose hall and conference and exhibition auditoriums.

Located at the site of the Dubai Sports Club in the Al Aweer area, the new Mohammed bin Rashid stadium will have 23,116 seats in the upper tier, 6,688

The stadium will have a unique design and will be the first pitch in the world that will have the shape of a half ball lifted on its foundations. It will include sports buildings, an exercise pitch, a sports training hall and car parking lots with a capacity for 5,000 vehicles.

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seats n the lower tier, 8,941 VIP seats and 1,642 seats are in VIP suites.

The stadium will have a unique design and will be the first pitch in the world that will have the shape of a half ball lifted on its foundations. It will include sports buildings, an exercise pitch, a sports training hall and car parking lots with a capacity for 5,000 vehicles. The venue will also feature a sports museum spreading across 1,500 square meters and a multi-purpose hall spanning 3,500 square meters.

The stadium will be fully airconditioned and complies with the standards and specifications of the world football governing body FIFA. Perkins + Will, the global engineering and architectural consultant has been chosen to execute the mega stadium. l

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Construction disputes at US$ 82 million in 2015: Arcadis Middle East overtook the rest of Asia as the region with the highest value of construction disputes in 2015

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Construction, Development & Infrastructure

W

ith uncertainty reigning in markets around the world and construction projects more complicated than ever before, construction disputes are a major risk and can have far reaching consequences.

The average length of global construction disputes increased to a record of 15.5 months in 2015, according to the sixth annual Arcadis Global Construction Disputes Report 2016: Don’t Get Left Behind. This is the sixth consecutive year that the length of disputes have increased. The report suggests this is likely due to a mix of factors, including an increase in the size of disputes and in the number of large and complex Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract disputes.

Meanwhile, the value of disputes relating to major global construction projects marginally reduced to, on average, $46million. However, the Middle East still saw an increase in value, overtaking Asia as the region with the highest valued disputes in 2015, with an average of $82million.

Mike Allen, Global Leader of Contract Solutions at Arcadis, comments: “In 2015 the construction industry faced head winds in particular with commodity and currency volatility. This resulted in many projects and programs being faced with a very different economic business case than had been planned, which contributed to some of the issues and disputes that have materialized.”

The Middle East saw its dispute value increase to nearly 7%, once more, to their highest value since 2011 and remains the only region with increasing dispute values compared to last year, according to the report.

This year’s report is Arcadis’ sixth annual study into the duration, value, common causes, and methods of resolution of construction disputes across the globe.

The report found that construction disputes were the highest in the Middle East at $82 million, followed

by Asia at $67 million. However, in North America, the United Kingdom and Continental Europe, dispute values dipped to an average of $25 million.

Craig Beeson, Head of Contract Solutions, Middle East at Arcadis, says: “In an economic environment impacted by the oil price, the market continued to see a restriction in decision-making within the industry. This drove a lack of appropriate delegation to project management consultants and client representatives, thereby prolonging critical commercial decisions and generating cash flow issues related to instructed variations.”

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Failure to properly administer the contract holds on to its top position regionally from last year as the main cause of construction disputes, followed by poorly drafted or incomplete and unsubstantiated claims.

The top three causes in 2015 were: 1. Failure to properly administer the contract 2. Poorly drafted or incomplete and unsubstantiated claims 3. Incomplete design information or employer requirements (for D&B/D&C) In the Middle East, where a JV is in place, the proportion of disputes caused by a JV-related issued dropped in 2015, moving down almost ten per cent to 32.3%.

Some clients are looking to spread cash obligations by prolonging commercial payments and negotiations.

Additionally, the tendency to utilize a traditional contracting strategy is ill-suited to the continuing size and complexity of the programs. This is exacerbated by the propensity of clients to transfer the majority of project risk to contractors.

However, there is a desire from all parties to better streamline formal dispute processes, reduce administrative burdens and create a fairer contracting model. There is a noticeable shift in the use of

Mediation and Adjudication in lieu of the traditionally contracted Litigation/Arbitration methods. All parties embrace the added value that an impartial professional judgement/recommendation brings over the settlement of disputes, which is not only cheaper and more expeditious, but also transfers decision-making to external agents, thereby assisting with state audit compliance.

The market is further increasingly utilizing design and build contracting models and has even experimented with the New Engineering Contract (NEC) suite. Publicprivate partnerships are also growing in popularity as inward investment is coveted to mitigate budget deficits generated by low oil prices. This shift in strategic procurement can only be beneficial to the continued growth of construction in the Middle East and maintain its attractiveness to international contractors and consultants.

While the region is experiencing a challenging period, the opportunities and potential rewards for contractors and consultants remain. As better compliance and cost optimization initiatives are introduced by private operators and governmental entities, the market will improve as an environment within which both domestic and international organizations can thrive. l

Global Construction Disputes – Summary of Results

Region

Dispute values (US$ millions) 2010

2011

Length of dispute (months) 2012

2013

2014

2015

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Middle East

56.3

112.5

65

40.9

76.7

82

8.3

9

14.6

13.9

15.1

15.2

Asia

64.5

53.1

39.7

41.9

85.6

67

11.4

12.4

14.3

14

12

19.5

North America

64.5

10.5

9

34.3

29.6

25

11.4

14.4

11.9

13.7

16.2

13.5

UK

7.5

10.2

27

27.9

27

25

6.8

8.7

12.9

7.9

10

10.7

Continent-al Europe

33.3

35.1

25

27.5

38.3

25

10

11.7

6

6.5

18

18.5

Global average

35.1

32.2

31.7

32.1

51

46

9.1

10.6

12.8

11.8

13.2

15.5

Source: Arcadis Global Construction Disputes: Don’t get left behind

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www.dewan-architects.com

Over 30 Years of Commitment to Excellence in Design and Engineering

For more than three decades Dewan Architects & Engineers has been one of the region’s leading lights guiding, driving and catalysing the extraordinary evolution of the Middle East’s architecture and engineering design industry.

P.O. Box 60990 Al Wasl Road Dubai, UAE Phone: +9714 395 6566 info@dewan-architects.com

Construction, Development & Infrastructure

Reem Mall DESign awarded estidamA 2 pearl Rating

Reem Mall, Abu Dhabi’s major new up and coming retail, leisure, dining and entertainment destination, has today announced that it has been awarded the Estidama 2 Pearl Design Rating by the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council (UPC).

