Construction Issues (News Index)

Posts and News Links Which Discuss Construction Issues in the UAE

Construction and Materials Quality

• The Big Question (full text of article)
• Mid East Tall Building Standards Need To Be Improved In Wake Of 9/11 Says Leading Civil Engineering Company (full text of article)

Project Descriptions



Accidents and Workers' Issues

• Laborers' Rights (full text of article)
• 800 Worker Deaths (full text of article)
• Construction worker killed at Dubai Media City (full text of article)
• Dubai Airport Accident Reflects Poor Safety Standards in UAE Construction Sector? (article excerpts)

Article Excerpts & Full Copy

Construction worker killed at Dubai Media City

Big News Network.com Tuesday 10th May, 2005

A construction worker died after a concrete wall collapsed at a building site on Monday.

Two 33-story towers under construction at Dubai Media City was the scene for the mishap at about 10:00am. A 2.85 metre wall gave way burying a group of workers. A police rescue team was on the site within minutes and managed to save all the men but one.

Killed was Mahesh Kumar, 25, of India. Five others were injured in the accident.

It was the second fatality in Dubai in recent days. The city is undergoing an unprecedented construction boom with hundreds of towers through the emirate under construction, and hundreds more planned. Safety standards and tight deadlines set by developers have come under criticism in Dubai. Most counstruction workers are imported from Asian countries such as India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, lured by employment opportunities or salaries greater than those on offer in their own countries.

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Dubai Airport Accident Reflects Poor Safety Standards in UAE Construction Sector?

Illegal Migrant Workers

It is learned that many construction companies including the leading ones employ illegal migrant workers from Pakistan, India and Iran in risky construction sites as they will work for low salary without claiming many benefits given to a regular employee. In order to reduce labour cost and avoid providing benefits to regular workers, construction companies resort to employing "illegal workers." Thousands of such workers from Iran, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines help keep this huge, illegal secondary job market.

"I am afraid many of the workers affected by the accident are illegal workers from Pakistan and India. It is common practice to employ cheaper illegal workers by a chain of subcontracting companies which thrive due to visa shortage for big companies," said sources. According to workers, "construction sites in high security areas have separate entrance for Kalli Valli people. The contractors and subcontractors get special means to allow illegal workers to work even in high security construction sites. While the workers said there were around 300 people working in the site, the official figure is almost half. Observers indicated that part of the workers are illegal migrants who dont have any documents like visa, labour card or passport. Some of them could be working under different identities and it is difficult to assertain their real identity...

"Employing Kalli Valli people is common practice for subcontractors and contractors. Companies should be accountable," added sources. The UAE has been witnessing the presence of number of illegal workers and more than 14,000 Pakistanis took advantage of the four-month amnesty announced last year. When the UAE announced the first amnesty in 1996, about 75,000 illegal Indians returned home. Most people just destroy their passports and come back here on a new name and identity. The construction boom has created a new demand for such illegal migrants as companies can save on labour accommodation, group insurance coverage and other benefits given to regular staff...

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Mid East Tall Building Standards Need To Be Improved In Wake Of 9/11 Says Leading Civil Engineering Company

10, Tuesday, September, 2002

Tall building design and construction standards in the Middle East, need to be improved to incorporate the lessons of last year's collapse of New York's World Trade Centre towers, according to Hyder Consulting, one of the world's leading civil engineering company.

The firm, an exhibitor at Cityscape 2002 - the international commercial architecture, property design and development show, to be held in Dubai, in December - says planners and developers need to look carefully at the regulations governing the structural integrity of future tall buildings.

"The attack on the World Trade Centre towers will have an effect on the desire to 'build tall' as the industry comes to terms both with what happened and the need to re-define standards for tall building design and construction," said Rod Stewart, Country Manager, Hyder Consulting, Dubai.

"Pre-September 11, British design codes were unique for considering disproportionate collapse of buildings due to accidental damage. In future, all codes will need to consider the vulnerability of buildings to collapse from accidental damage, natural disasters or terrorist attacks."

Hyder Consulting, lead consultant and structural and civil engineers on Dubai's Emirates Towers project, also believes planners and developers must pay greater attention to the whole life cost of projects, instead of seeking an immediate return, and sustainability, to ensure the best balance of cost, expediency and environmental impact.

"By taking more care with the design and construction and, if necessary, spending a little more on design, it is possible to create a development that will retain its usefulness and marketability for longer with lower maintenance costs," said Stewart.

"Issues of sustainability will impact on the planning of buildings and the use of materials, while the introduction of freehold ownership will influence the public's perception of the places in which they live, driving changes in the design of living spaces."

