The following are excerpts from a 12 November 2005 interview with MAG PDD General Manager, Mohammed Nimer. In the interview Mr. Nimer elaborated on numerous aspects of the MAG 218 project and MAG PDD's commitment. See also the full transcript.Building Design“The design here took us like more than three to four months, having meetings with the designer, with the marketing specialist, who knew about the requirement, designs, etc.”
The building height:“The height of the tower is around 275 meters. This is up to the top of the building. Of course this is including the cooling tower--without the antenna.”
Its cooling tower—at roof top:“In the Marina Dubai, the air conditioning system is the chiller system, individually for each building, slightly different than Jumeirah Lake Towers which has district cooling system. That’s why here we have actually two technical floors—the 1st, the 31st—that’s where the machines, the equipment and the units where the cooling tower at the top. This is serving the tower for the air conditioning purposes.”
The architect:“We have Dar Handasah. We have one of the best architects actually from Dar Handasah. His name is Sama’an Fouly.”
Various design decisions and features:(The entrance)
“When we did the design, we tried to be as much as we can practical in what we are doing. Like from the day you come in from the entrance, which we did not make such big fancy entrance, but we did make a double void which gives you like seven meters height, and when you come out in the lobby.”
(Unit types)
“In this particular tower we decided to make it one- and two-bedroom, in different sizes like 80 sq. meter, 160 meter for two-bedroom, after we add the balconies. And the reason for that mainly is we are targeting certain type of customers like here I’d say above-average rank of workers, of expatriates who can afford the living and could be in the nearby area like Dubai Internet City, American University of Dubai, Media City… That’s why we did not make any studios, we did not make any 3-bedrooms or penthouses. Because that’s what we believe will be best for the area.”
(Particulars of the One-Bedroom Unit)
“You have to have an entrance, where you open the door you will have a certain corridor before you step inside the actual apartment. Having the guest toilets near the main door is also an issue. Having a master bedroom there is also something a must where we have nothing less than 16 sq. meter each bedroom, without (excluding) the wardrobe, without the bathroom. And I believe this give you, what you call the human, the feeling design. When putting you in a bedroom of 3 by 3, I believe this is not healthy. That’s why our rooms is almost more than 16 square meter, at least.
Now you go to the living room, even having a living room with the dining in one-bedroom, where you come in from the main door to the living room, in and out, even if the doors of the bedroom is open, you can’t see nobody. Because the location of the doors here has been selected in a way to give you the privacy.
Now coming back to the kitchen, actually the kitchen took us some time to decide how we will design it, since we don’t know really know what type of culture those tenants coming from. That’s why we make it in a way, maybe European or American-style way where you have an open kitchen like a bar, and maybe somebody don’t like it. That’s why we put this sliding shutter where it can separate the lady or whoever in the kitchen from the living room and vice-versa.
Again, to utilize the kitchen in the best way by millimeters. That’s why we decide to fully furnish it, where you really have nothing to worry about such as a fridge, the washing and drying machine and the stove. Now again here, we say maybe not everybody like to have a dishwasher. That’s why we put only the provision of the dishwasher where the tenant can fix it there—we have the facilities.”
(Particulars of the Two-Bedroom Unit)
“Now when you come to the two bedroom, two-bedroom actually we add a balcony. Actually I say a balcony
(not pictured), it’s not a balcony. It’s like a small terrace—2.1 by 9 meter almost. This also we give like an open area to each individual tenant, and at the same time here it gives the area a total like around 160 for the two-bedroom, if you add the balcony to it.
Again here we consider something as one of our trend in the design like when you go more than one bedroom you have to have a store. The store here we call it in English “den,” which can be used like a computer room, it can be a store, it can be a house maid… It’s up to the tenant to do that.
Again we have better, I’m sorry, bigger kitchen because of the area, and that’s why we really think this is the most practical design.”
(Apartment Access)
“There’s one more thing, actually I’m thinking about the design always, like from the time you come out of the elevator, and you come out of the elevator to your apartment, you will not walk more than maximum 7 meters. You will not go in a long corridor like a hospital corridor or hotel corridor.
This is also part of the design where we can design the core in a way that it’s smaller as much as we can.