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Construction, Development & Infrastructure

E

stidama is an initiative developed and promoted by the UPC for large-scale sustainable urban developments. It seeks to promote thoughtful and responsible development through the creation of a balanced society based on four equal pillars of sustainability: environmental, economic, social and cultural.

Designed by Dewan Architects & Engineers, Reem Mall has been designed to minimise overall energy use, with wall, roof and glazing having been carefully studied and designed with high-efficient insulation and high performance materials.

The Pearl Rating System for Estidama aims to address the sustainability of a given development throughout its lifecycle from design through construction to operation. Having been awarded the 2 Pearl Rating for design is a clear recognition of the sustainability focus delivered

by Reem Mall’s development team during the design phase of the US$ 1 billion project.

From the outset, Reem Mall has not only followed but exceeded the minimum mandatory sustainable design requirements set out by UPC. “Reem Mall is committed to environmental sustainability and the sustainability goals of the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council and Abu Dhabi Vision 2030. From the outset, we have strived to exceed the guidelines set out by the UPC by going above and beyond the minimum requirements,” commented Shane Eldstrom, Chief Operating Officer for Reem Mall.

“We are very proud to say today that our commitment and efforts have led to the project attaining the 2 Pearl Design Rating. There are a number of significant sustainability strategies that we developed and implemented during the design process for Reem Mall, with the goal of becoming a regional leader in sustainable mall development.”

“The Reem Mall project is welldeserving of its Estidama 2 Pearl Design Rating, as the project comprehensively illustrates the integration of the pillars of Estidama, factoring in such components as

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water, energy, waste management and local material use. By achieving a 2 Pearl Design Rating, Reem Mall has exceeded the minimum mandatory 1 Pearl Design Rating requirement for privately funded developments, and we will continue the offer support to the project team as the project progresses with its construction in order to ensure that commitments made for the Design Rating are achieved.” said Mohamed Al Khadar, Executive Director, Urban Development & Estidama Sector, UPC. From the outset, Reem Mall has been designed as a highly efficient building that will minimise overall energy use.

The walls, roof and glazing have been carefully studied and designed with highefficient insulation and high performance materials, coupled with high efficiency air conditioning and lighting systems.

Water consumption has been another key consideration. To reduce the consumption of potable water in the building, efficient water irrigation systems and appliances have been incorporated into the design. Looking ahead, equally robust sustainability measures have been applied to the construction phase.

A minimum of 70 per cent of the waste generated on site will be recycled, and 20 per cent of materials

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will be procured from sources within 500 km of the site, reducing the travelling distance and related air pollution.

Comprising around 450 stores including 85 food and beverage outlets, a diverse palette of entertainment offerings, hypermarket, four department stores, a multiplex cinema, two food courts and the world’s largest indoor snow play park, the $1 billion retail development’s construction broke ground on Abu Dhabi’s Reem Island in December last year.

Strategically positioned within the new masterdeveloped and commercial zone of Reem Island, Reem Mall will be easily accessible to and from Abu Dhabi’s mainland. Offering a significant 6,800 parking spaces for shoppers’ convenience, Reem Mall promises a unique experience which combines best-in-class shopping and entertainment that will enhance Abu Dhabi’s leisure and lifestyle atmosphere.

DIGITAL INNOVATIONS Reem Mall has now also automated property management and accounting with Yardi Voyager® 7S, a tablet-

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Construction, Development & Infrastructure

“We are pleased to have adopted a solution that can accommodate large and diversified portfolios, but also support specific needs to cater for individual asset types. We are looking forward to streamlining our processes and utilising the solution to help us provide enhanced services to our tenants and drive our real estate strategy.”

compatible, Software as a Service property management and accounting platform.

Another innovation, the Yardi Commercial LeasingPad™, provides contact and prospect management as well as portfolio health analytics with business intelligence on mobile devices.

“We chose Voyager because it is the best solution for managing a development such as Reem Mall,” comments Shane Eldstrom, Chief Operating Officer for Al Farwaniya Property Developments. “We are pleased to have adopted a solution that can accommodate large and diversified portfolios, but also support specific needs to cater for individual asset types. We are looking forward to streamlining our processes and utilising the solution to help us provide enhanced services to our tenants and drive our real estate strategy.”

“Our goal remains helping our clients in the Middle East operate more efficiently with an end-to-

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end real estate platform and as a result, help them drive revenue,” said Neal Gemassmer, vice president of international for Yardi.

“Reem Mall has joined a growing portfolio of clients that are live on Voyager, centralising their data in the cloud to reduce overhead costs and increase flexibility and security.” l

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Abu Dhabi: Building the Future City Do the rise of mega-cities represent a symbol of hope and opportunity for billions around the world, or a grim vision of a congested and fragmented urban dystopia? Does rapid urbanization inevitably mean a poor social conditions of the future or can innovation provide radical solutions to the problems of development? Can the city maintain its lure in the twenty-first century?

T

his event will be exploring how Architects can play a role in the UAE drive to Future Cities, focusing on current projects in the Midldle East and how they reflect the condition of the social, economic and political shape of the region.

The programme will also include the region's first 'Specifiers Den', with selected partners providing critical information on the most innovative products in the market today, in an exciting, engaging and effective manner.

Each year the AIA Middle East Chapter organize continuing education lectures and talks throughout the region to help architects maintain their licensure. The AIA Middle East recognizes that continuing education in architecture is crucial to advancing and improving the profession.

Architects need continuing education to maintain competency, to prepare for the future and also to fulfill the continuing education requirements for AIA membership. l

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ABOUT AIA MIDDLE EAST AIA Middle East, a Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, is a non-profit membership organization. It was established on 21 September 2010, to serve the professional interests of the growing number of AIA member architects practicing in the Middle East and North African region. It is the fifth international chapter to be established outside of the US. The objective of this Chapter is to extend the services of the AIA to its members practicing in the MENA region, and uphold a high standard of design, education and professional practice among its members.

Equally as important, AIA Middle East will help foster stronger ties between AIA, regional architects and governments in the MENA region.

The Chapter will organize US trained architects and other interested design professionals who are active in the Middle East, and who have professional ties to the United States. The Chapter seeks to foster an understanding of the differences in professional practices between the US and the Middle East; promote US training and design approaches; facilitate international recognition of US professional architectural credentials; and foster communications between AIA and its members who work and reside in the Middle East.