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Task force to fight for labourers’ rights

Sunday, 25 September, 2005

by David Robinson (david.robinson@itp.com)

DUBAI Authorities have responded to concerns over the poor treatment of construction labourers across the emirate.

The issue was highlighted last week when about 1000 workers from the Al Hamed Company for Development and Projects gathered in the middle of Sheikh Zayed Road last Monday morning to demand unpaid wages, halting rush-hour traffic for more than an hour.

A task force, the Permanent Committee of Labour Affairs, has been set up to tackle the problem and provide a forum and address difficulties experienced by labourers and their employers. Part of the service will provide an avenue for labourers to contact authorities if they are not being paid or feel their employers are unfairly abusing them.

“We will listen to the labourers and their problems and listen to the company managers their problems,” said Captain Fahd Al Awadi, from Dubai police’s human rights department, He agreed that construction labourers had been treated very badly in the emirate in the past, but assured that this was changing.

Al Awdhi said a common problem was that the construction firms experienced delays in payment from the contractors that had commissioned the projects. Therefore, they inevitability had to delay payment to the labours.

“Some companies have different projects and they invest in different sites so their cash flow will be spent all over the place, so then suddenly they have a shortage,” he said. Al Awdhi said it was the aim of the committee to make sure this stopped happening and that construction companies had the capital to fully support whatever projects they were undertaking. “You cannot run a company in this country without having funds in the bank,” he said.

The Permanent Committee of Labour Affairs is made up of officials from the police force, the municipality and the immigration department, amongst others.

Al Awdhi assured that the body would come down hard on any firms that deliberately avoided paying their workers. “There are companies which are frauds, they toy with people and use them.” He said, in such instances, the committee would help these workers find another sponsor.

Al Awdhi added that in many instances, it was possible for the committee to get construction companies to cough up unpaid wages within 48 hours.

The committee is compiling a list of all construction companies in Dubai, calling them up, looking at their salary situation, and the problems they faced.

Construction workers in Dubai are paid, on average, about 800 dirhams a month.

Al Awadi said the committee would be following up to make sure the workers involved in the protest on Sheikh Zayed Road received their overdue wages.

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880 building deaths

Monday, 08 August 2005 (7 Days)

Around 880 workers died on building sites in the UAE last year, according to a report in regional trade magazine construction Week.

The figures, which work out an average of more than two deaths each day, have led to calls for construction companies and contractors to improve standards of health and safety and to follow the UAE’s standards and regulations which protect building workers.

According to the magazine, which surveyed a number of organisations and embassies for its survey, 880 construction workers died in the UAE in 2004. The magazine stressed that not all deaths were the direct result of accidents.

In fact, the number of accidental deaths was calculated to be the minority. Many workers died as a result of diseases such as tuberculosis, a common condition among migrant building workers who often live in poor conditions.

Dozens of others died from other natural causes. “It is difficult to compare like-for-like figures from the UAE and other countries, because there are no accurate figures for the number of labourers working in this country,” Sean Cronin, editor of Construction Week, told 7DAYS.

“There were 70 deaths in the construction industry in the UK last year, out of a workforce of 600,000. There are more than that working in the UAE, but figures are extremely difficult to get hold of. We are still trying to get information relating to the collapse at the airport last year.

“There is an awareness among contractors that things have to change,” added Cronin. “There are good contractors out there.” Authorities reported five deaths among construction workers when piling being used on the extension to Dubai airport collapsed last year.

Alan Ritchie, a leading UK-based union health and safety campaigner, and who recently visited Dubai building sites, called for a central register of casualties to be established.

A senior official at the UAE Ministry of Labour said no central record of deaths was kept. “I have not heard these figures” he said last night.

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The Big Question

Tuesday, 30 August 2005 (7 Days)

How many years will you get out of a UAE freehold or leasehold property, asks Matthew Brown?

There are a lot of factors to take into account when trying to put a number on the potential longevity of a building. What materials have been used? What design was used?

What standards did the contractor adhere to? What are the environmental conditions? All of the above vary from building to building in the UAE, apart from the last one.

The environment in the UAE is highly aggressive, and unless measures are taken to keep it at bay, your villa is likely to start encountering serious problems within 30 years, according to the experts interviewed by 7DAYS.

“A badly-constructed villa will deteriorate after 15 years,” says Brian Hillesdon, an asset integrity specialist at GHD, the durability consultants for Emaar’s Burj Dubai project. “A good one will last 30 years.”

“Chloride (salt) ingress is the biggest threat to buildings out here. UAE groundwater is shallow and saline. Older buildings that did not take this into account have deteriorated fast.”