The same time here we consider the lifting system. In Dubai today I can assure you that most of the towers, the waiting time in the elevator’s lifting system is really beyond the standard—the international standard. Here we are looking for it in this way, that the waiting time should not exceed 40 to 45 seconds. And the only way you can do that, by having a proper traffic study for that. Like in this tower in particular we have six plus one, where three of each will go only for certain level like the left will go to the first 30 floors, while the other three will go from 30 onwards. While you have the service floor which it takes for the furniture for all.”
FacilitiesOn-site:“In this tower which we have 550 apartments… we think, ‘What could those tenants need?’
They need a recreation center which we have. They need an open door area for barbeque or open-door activities. We have the event hall which can serve more than one function at the same time, or one function for a big event. At the same time we have the swimming pool with open-door Jacuzzi.”
In the Vicinity:“Just beside the tower we have a mall which will be constructed by Emaar, which hopefully will be completed in the same time we are completing the job.
This also gives a value to the construction location where almost you will not drive without going to work, and if you’re lucky working in the Media City you will not use your car at all.
…We are not on the front, waterfront view, but we are open from three sides like the intersection both sides, the mall one side. And the only side which we have a tower, which is one side near Sheikh Zayed Road.”
Smart Home:“You have to go back to the cost. Here we did it in a way that if the tenant like to add those options onwards, he can do it himself.”
The Name“What’s behind the name actually, we like to give the feeling to the buyer that we are here.
We are going not in one tower. We have at least now six, seven towers. And when we think about what name we have to put, the names are so much crowded in Dubai, there’s nothing not used so far… and it goes about the marina, sky, garden, sea, water, something like that. And that’s what we thought, since we have a long trip in development that’s why we said, “Let’s put in a series, using even number.” And that’s why we started 214, 218, etc. That’s where the name comes from and I think we can be easily distinguished even in the future. Like if you say, “I’m living in MAG 218,” it will be easier to know than what is the name.”
The Location“You see here everything has a value. First, in the Marina the available plots is very much limited, and we encountered that we have more than three, four choices. We choose this one in particular because we believe the location is very good. As in the mouth of the Marina, being in the main intersection, with the value we paid and the price we are selling to the tenants, I think it was a good combination. And that’s why you come out with this location.”
Building Management (Post-Construction)“Actually in the MAG 218 we did not make up our mind who would be the management team for this. We agree it’s too early to talk about it now, but we will have a management company—good one. Somebody in ASTECO’s level, where they will manage if for the first year. The reason we are doing that, because this is what you call in English, the “fixed liability period.” Because we are in charge of it through the contractor and the supplier and all this team of construction for one year from the date of the successful completion time. We take it over in that period because we want to give space, room, time for the clients to come in.
As you know in the contract there is an explanation about constitution rules where you want to do that. We’ll give you time to do the committee, the election. We’ll do this for, only for the first year. With this company which we select, we as a developer, it will be a committee choice to continue with them. If we change the system, maybe do something different than what we propose, and take it over for the next year.
Let me give you an example. In the management, like we have to get the best company for cleaning, good service company for security for the 24 hours. Like I have in my mind we have to put a receptionist at the entrance to the building. We have to put a full-time staff for the building management system room, which control the whole tower. I’m thinking to put a lifeguard in the swimming pool. We have to put some reception in the community floor. All this is in my mind as the developer, but you could say we don’t need this, we don’t need that. It’s your choice—a choice here of the committee.”
Issues of SalesOther Investors:“No, I mean we are the developer and we have nobody else besides. That’s why we have relation direct with the buyers now in this tower.”
The Targeted Buyer:“I’ll tell you a story. One the agents we were dealing, and when we start 218—this was in the beginning—you know, I was just going around the agents and they said, “Mohammad, this will not sell.” I said, “Why?” He said, “Apartments are very expensive.” I said, “But who said that we want to sell the apartments like that? Like how much is it withdrawn on the phone?” I was, you know, talking from common sense point of view. See, they know most of the people like that. He said, “80% of the market here asking how much without even seeing what is there.” And he said—then I told him, “Know what? We want to sell the 20%. I’m not interested in 80%.” And that’s the fact. We can sell. And we want to sell to people who ask, “Who, why, who is the designer, look with us, discuss the design, discuss the orientation, discuss the material finishes, further discuss the commitment, the reliability, the contract.” We need to deal with these people. The people who are asking, “How much,” we cannot serve them.”