The domain of this Chapter includes all countries in the MENA region: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen. www.aiamiddleeast.org

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Construction, Development & Infrastructure

Realizing a sustainable vision requires a holistic approach we went to Abu Dhabi to speak with some experts in the industry about the City’s aims to achieve a sustainable future. During the Roundtable discussions a number of valuable insights were gained in how Abu Dhabi’s public and private entities have been interacting and what more can be done to promote the cause of sustainable construction for wider and more long term benefits for the city’s residents.

The participants in the discussions were: Albert Naim, Associate Principal, AECOM Keith Miller, Director Advisory Services, ATKINS Lee Evans, Technical Manager, KNAUF Ghassan Ibrahim, Specifications Manager, KNAUF

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How important is collaboration between the Abu Dhabi Authorities and the private sector when it comes to the long term planning of Abu Dhabi as a city?

Albert: I think it is critical, the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council are taking a leading role within this and have managed to have multiple workshops and signoffs from both the private and public sector developers for the Abu Dhabi Vision 2030. It included their big projects, but I think the problem isn’t within the engagement of the private sector’s big developers, but the coordination between the authorities with each other.

UPC are taking a leading role in creating planning processes, establishing layers of infrastructure, coordinated with transportation, socio-economics, etc. But I think that other Government authorities are still lagging behind. Further, there are some conflicts between the different authorities’ guidelines and accordingly developers get lost in between and that is the one of the biggest challenges for Abu Dhabi moving forward.

Public Transportation is not there yet. Developers are supposed to build using certain rates and co-

efficiencies with transit shares, etc, but at the same time they are being held up because the implementation of these strategies are not there yet. The UPC are leading the collaboration, but they need all the other authorities on board.

Then the developers will follow.

Keith: I agree with Albert, we need to ensure that we keep revisiting and refreshing the vision, even the 2030 vision. This isn’t something that you can just write once, so in many ways I’d like to see more of an approach of updating the vision. You can’t just make a vision 15 years ahead and hope that it stays consistent. We really need to keep evaluating it and giving it that continual refreshment every few years.

This is across all sectors and industries, you keep the stability of the target but at the same time you accept that technology changes and you have to move with it.

We have seen this with Dubai, with

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Construction, Development & Infrastructure

the sudden rush towards renewables which have become half the price of using oil.

These developments make you take that sidestep. Some items within the 2030 vision are very high level when looking at renewables and similar concepts, but the details on implementation are not clear. The issue then is the UPC pushing strongly and other government groups trying to catch up. How do they catch up? Well they haven’t got time to keep looking at new standards and ideas, so how do we mandate this process so that it is easier for these authorities once a year to evaluate, rather than every day. This keeps the vision fresh, and ensures that we move together in the same direction. I think we may need a bit more work on bringing this vision back into reality.

We also need to look at mandating more areas which are implemented. Some of the largest problems we face on projects is the “do I have to do that?” mentality. The “is it optional?

Can I get away with a cheaper material? Do I have to have solar power in?” Any thing to reduce the initial investment, but when 90% of the cost is in actually running the building, it leaves the operator in a very difficult position. The challenge is trying to get this message across that some aspects are mandatory without being draconian. It can be a very difficult balance.

How important are Estidama guidelines? or should we be looking at a one UAE approach to green building legislation?

Lee Evans: From a manufacturing point of view what we feel, like Keith mentioned, is that we need to make things simpler, easier to understand and more

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Albert Naim Associate Principal AECOM

Keith Miller Director Advisory Services ATKINS

Ghassan Ibrahim Specifications Manager KNAUF

Lee Evans Technical Manager KNAUF

accessible. They (Estidama) have a vision, but it’s not always clear. The rules are sometimes taken from overseas which have green building regulations, but often they simply do not work within this region. For the contractors and developers who are building, it’s not always that clear. Sometimes the message isn’t passed down and isn’t always updated regularly. We do a lot of work with the civil defense authorities and we find that they don’t always have a set of rules that are defined on what we should be doing with a building. If we don’t have this in place, how can we realistically set visions? Bringing in rules from America and Europe isn’t always the best way to go forward, they do not necessarily work in this region. I would like to see the UAE get its own building regulations, which are created for this environment.

Keith: Estidama does have it’s own rating system which have tried to look at some of those points, and in these cases it is probably unique within the region.

However, aiming for a Gulf-centric and internationally collaborative system would be more exciting rather than just having a localized framework. It’s difficult to have your own independent rating system in a city with such a high turn over of people. Most people will have some knowledge of LEED before coming, so it would be easier for them to work with. Maybe a profile of LEED as a correction, which has incorporated Estidama ratings to make it ‘region specific’ would be a better way of going forward rather than keeping on with their own individual, very local standards system.

It’s hard for any company coming into the area with highly local systems.

To an extent they are a victim of their own success, Estidama has done well coming up with their own regional standards. However, other standards have now taken what they have said on board and started incorporating the rating systems. Maybe it’s time they migrate towards some of the international standards,

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Construction, Development & Infrastructure

and make it easier for construction professionals to be able to incorporate a wider group of skills from around their own organizations. It would be cheaper, get more re-use, and for the suppliers they wouldn’t have to keep bringing people in and training them up for what is a one-city standard.

Ghassan: The different standards across the GCC can be problematic. It’s not that much, but there are also discrepancies between the Emirates. However, they have started to realize this and based on the manufacturers’ and private sector recommendation have begun to clarify this.

There are discrepancies on specifications and I hope that they will be corrected. The difficulties faced can still be overcome with good communication and clarification. The Government bodies are positive in responding to the requests from the private sector, but they need to keep revising this and re-reading it so that we can have continual updates.

Do Developers understand the benefits of collaboration in the initial design stage in Abu Dhabi?

Keith: Collaboration is available and driven in Abu Dhabi but it can be authority specific. You speak

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with the Housing Authority to discuss standardizing BIM Models and city models and the level of how they should design their buildings to become more sustainable for a certain project but that might have nothing to do with what happens on other projects in the city. It’s that approach which can turn a large city into suburbs and all of a sudden its extremely difficult if the city doesn’t grab hold of this and create a common vision for itself. As a supplier you will face real problems. ‘You can solve a piece here, but it doesn’t really matter as it is still

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Construction, Development & Infrastructure

The difficulties faced can still be overcome with good communication and clarification. The Government bodies are positive in responding to the requests from the private sector, but they need to keep revising this and re-reading it so that we can have continual updates. ghassan ibrahim broken there’. Transport is a particularly good example in terms of the metro and transits, we can’t have a sustainable vision without a holistic view of the city.