Buildings in the UAE are attacked on two fronts. Most are constructed of concrete with steel reinforcements. Salt tends to seep into the walls of buildings through the ground in solution, attacking both the concrete and the steel.

Unless this is protected against, it will lead to cracks in the walls, or worse. Developers are aware of the dangers of high saline content in both sand and ground water in the UAE, so the standard of building is on the rise over all.

However there are still a considerable number of poor quality buildings being erected in the UAE, according to those whose job it is to fix them.

“We have seen problems with concrete in buildings as young as three years old,” said the managing director of a locally-based company whose job it is to provide solutions to these kinds of issues.

“I would expect villas that are being built at the moment to experience minor problems within 20 years,” he said. “They should last 30 to 40 years before there are major problems.”

Knowing when you have a major problem, and when you have a superficial problem is an important distinction, says Andy Dean, manager of cladding technology at Al Futtaim Bodycoat.

“As soon as you energise a building, the components dry out, and may shrink. That may cause superficial cracks. You will get that, and you have to put up with it; it’s not necessarily subsidence.”

However, Dean is not taking any chances himself. “I have bought a place and I’m very happy. But I’ve written the costs off over ten years. If I get 20 years out of my villa, I’ll be doing very well. We’re not talking about Victorian houses here.”

And comparisons with the UK, or other markets are unfair, he says. “The atmosphere in the UK is not as aggressive. There isn’t as much salt.” So how do you know if the building you are considering buying is a good one or a bad one?

There are a number of ways of improving the durability of a building, according to GHD’s Hillesdon, but only some of them are relevant to residential property, namely “good quality concrete mix design and placement, and appropriate coatings.”

Seals to stop water from seeping up through the walls are also important. It may well be worth asking your developer what specifications they are using in the building you are looking to buy.

7DAYS asked three of the major developers about building longevity and only one of them, Emaar, responded.

Both Nakheel and Damac were unable to comment, while Emaar said that “advances in building and constructing technologies have spurred dramatic changes in the design, construction, and function of buildings.

Emaar employs these technologies to ensure the longevity of its lifestyle communities and make its homes last long.” The major developers are assumed to be setting the standard in building quality and durability in this region.

In fact, GHD’s Hillesdon goes as far as to say that: “The well-known developers have a positive attitude to durability issues.” But only time will prove him right or wrong.

“Some quite recent buildings in Dubai already have cracks in them,” points one anonymous contractor. “This is because large amounts of water is used to irrigate the surrounding flower beds and lawns.

The salt in the ground turns soluble in the water, which is then sucked up into the concrete.” “Problems like this can be fixed after the building is built, but the longer you leave it, the more it will cost to fix.”

Residents of both the Greens, built by Emaar, and Knowledge Village, built by Dubai Properties, have complained to 7DAYS about both internal and external cracks. However, it is not clear how severe the problem is in either case.

Nakheel’s first project, behind The Gardens on Sheikh Zayed Road, is on hold following some major structural issues and subsidence, and only now is it beginning to release properties from its first development, Jumeirah Islands.

Nakheel is behind arguably the most famous projects in Dubai, and also the most exposed to the elements, The Palms.

“Buildings in the marine environment are exposed to airborne chlorides as well as saline ground water, so in addition to the foundations, the above ground structure is also susceptible to corrosion, and requires careful choice of materials to ensure longevity,” said GHD’s Hillsedon.

Unfortunately Nakheel was unable to give any details of the project. The key to increasing the life of any property, however, is maintenance.

“There is no reason why new buildings in Dubai should not last for 100 years as long as they are maintained regularly,” says Dieter Schanzer, managing director of Lloyd Wright, a Chartered Valuation Surveyor, operating in Dubai.

“The economic lifespan of a building - how long you can continue to raise finance on it - is nearer to 60 years. So you might find it difficult to sell after 60 years.

Properties that I've seen in Dubai have been built pretty well in general bearing in mind the inexperience of some of the workforce.”

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Construction Issues

Quality Assurances

What are the construction standards in the UAE and particulalry with regard to new properties being marketed in Dubai? How will buildings withstand the harsh climatic conditions?

These are extremely important questions, but not easily answered. One way to measure quality standards in constructon is to look at how structures already built in the UAE have withstood the test of time. By this measure one might see a lot of red flags. Larger buildings only 15 to 20 years old often appear much older and many are set to be demolished by such time. But this does not necessarily reflect on current standards. Buildings constructed in the past targeted a much different market--it was for local and inexpereinced entrepreneurs looking to generate income from rental returns. 15 to 20 years of rental returns should have been enough to cover the initial outlay for such inverstors and provide a respectible profit. Buildings appeared to be cast from the same mold, suggesting a sort of assembly line construction process. This wouldn't necessarily indicate that construction standards were poor, but it does suggest a lack of innovation and interest in the instrinsic value of the property.