Sale of Multiple Units to Larger Investors:“From our perspective, you see, we have this tower for sale. Some customers come as individuals for flats, some of them come for investment. Now here, if I sell you the flat and sign the contract with you, it’s yours. You can do anything you want with it. You can rent it, you can sell it. All of that is listed in the contract, in the purchase sale. Now, going for, we know sometimes that investors come to us to buy. Now, we sell it. Of course here the price we are selling—you know if we sell you one apartment it’s different than if we sell you ten apartments or twenty. There are some developers or some investors buying from us, negotiating with us what floors. They want to buy five floors, two floors, ten floors here—maybe we have a little bit more flexible terms with them, we have maybe better price for them. We believe it as a whole price. Now, we know very well that those people will take it from us and re-sell it. Which is, I mean, this is their choice.”
Rise in Price/Value:“In 218 today we have a campaign for sale till the end of the year. And the fact we have the intention to increase the price, by certain limit, from that time…
You see here, I’m selling like I’m giving a chance to the buyer come out till the end of the year to take the chance—or to buy as if I am buying pre-launch price. Now this will help me increase the sale. Then whoever comes after that will buy, he will pay the new price, which is much more, not much—it will be more than the price which you bought now, yourself.
There is another thing, there is a rules of what’s going on in Dubai. I estimate that when the rules comes out, defining the exact rules… Maybe, I expect that maybe the price will go up by 10%. Because there are so many people who want to buy but they are not sure about the rules, when the rules come out—I don’t know how it will come out—which way. But if it come out, really, in a good way where people will be more attracted to buy, I’m telling you it will increase the price by at least 10 percent.”
Maintenance & Service FeesIf Many Units Go Un-sold:“This scenario is not valid, technically, not valid. Because, you see, I mean the tower is built there. I mean if you ask me like a developer, I mean, we have—always you have to make plan. And the worst plan is like—I can’t say worst plan—but it’s one of the scenarios, it’s not worse or good. If I—cause I’m proceeding with the construction, irrelevant if I sell or not. Now, suppose I am proceeding now, as I am doing, and they leave 20%, 30%, 50% not sold. Always there is a precautionary plan where we put this in rent and we take it over ourselves. That’s the way out.
Even if you don’t rent it, still this will be theirs. Because the fees you are paying is equal in pro rata to your square foot size. I mean, it’s not from any apartments there. Suppose there is 10 apartments there. This means you will pay for the 550? No. Definitely you will pay for the footage.”
Owners’ Input:“It’s absolutely up to the buyers, but you see to talk with 550, we have to make—you have to make an election, with say like Bruce is our chairman and X, Y, Z is the committee…
Actually, you know the first year, I think if you look in the contract, we say that the first year MAG PDD will get a property management company to manage the building within a revealed market value. You know if somebody do it for 100 dh, I’m ready to submit for 150 and vice versa. Within this year we will request you, as a buyer, to put certain money, let me say budget cost of 3000 or 2000 per apartment. And this money will not be paid to us. It will be paid to the account which is opened through the name of the committee, or for the tower called MAG. You make an account saying, “In MAG 218 tower this is the money.” Because I have no access to it, and it’s not for me, it’s for the tower. Now the buyers, it depends on how much they are able to come and take over that. He can come and take over that after six months, he can come and take it over after—but he have to take it over after one year. After one year we say this is all the records, what you want to do?”
Construction & Management IssuesProtecting the Tower’s Foundations:“Actually you see here, when you talk about design, design is always related to zones, and each zone has their criteria for design. Like going from the earthquake frequent study or happening or occurrence, all of this will be considered. I give an example. In this one we are going in piles, because we cannot do other than piles with such height. Now, I don’t know if I can tell you. The piles go up to 50 meters deep. where you will reach the solid layer, and you know, you are always building in water, and salt and sand. You are just like less than 4 or 500 meter away from the sea. It’s normal. What I want to tell you, the standards which will be used in such construction is within that parameters, and in all those conditions you talk about. And this is I think international standards.”