We do a lot of good work with awuthorities and there are several attempts looking at city-wide models and for Abu Dhabi I think that is the correct perspective looking at the longer term.

Albert: When we look at collaboration, getting consultants on board and incorporating their views in legislations and frameworks varies from one authority to the other and from one project to another. We come up with a strategy of: Who do

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we want to be involved in this project? Who are the thought leaders we can bring in from universities, community leadership, and the younger generations?

Ultimately it all depends on the project. There are certain projects where you would need a wider input from consultants, and from government agencies, even looking at the public involvement plan. Other projects or legislation frameworks may not need that level of action or intervention; so it is on a project by project basis.

Is this done to its best here? I cannot say as we (as consultants) are not involved in every project, but I believe we do our best to get the right level of involvement for the ones we are involved in.

Ultimately, it is up to the client and the Government to confirm the level of interaction they need. Sometimes they can come up with a strategy of how to interact: It could be an optional workshop confirming the baseline of action and feedback. Or we could actually go into the feedback straight away. You meet with all agencies and all consultants and tell them ‘this is how we are going to do it’. It is a level of involvement, but it may not the level of involvement that the project may actually need.

The discussions ended with a general consensus that a higher degree of meaningful public-private interaction and involvement of all main players in the early stages of a project will foster the creation of more sustainable construction practices and legislation in Abu Dhabi City and the UAE in general. l

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SUSTAINABILITY

Hundreds of Cities Commit to Combating Emissions cities, which represent a combined population of 439 million people, could propel countries to meet their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), which are the national greenhouse gas reduction pledges embodied in the Paris Agreement.

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ccording to “Can a City Be Sustainable?”, the latest edition of the annual State of the World series from the Worldwatch Institute (www.worldwatch.org), cities and their inhabitants are playing a lead role in achieving global climate action goals.

“The challenge over the next several decades is an enormous one,” write Michael Renner and Tom Prugh, contributing authors and co-directors of the report. “This requires not change around the edges, but a fundamental restructuring of how cities operate, how much they consume in resources and how much waste they produce, what they look like, and how they are structured.”

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Among the C40 cities, only threequarters have budgetary control over property or municipal taxes.

In poorer cities, multilateral development banks and a variety of donors may play an important role.

Growing numbers of cities have pledged themselves to climate commitments and sustainability goals. The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group has expanded to over 80 cities. The Compact of Mayors, launched at the 2014 United Nations Climate Summit, is the largest coalition of city leaders addressing climate change. ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability works with more than 1,000 cities around the world.

Cities today host more than half of the earth’s human beings and represent about 70 percent of global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. If trends continue, urban populations are expected to increase to 6 billion by 2045, at which point two-thirds of all people will live in urban environments.

“If current trends in urbanization continue

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sustainability

“This requires not change around the edges, but a fundamental restructuring of how cities operate, how much they consume in resources and how much waste they produce, what they look like, and how they are structured.”

unabated, urban energy use will more than triple, compared to 2005 levels, by 2050,” write Renner and Prugh.

It is no surprise that cities collectively account for a large share of greenhouse gas emissions, because they concentrate economic activity. But cities vary widely in their per capita emissions.

Rotterdam in the Netherlands, for example, emitted 29.8 tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent per capita in

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2005, whereas Paris emitted just 5.2 tons per capita. Many variables, such as climate, urban form, and primary energy source, affect a city’s level of emissions.

Economic factors, such as the wealth and income of residents and the level and structure of economic activity, also play a major role.

“Only demand-side policies that succeed in sharply reducing energy consumption in transport, buildings, waste handling, and agriculture can address the urgent need to decarbonize energy,” write Renner and Prugh. “It is cities that must step up to the front lines of that battle.”

In conjunction with policy changes, cities’ success will depend on having both comprehensive data and financial support. Current protocols, such as one developed by the World Resources Institute, C40 Cities, and ICLEI, can be used to measure or estimate greenhouse gas emissions in cities worldwide. Financing sustainability in cities may be easier in some cities than in others. Among the C40 cities, only three-quarters have budgetary control over property or municipal taxes. In poorer cities, multilateral development banks and a variety of donors may play an important role.

Worldwatch Institute’s Can a City Be Sustainable? (State of the World) examines the 0core principles of sustainable urbanism and profiles cities that are putting them into practice. l

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A Sustainable Business Made Easy How you can improve your sustainability efforts? Sustainability self assessment tool launched on World Environment Day to encourage entities to assess and identify opportunities for improving sustainability efforts.

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et the most out of your sustainability efforts.

World Environment Day was marked by the introduction of an online sustainability selfassessment tool for businesses. Do you know how your day-to-day business operations impact the environment?

By introducing this tool, the aim is to enable entities to understand their current sustainability efforts, economically, socially and environmentally, and from there, use this knowledge to benchmark against peers and achieve better environmental credentials.

The tool covers a multitude of sectors and activities which all businesses have exposure to. Categories included are an initial assessment of a number of important resources and operation excellence issues such as energy, water, green operations, innovation, infrastructure, and human capital.

Waleed Salman, Chairman of Dubai Carbon Centre for Excellence said, “We have created this online selfassessment sustainability tool, in order to support the private sector to understand where they stand within the green economy. The tool will identify opportunities an organization can take advantage of, in order to achieve higher credibility in contributing to the nation’s sustainability vision, and give a clear direction to the organization’s operational efficiency strategies.”

Frode Mauring, UNDP Resident Representative in the UAE, said, “Inclusion of sustainable processes in private sector plays a crucial role in the successful implementation of governmental policies to establish a green economy environment.”

The easy-to-use assessment tool will be able to provide a multi-criteria baseline understanding of the organisations that complete it in regards to the green economy. It will also measure sub-categories such as renewable energy, clean fuel, green technologies, capacity building, youth development, green innovation and green procurement. The tool would also build on the interest of multi-sectoral organisations to formulate green economy frameworks, which would have a cascading effect on the supply chain.