Today's real estate environment, especially in Dubai, is dramatically different. It is geared toward internaitonal investors and set to compete with world-class properties. A much more sophisticated market is being targeted and innovation and uniqueness are very much names of the game. This again does not necesarily indicate better construction standards, but it suggests builders and developers are focused to some extent on making a statement with their properties, and not simply in it for a quick return on investment. The record of past construction, therefore, can hardly be an accurate guage of present construction standards.

That being said, there still remain many unanswered questions? There exists a situation where few reliable track records are available to evaluate the credibility of a buildier. It requires one to be technically well-versed enough to look at raw construction data and from that make judgements as to what standards are being met. Is the general media pursuing this? Are regional trade publications investigating such concerns? These would be two places to look to find answers.

One article of late 2004 published at AME Info only briefly highlights a matter of concern:

Construction Standards Warning

United Arab Emirates: Tuesday, November 23 - 2004 at 09:07

UAE construction firms are using substandard quality concrete with a reduced service life, a building design expert has warned. Dr Abdul-Rahim Sabouni, President of the UAE Chapter of the American Concrete Association, says the Middle East construction sector needs to take a more professional approach, with better codes of practice and quality control.

This very brief media piece raises exactly the type of questions that are needed to evaluate the current level of contruction standards. Such an article alone, however, is very anecdotal and does little to clarify either the general state of affairs or the conditions at any particular development, as none are named. It does offer a stepping stone, however, toward getting answers to the important questions of standards by identifying the UAE Chapter of the American Concrete Association as perhaps one watchdog in the industry. There are clearly questions to be raised about construction standards and there are answers albeit ones that need to be ferreted out.

See also Construction Issues (News Index).

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Maintenance and Service Fees (Sinking Funds)

Among charges or fees associated with property maintenance, a sinking fund ought to be considered to address one-off expenses. The following article puts a spotlight on this issue.

Maintenance Charges Heading for a Showdown?

Developers overlooking the importance of sinking fund to protect investors.

Freehold investors may face serious maintenance fee repercussions in some local developments within the next few years caused by inadequate research and total lack of contractual agreements. The most alarming is the complete overlooking of a sinking fund by most developers.

In more cases than is good for the market, developers are just putting together fixed rates as their maintenance and service charges, with the lower rates used as bait for investors. Blanket rates ranging from Dh6 to Dh15 per square foot are quoted without any specifications on ho the money will be spent, let alone including a sinking fund.

"in the US and UK and in most mature real estate markets, a sinking fund takes in between 20 to 25 per cent of the collected annual charges, which is not necessarily the case in Dubai," says Dilip Khatwani, Chief Executive of Dubai-based Reliance Facilities Management.

"Ideally, sinking funds are raised from the owners of the property to take care of depreciation and replace equipment when necessary. In most markets, these are covered by owner contributions from the maintenance charges. Freehold owners in Dubai could find that no provision has been made for replacing key equipment within their properties. Instead they might be faced with one-off charges that they might have to bear in full or part."

In many of the new freehold contracts, there is also no provision for breakdown insurance, which is a given in most overseas markets. For instance, given the high usage of chillers in this part of the world, which could raise the frequency of breakdowns, this might prove a potential flash-point between the owner and developer on who should pay to set it right.

"Energy calculations are very critical in putting together the maintenance charges. The developer has to put in play the diversity factors--what might be the standard in one market need not be the basis here. What is happening in Dubai is both buyers and sellers look at how low the quoted rates are instead of looking a various expenses which should be covered in the service charges. though things are changing slowly, developers are not taking into consideration facility management requirements at the design stage," says Khatwani.

That is amply borne by the fact that very few developments, even top-notch commercial destination, had back-up generators during the recent power breakdown in Dubai. the issue of the optimum maintenance charge does not end with the developer. In the local market, there is some resistance among maintenance charges higher than Dh6 to Dh8 a square foot on a yearly basis. A case in point was the resistance to Emaar's recent attempt to raise their tariffs to Dh15 a square foot.

"Being transparent about the various expenses that the tariffs will be used for could be a good way to start. If the developer pursues it with entities such as an owners' association, a common ground can be found for all," says Katwani.

Source: Manoj Nair, Property Weekly, 29 June 2005.

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