Dealing with Sudden Cost Increases:“You cannot be away from what’s going on the market. Like if I have a—this tower. Let me say that I have in this particular tower, 550 I’m selling. But suppose I’m in 200th apartment sale, I still have 350, the prices really go up. What I will do? I have the right only to increase the price of what’s available. But the people who bought—the deal is done. As if, you see, I’m taking a chance, the buyers taking a chance.
I can tell you facts that when we did make the bids with the study for that project, the prices which we know in that time increased at least, at least by 15 to 20%. Maybe we were expecting 10%, but not 15 or 20. But here, you see, this--I mean this will not stop us from continuing. The only effect we have here is that it will reduce our profit, and we have to live with that.
Always when you do a visibility study, you always have to have cash cushions. Now we will loose some of those cushions. That’s all. But this will not really stop you or ask or let the buyer or user really suffer from that.”
Assurances of Quality:“Here where, if you remember what I told you before, today in Dubai there is so many developers. We are one of them. And here we are saying by the finishing, when we sell you an apartment, we are selling you a brand—which is our name. Like today I can maybe sell you an apartment and you say, “Oh, what is this? MAG is doing a fair job.” That’s what I want. And the guarantee in this particular tower is this: because I am selling you my name. And I want to be sure that you’ll have it and you will be satisfied with it from all aspects, like time-wise, quality-wise, service-after-sale wise which is very important for us—we are thinking about that from now. All of this, you see, will help us in promoting ourselves. Being in the market here today, we are not like going to be there, going to deliver a product which will really stay there with a brand, like you know that this is MAG. That’s what we are shooting for. This is a guarantee—other than the contract, other than all the insurance we are giving you, but more assurance is our name.
I can assure that when we build the tower and put our name on it, we have to fulfill the product as we promise you.
Now, you could tell me what about we did not. You know, like in this particular case, Emaar, we don’t have the bank guarantee for the buyers as a third party. We have the same case in Nakheel. Now in Nakheel, because this is their rules, we did pay the bank guarantee as requested by Nakheel to cover the third party. Emaar did not ask, and all the other developers doing the same way. But if they ask, we pay it.
But believe me, it is not the guarantee we are paying that’s committing us to do the job. No, we did it because it’s the rules. But the commitment is coming from us. Like if I say the catalog. We say the catalog of 218 is not a picture or an image. It’s something you will see and you will have within the same of 95% accuracy. Now, I did say that. I know with you business-wise you said how can I sure, you could do anything else—and I said it’s our name.”
You know, in the progress of the job—like if I give you 214—214 today the people, I feel them relax. Why? Because they start seeing something like what we were telling them. Like we signed already the contract with Otis, we did already the sign with Caramex, we did sign with Heiser for the fittings. All those things start, they see it.
And I think something good for you, you can see in 214—why I’m talking about 214, because this will give you a hint about us. We have hopefully in March or April next year, we’ll make a model. Model means, we’ll furnish one of the apartments inside the tower--fully. Wherein we talk about furnishing that fully with some components, which will show you a life—apartment life—the living room, etc. Just to give you the feeling. We’re doing that mainly just to show the people, you know. Because sometimes we say, we write catalogs, but it’s not like you see it pysically. And you say, “This is a sample; this is what you’re getting.” Hopefully, this will give a good indication about what you could have in 218.”
The Longevity of the Project:“Here we go back to the international standard. I mean, you know Dubai, in this part of the world, most of the specifications more or less goes to a British standard, which is a point coming out from FEDIC for the contractual issues, etc. If you talk about this tower, like any tower, you know, the age of any tower will be not less than 60 years.
See here what you have, we have talk about what you call the facility management, which part of the facility management is the maintenance. If you make conventional maintenance, like let’s assume there’s a leak somewhere. Imagine if this leak is not treated in the proper time, it will make a big damage. I mean, the building will not fall down, but it will make a damage. I mean, mainly you talk about the “M-E-P” which is mechanical, electrical and plumbing works. This has to be taken care of very much and this is what is really, I believe the, key of the tower. You see, it has to be like using the right piping, the right wiring, the right air-con ducts—because if you don’t do that, you could end up in a lot of trouble.