Meanwhile, the UAE Minister for Climate Change and Environment Dr. Thani Ahmed Alzeyoudi, inaugurated the nation’s celebrations of the UN World Environment Day 2016, themed “Go Wild for Life.”

The celebrations were held for the sixth consecutive year by the ministry in collaboration with Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority.

The World Environment Day 2016 celebrations, held on June 3 and June 4 at the Festival Square in Dubai Festival City, included the participation of various government entities and private organisations. Among the key highlights of this year’s event, were a music parade by Dubai Police, a number of activities and competitions, as well as school children’s workshops that focused

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on the distressing and rapid depletion of planet earth.

Giveaways were handed out to participants and children to encourage them to support the UAE’s efforts in protecting the environment, limiting over consumption and reinforcing environmental awareness.

Dr. Alzeyoudi commended the efforts of all relevant entities in preserving the UAE’s wildlife and countering all forms of illegal

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trade. He bolstered the UAE’s dedication, under the leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to continuously battle the trend of illegal wildlife trade.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) said that International Environment Day is an opportunity for everyone to realise their responsibility to protect the Earth, and renew our national commitment to protecting our natural resources, by rationalising our usage, and contributing to achieving sustainability by addressing the issue of climate change.

He noted,”DEWA believes that environmental preservation is a matter of teamwork, and requires a combination of efforts to achieve a balance between development and sustainability. DEWA’s plans adhere to the vision of Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who understands that investing in clean and renewable energy resources has positive long-term effects.

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DEWA’s ongoing efforts and projects contribute to achieving the UAE Vision 2021 to make the UAE one of the greatest countries in the world by 2021, and enhance the Emirate’s position in terms of competitiveness, with a focus on renewable energy and green economy products and techniques. DEWA cooperates with different local, regional, and international organisations to achieve sustainability, and invest in natural resources to achieve development, limit pollution, and protect natural resources while developing them. This embodies the essence of sustainable development, along with its objectives,” He reaffirmed, “We are working to carry out the directives of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid by diversifying the energy mix and expanding our share of renewable and clean energy, as well as reducing carbon emissions. This plays a vital role in transforming Dubai into a city with a clean environment, as part of our strategy to realise the importance of renewable and sustainable energy as a means to protect the environment, and preserve our natural resources, creating a better future for everyone.” l

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smart technology

commitment that goes beyond lighting

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our Partner Beyond Light’ is our commitment to provide more than lighting solutions, to address your challenges and to help you to fully achieve your dreams, visions and objectives.

Schréder is constantly pushing the boundaries of technological innovations so that we can continue to deliver our promise. Our passion for what we do, makes us go beyond the traditional scope of lighting to unleash your imagination for connected outdoor spaces.

And, as we know that emerging technologies will change over time, we are committed to only developing smart control solutions based on open protocols.

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Moreover, our solutions can connect to third party systems because we know that other companies also excel in their field of expertise. You should be free to embrace the best of what the new digital world has to offer. The connectivity we propose, goes far beyond controlling light. Schréder is embracing the Internet of Things (IoT).

Have a look at our new Owlet IoT platform. It is the most advanced and user friendly luminaire Central Management System and enables our customers to easily enter the era of IoT. It collects and transports data coming from all kind of sensors (including weather, traffic, and air quality) to enhance the overall performance of the outdoor lighting installation while becoming the central element of a smart environment.

As a result, the quality of life for residents will improve in an economically sustainable manner, and thus reduce the environmental footprint of human activities.

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One of the fundamentals of IoT (Internet of Things) is that the devices that are to be connected to a larger network communication platform have to be ‘addressable’ in a similar way. The structure of the address, which is attributed to this latest generation of luminaire controllers managed by Owlet IoT is based upon IPv6. This method of addressing devices can generate an almost unlimited number of unique combinations to connect non-traditional components to the Internet or other computer networks.

Furthermore, smart cities are also about integration. Offering more services in one place and capturing information in a visually pleasant environment is essential to better serve people where they live, where they work and where they socialise.

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This challenge is met with our new Shuffe solution.

This modular and evolutionary lighting-based system that we were the first to offer on the market, provides integrated solutions for e-mobility, security, connectivity, infotainment and much more.

This modern interface creates added value for outdoor living spaces. With integrated features such as loudspeaker, CCTV, WLAN, EV charger and visual guidance, Shuffle goes far beyond professional lighting.

It creates the best conditions to make people truly feel at home in public areas. l The Schreder Middle East Team

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lighting the way towards smart connected cities Lighting is an integral part of a smart city’s development and infrastructure.

Future Cities organized a roundtable to discuss this issue for which we brought solutions providers, government representatives, architects, MEP consultants and technology companies to the table in order to find out how lighting can be best used to achieve more energy efficient, technologically connected smarter and safer streets for the residents of the cities in the region.

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smart technology

The participants in the discussions were: Eng. Mohamed Jamaluddin, Principle Electrical Engineer, Dubai Municipality Faisal Ali Hassan Rashid, Director - Demand Side Mgmt, Dubai Supreme Council of Energy Suhel Rashid, Business Development Manager (KNX Controls), Siemens LLC Steven Velegrinis, Associate Principal – Cities+Sites, Perkins+Will Sharad Nilangekar, MEP Manager, Parsons Pradeep Menon, Business Development Manager, Phoenix Contact Karim Boutaour, Regional Strategic and Marketing Leader, Schreder Trevor Leighton, Regional Technical Officer, Schreder

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he day began with presentations from Schreder on how its lighting products can help create smarter and more energy efficient cities followed by the Dubai Supreme Energy Council which explained the latest features and developments in the Council’s Public Private Partnership Framework.

What is the role of lighting within Smart Cities?

Steven Velegrinis: While planning for a city it is not often that you get to look at one thing in detail as you are planning for every system within a city. So we don’t often speak about lighting but I think it comes back to what Trevor just raised within his presentation: Smart Cities have become a key focus for all urban planners and Government authorities. We have to think how we can embed smart systems and lighting is very easily the ‘low hanging fruit’ so that everyone from the urban planning side has a lot of interest in how this might evolve in all cities internationally, especially when looking at revenue opportunities.

These can be modules that can plug in to the smart lighting debate

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such as advertising industries, and how we pay for things like bus shelters and public infrastructure.

There is a change in the way that people are looking at lighting.

There is also the practical side where we don’t actually want to damage the environment. If we look at how some lighting has been done in the last 2030 years, then it has done damage. If we look at a billboard on Sheikh Zayed Road, it has an enormous light bill along with an ecological and environmental impact thanks to a significant “waste” of energy. There are a series of issues in urban planning where lighting becomes so involved within the holistic solutions that we have to treat it as part of the discussion.

Mohamed Jamuldin: We are already working with the Dubai Supreme Council on implementing smart city solutions within power and cooling, and we have significant projects throughout the region. We are currently using smart lighting censors within the Dubai

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Municipality (DM), which is being trialed so that we can see how it works. We have projects which are light intensive but not for 24 hours-a-day, so we are using a WiFi based sensors for that. We have to see what the output is and what the energy saving will be. But as a strategic partner for Smart Cities, we are already implementing the rules and regulations for smart cities, even for commercially-based projects. We have a strategic goal, and we have had achievements and further processes being implemented.

Faisal Ali Hassan: We have a target of 19TWH saving towards 2030, and each program contributes towards this saving. Every year we measure the actual saving v/s the predicted. We have a template with DM and the Road Transport Authority (RTA) and we

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It is essential for us to collaborate with the government authorities at the earliest stage.

The movement is towards LED. This will happen and there is no question about it. It is now a question of when, not if.

TREVOR LEIGHTON

amount of energy. I have been following LED tech from 2000 and this is the biggest single jump. The technology is moving so rapidly we can now look at things such as FIFA stadia because it is now feasible.

We can ultimately light anything with LED, it’s just whether or not it’s cost effective.

It is essential for us to collaborate with the government authorities at the earliest stage. The movement is towards LED. This will happen and there is no question about it. It is now a question of when, not if. From our side of the argument, we want to make sure that there are no barriers to technology within government and we would like to ensure standards are open and inclusive. That’s the critical part. Every thing else can follow from there.

Buildings represent the high saving in this program with around 37% of the proposed 100% saving will purely be within building regulations. But, if you if you look at it in isolation, we can expect 60-70% saving from lighting. So it is a key component.

FAISAL ALI HASSAN collect the data and see where we are in comparison to our projected figures. So far, since 2010 we are above the target slightly, but the challenge will be higher from next year. We will need to do more retrofits, and lighting will be a key part of this in order to reach 19 TWH in savings.

Lighting, if you look at it in comparison to the other programs is not a leader within energy reduction. Buildings represent the high saving in this program with around 37% of the proposed 100% saving will purely be within building regulations. But, if you if you look at it in isolation, we can expect 60-70% saving from lighting. So it is a key component.

Trevor Leighton: As LED technologies develop, between this year and the last, we have had a 51% increase in output for the same

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Steven Velegrinis: It’s also symptomatic of the shift in society. If we look at Google as a model, they are giving people a lot of stuff for free in open networks, but they are making it financially progressive as it opens up all kinds of new revenue opportunities. It is critical to have the Government informed and involved early so fundamental changes in framework that is set up properly can facilitate unforeseen future opportunities.

Suhel Rashid: LED is no doubt the future. We come from a very strong lighting background due to our in-house partner Osram. We feel that there are challenges around LED still. From a controls point of view the standards are well defined, but there are not enough standards for LEDs to ensure the best quality of products. Osram, GE, Philips, everyone is doing a great job, but if we were to change the supplier we are not left with the same standard. This is a big challenge, the quality control. In Europe, it is very clear on quality of controls with clear definitions, but there are not enough standards on LED itself to ensure the best quality.

Trevor Leighton: I think someone like the QCC needs to address this. I am not sure if they will become a federal authority, I know at the moment the Abu Dhabi Conformity Council are setting some standards but is this part of ESMA?

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the investment is wasted. Someone needs to be in charge of making sure that the products here in the market place are what they say they are.

Faisal Ali Hassan: We have Emirates Standardisation and Conformity, they are leading this but perhaps in a voluntarily way in this region, this is my understanding. They connect with ESMA but they don’t necessarily mandate, but create certifications.

Trevor: The promise with LED is that you will have 7 years of life cycle, and we spend a lot of money on a retrofit lamp, much more than on an incandescent. If you don’t get the 7 years, then

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Karim Boutaour : But I think we have less of a challenge within outdoor lighting. In terms of specification, at least in the UAE, there are a lot of policies and regulations around this that we have to abide by. It’s not just the lamp itself or the source, there are a huge amount of tests required and it can be cumbersome to go through the entire process.

I am not sure that the same challenges for LED are there within outdoor lighting. There are of course, other challenges, one of them for smart cities is in the details of communications. All the information is being provided by the controls, or if it goes through WiFi or to a GSM system, what is the policy around this? This is a big challenge. We can see Etisalat and du, working around this, but I think that is the big challenge when it comes to outdoor lighting and smart cities.

Faisal Ali Hassan: With indoor lighting you cannot control everything, it has its own independent owner and user. We have to raise awareness and convince them to change, but when it comes to outdoor lighting, it is mostly controlled, especially here in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. We have the RTA and DM which can directly control outdoor

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lighting, this government control, once the government is convinced, removes the barrier for technological advancement. We just need to implement it.

Karim Boutaour: You are right, but looking at the amount of manufacturers selected for the outdoor lighting market, we don’t have many. Yes there maybe 70-80 manufacturers, but the only 5-6 being selected on the Government projects.

This is different to the issues we discussed earlier for LED. A lot of progress has been done in specifications to ensure we select the best manufacturers.

Mohammed Jamaluddin: We have legislation on what should be specified, there is some standardization but there can always be more. In terms of indoor lighting we have restrictions of outage per square meter, we cannot exceed that. We are regulating in this way, which is different to before.

Steven Velegrinis: I think there is a distinction though. If we are talking about light poles lighting cities, we are talking about a very important aspect of the lighting when it comes to urban planning.

We will do street scape proposal for a retrofit of an area, the lightpoles are fairly well managed because someone is going to hand those over to the RTA and they have standards. steven velegrinis We will do a streetscape proposal for a retrofit of an area, the light poles are fairly well managed because someone is going to hand those over to the RTA and they have standards. But when we look at things like uplighting on trees, and general public pedestrian lighting, that’s where we find it almost impossible to get good standards. We have heard people saying “yes, I recognize that this lighting from Europe is far better, and I realize that this brand is far inferior but I can afford to replace 3 times by the time I have paid for the European ones.” We face the same challenges, as discussed with indoor lighting. We can get outdoor lighting which doesn’t work very well, we need to look at lighting in the urban environment as a totality, its not just provided in street poles. It’s a very complex challenge. l

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TRANSPORT

Limak signs $4.34 billion deal to build Kuwait International Airport terminal Turkey’s Limak Construction has signed a contract to build the new terminal at Kuwait International Airport. Kuwait’s Ministry of Public Works (MPW) has awarded the $4.3 bln contract to build a second terminal at the Kuwait International airport (KIA) to a team of Turkey’s Limak Holding and the local Kharafi National.

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transport

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he country’s Council of Ministers approved MPW’s request for the contract award in May. The airport scheme has been tendered twice. The team of Limak and Kharafi submitted the lowest commercial offer in both cases, offering $4.3 bln for the contract during the second round of the tendering process.

Terminal 2 is a key component of Kuwait’s masterplan to bring its airport capacity to 50 million passengers by 2048. The existing KIA has been operating beyond its capacity. It processed 10.2 million passengers in 2015, which is more than twice its design capacity.

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While the evaluation of technical and commercial offers were completed in August 2015, the deal has undergone a series of reviews due to allegations made by MPs regarding financial and administrative irregularities during the tendering process. The contract award was first put on hold upon the the resignation of former minister of public works Ahmad al-Jassar in September 2015.

Once complete, the new passenger terminal will have a capacity to handle 25 million passengers per year and be able to handle all aircraft types through 51 new gates and stands.

The Foster + Partners-designed terminal is due

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More than 1 million cubic metres of concrete and more than 100,000 tons of structural steel will be used in the terminal’s construction, which has been designed with a single roof canopy containing glazed openings aimed at letting in light while deflecting heat.

to take six years to complete, but Limak’s contract also includes a further two-year maintenance contract.

Limak and its Kuwaiti agent Kharafi National were initially revealed to have submitted the lowest bid to build the project – at $4.78bn – in November 2014. However, at the time, the ministry of works decided to reject all of the bids on the table and re-tendered the project, before eventually reawarding it to Limak for the slightly lower sum.

A project supervision package has also been tendered, but not yet awarded.

More than 1 million cubic metres of concrete and more than 100,000 tons of structural steel will be used in the terminal’s construction, which has

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been designed with a single roof canopy containing glazed openings aimed at letting in light while deflecting heat.

It is hoped that once construction completes, the terminal will be awarded Leed Gold sustainability status.

The total investment required in the first phase of developing KIA is expected to reach $6bn. Apart from Terminal 2, a contract for a temporary passenger support terminal, with a capacity of 4.5 million passengers, is currently awaiting final approval. The temporary terminal is designed to accommodate additional air passenger traffic in the intervening years prior to the completion of Terminal 2 by 2022.

A joint venture of Turkey’s Cengiz Insaat Sanayi Ve Ticareta and the local First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting (FKTC) submitted a low bid of KD52.8m ($174m) for the passenger support terminal deal.

In addition to the new terminal, other schemes include the widening and construction of new runways, enhancing control tower facilities and building new cargo facilities. l

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Healing Environments

Learning Environments

Hospitality Environment

Healthcare brochure

Education brochure

Hotel brochure

Health & Community

The Rise of Digital Healthcare in the Middle East Digital health utilises technology to improve health and wellness outcomes.

It is not limited to require technology to automate a process. The ultimate goal of digital health is to drive preventive medicine and continuity of care by enabling self-monitoring of one’s health. The Middle East region is an early adaptor of the smartphone and smart technologies and is a fertile environment for digital health. By utilising digital health a person would be able to monitor health conditions in the body in real-time by using a wearable device, and connecting that device to an app that analyses the results and provides the user with a detailed report.

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here is no doubt that the Middle East region is facing health challenges with chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension. According to the International Diabetes Federation report, more than 35 million people in the Middle East and North Africa suffer from diabetes, and this number is expected to grow to 72 million by 2040. What further increases the government expenses burden on health

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What encourages the adoption of digital healthcare in the Middle East is the increasing interest in health and technology in the region. estimates show a growth in the healthcare industry investments which will be more than $150 billion in 2016. is not just the shortage of medical staff and the lack of quality and efficiency of the staff, but also the shortage of beds in hospitals, which makes the patient compelled to have his/her medical treatments outside his/her country and on the expenses of the country.

The issue of self-care in the world in general, and in the Middle East in particular is governed by two factors: (i) Education and health awareness; and (ii) The ability to self-monitor one’s health.

It should be important to note that awareness campaigns and media could contribute to raising health awareness; digital health could be a contributing factor to raise awareness. Take for example an app which tracks the distance walked in a specific day, and provides advice on the importance of walking and healthy lifestyle. Such apps play an important role in raising awareness towards health and wellbeing especially that smartphones are now easily accessible to everyone.

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Busy schedules make it hard for individuals to monitor their health, and may even result in negligence. But digital health applications could help be constant reminders for better health practices, and monitoring different health conditions such as heart beats or the level of sugar in your blood.

What encourages the adoption of digital health in the Middle East is the increasing interest in health in the region especially that estimates show a growth in the healthcare industry investments which will be more than $150 billion in 2016.

The issue which still remains, lays in the amount of education and awareness of digital health in the region, which is not consistent with the industry growth. Government health authorities need to utilise the media amongst other tools and increase their efforts and resources in targeting and supporting the development of the digital health industry in the Middle East, which in turn will highlight the importance of digital health to the individual, in addition to attracting more investors and startups to the region.

Technology also improves the efficacy of communication between hospital care givers in order to ensure the quality of patient care. This is essential given the often complex and multifaceted nature of the tasks associated with care delivery and planning in healthcare environments.

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Healthcare institutions in the GCC are now transforming into digital hospitals in order to facilitate healthcare delivery, ultimately ensuring the quality and safety of the care that their patients receive.

Healthcare delivery is a complex business sectors that involve multiple interactions among multiple stakeholders. Current research indicates that a well-planned, fully integrated digital hospitals can simplify staff workflow, reduce waste, and increase caregiver efficiency throughout numerous departments within a hospital.

Electronic health records (EHR) and other digital technologies collectively have the potential to improve patient outcomes. This will help hospitals identify and track infections, prevent medication errors and other adverse events, while alerting physicians to their patient’s drug interactions and other problems.

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Health & Community

Technology allows us to share brains at a distance. This encompasses remote stroke assessments, continuing medical education, reporting on X-ray films and pathology samples, and so much more. du announces plans for a ‘healthcare revolution’ Dubai-based telecoms operator du has announced plans to revolutionise healthcare in the UAE using pioneering blockchain technology. According to reports du’s pilot project will introduce a safer common system for instantly sharing and verifying electronic health records between hospitals and clinics.

In a presentation at the keynote Blockchain Technology Conference in Dubai, du explained how it plans to replace the lengthy existing manual process with a system that can transfer, and automatically verify, patient records in seconds.

The medical record-sharing process used prior to this technology was both lengthy and cumbersome, and prone to human error, du said in a statement. It added that for hospitals and clinics, the new service introduces a more efficient method of treating patients, saving resources and saving costs.

The initiative is one of the first to come from the Global Blockchain Council, led by the Dubai Future Foundation, as part of Dubai’s Future agenda that was approved by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

MEDICAL CITIES Medical cities in the GCC both address and cater to a demand in the healthcare industry. Originally, the emergence of large medical city projects in the GCC intended to serve as major quantitative and qualitative leaps forward, and is an example of governments wanting to leapfrog both in quantity and quality of care provided. However, experts now caution against this ‘one size fits all’ approach to medical cities in the GCC.

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Current well-known operational medical cities in the GCC include Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in the UAE; King Fahad Medical City in Saudi Arabia; and the Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar.

According to Sean Huang from KMD Architects in Dubai, “The approach of defining the next generation of facilities in this region needs to be developed from the patient perspective. This needs to be more decentralized allowing for more innovative healthcare facilities that are scaled to allow flexibility within a healthcare system for a more evolutionary approach, as opposed to a large single entity that tries to be all things at once.”

STAFF SHORTAGE In order to tackle the UAE’s increasing demand for healthcare workers and insufficient supply of medical talent, we can no longer just rely on employing more and more people. Experts are suggesting that healthcare facilities in the UAE utilize technology to benefit further from the pre-existing talent pool instead of sourcing new talent that may not necessarily be cost effective or qualified. Utilizing technology in healthcare entails more than just the use of robots, applications, and teleconferencing; it necessitates the realignment of who practices what role and how.

Technology allows us to share brains at a distance. This encompasses remote stroke assessments, continuing medical education, reporting on X-ray films and pathology samples, and so much more. This can both increase the utilization of local healthcare workers and also ensure access to high quality sub-specialty expertise from outside of the region. l

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Food & Agriculture

SMART AGRICULTURE FOR FOOD SECURITY AND SUSTAINABILITY A growing global population and changing diets are driving up the demand for food. Production is struggling to keep up as crop yields level off in many parts of the world, ocean health declines, and natural resources—including soils, water and biodiversity—are stretched dangerously thin. One in nine people suffers from chronic hunger and 12.9 per cent of the population in developing countries is undernourished. The food security challenge will only become more difficult, as the world will need to produce about 70 per cent more food by 2050 to feed an estimated 9 billion people.

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mart agriculture includes agricultural practices with the adoption of internet of thing (IoT), sensors and others, in order to increase the productivity of the farm.

Smart agriculture also addresses the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change and benefit smallholder farmers by increasing efficiency of inputs such as labor, seeds and fertilizers, increasing food security.

By protecting ecosystems and landscapes, smart agriculture practice helps protect natural resources for future generations.

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food & agriculture

The smart agriculture market has been experiencing massive growth in the recent years due persistent demand for improved income margins obtained from agriculture sector, combined with introduction of connected devices in agriculture sector. Moreover, government initiatives focusing on increasing penetration of connected devices in agriculture sector is further expected to fuel the growth of smart agriculture market during the forecast period.

However, the dearth of awareness of smart agriculture practices across small farmers in emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil and others concerning adoption of smart agriculture solutions is hindering the market growth. Demand for uninterrupted internet supply for the efficient working of connected technologies is expected to create new opportunity for the companies operating in smart agriculture market.

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Demand for uninterrupted internet supply for the efficient working of connected technologies is expected to create new opportunity for the companies operating in smart agriculture market.

The global smart agriculture market is highly competitive in nature and is marked with the presence of several international and domestic key players. Some of the leading companies operating in the global smart agriculture market transforming the market with product innovation are Cisco Systems Inc., Trimble Navigation Limited, AgJunction Inc., SST Development Group, Inc., Trimble Navigation Ltd., Vodafone Group , Deere & Company, Raven Industries, Inc., AGCO Corporation, SemiosBio Technologies Inc., and Salt Mobile SA among others.

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Agriculture is also a major part of the climate problem. It currently generates 19–29% of total GHG emissions. Without action, that percentage could rise substantially as other sectors reduce their emissions.

CLIMATE SMART AGRICULTURE The challenge is intensified by agriculture’s extreme vulnerability to climate change.

Climate change’s negative impacts are already being felt, in the form of reduced yields and more frequent extreme weather events, affecting crops and livestock alike. Substantial investments in adaptation will be required to maintain current yields and to achieve the required production increases Agriculture is also a major part of the climate problem. It currently generates 19–29% of total GHG emissions. Without action, that percentage could rise substantially as other sectors reduce their emissions.

Producing More with Less Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an integrated approach to managing landscapes—cropland, livestock, forests and fisheries--that address the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change. CSA aims to simultaneously achieve three outcomes: Increased Productivity: Produce more food to improve food and nutrition security and boost the incomes of 75 percent of the world’s poor, many of whom rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.

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Enhanced Resilience: Reduce vulnerability to drought, pests, disease and other shocks; and improve capacity to adapt and grow in the face of longer-term stresses like shortened seasons and erratic weather patterns.

Reduced Emissions: Pursue lower emissions for each calorie or kilo of food produced, avoid deforestation from agriculture and identify ways to suck carbon out of the atmosphere.

While built on existing knowledge, technologies, and principles of sustainable agriculture, CSA is distinct in several ways. First, it has an explicit focus on addressing climate change. Second, CSA systematically considers the synergies and tradeoffs that exist between productivity, adaptation and mitigation, in order to capitalize on the benefits of integrated and interrelated results. l

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