There’s nothing that cannot be done but the cost and the time. That’s why we are looking for all of this when we do the design and do the specification for the material. As I said, it’s not less than 60 years, it can stay forever. Now look at certain towers or buildings in Europe. It’s there for the last 250 years. But those, they’re not standing there by itself. There is some maintenance which is going through the facility management to be done, mainly in a prevention way, not a treatment way. We should not wait till the things starting to… Like if you talk about pumps, not any pump in the world would run for—maybe it has a 20 years or 5 years, or certain parts of this pump has to be changed. That’s why really I will, when the time comes I have to plan this.
This is mainly the job of the property management team. I mean managing a tower is not only cleaning and putting the security. It’s a long—maybe I can explain you something. When you take over, I mean as the committee, there’s something called a manual—the tower manual. It’s like this much (gesturing) book filled with a lot of guarantees, information about everything in the building. Where this committee has to follow up and see and and go through that and see what it has to be checked after 1 year, after 2 years—it’s a job by itself. But having as I said, a general, professional maintenance, sorry, facility management company, they can take over all of that.
And look at the swimming pool. How many items there are in the swimming pool? Cleaning, water treatment---see, unless you have the proper team to do that you could have something, big trouble in it.
Regarding Reports of Problems in Other Projects:“I cannot comment on that, but I can assure you we talk about ourselves. I mean I cannot talk about the others… if somebody else, Nakheel or Emaar or anybody else developers--he did not comment--I cannot really say anything about it.
I mean, really, if I’m in the shoes of the customer, I will have the same doubt as you said because of the performance of some other developers. But you see, this is like everywhere in the world. You have A, B, C, D. We’d like to be in the A for sure.”
Accountability, Transparency and Commitment to the Buyer“This maybe prove one of the things I was telling you about. We have nothing to hide here. Like you like a buyer. You buy an apartment. I will open my boardrooms to you. I will open you even my balance sheets. I have nothing to hide, to show you our solidity. You know, we have nothing to hide. Like this land, we bought for it in full. The land has been paid for in full to Emaar by our company. We can give you the whole banks we are dealing with. We will say, “Please, Bruce, go and check with the bank, like Arab Bank, HSBC, Mashreq Bank, ask them about us. Ask them about our chairman reputation as the leader of this company. How do you think about him? Are we fulfilling our commitments? You can check that. As a matter of fact, this is helping us in selling ourselves.
You see, that’s why—going back to the point—we want you to ask us. We can show you… I mean today you’re coming to me to buy an apartment. I’ll deal with you the same way as if you’re coming to buy the whole tower. I mean, this tower value’s around 550 million (dhs). We receive some of those investors, where of course those people they ask, “What is this, what is that?” Believe me I will give you the same treatment, even if you buy one apartment. Why, because it’s the same money. He has 550, you have half million, but I will deal with you the same way. That’s why, quote me, “We have no problem exposing all the—whatever you like to know about us—financially, technically.”
Other TopicsThe interview covered the topics raised above. However it extended beyond what was recorded on camera. A few additional points were also discussed:
- Emaar has no input regarding the question of maintenance and service fees. One reason being that the MAG 218 property is separate from any of the facilities managed directly by Emaar such as the marina promenade.
- Regarding ASTECO’s role as sole sales agent being eliminated, this was largely due to MAG PDD’s belief that the company, perhaps due to its own ever-growing commitments, was unable or unwilling to give the project its due attention. This was very much a business decision on the part of MAG PDD.
- Regarding MAG PDD’s other projects, the MAG 214 is presently under construction with work on the MAG 218 very soon to commence. Although there are other projects in the pipeline, the company intends to place priority on the two current works.
- MAG PDD has short-listed the elevator contract to two very reputable firms, as well as choice for the main contractor. Its priority is apparently to secure the most highly rated firms possible while balancing its budgetary requirements.
Conclusion
The interview presented a real opportunity to gain access to the developer, not only making it possible to learn about what is happening with the project, but also making it possible to have some input as a buyer. Therefore, it represented a two-way exchange and seems to measure up to MAG PDD’s stated objective of working with“future partners.”Bruce Dauphin (website manager)
Go to Interview Transcript.
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One midsummer’s day in 2004 I found myself navigating the far end of Al Sufouh Road. This is the main local-access road running through what is sometimes called the New Dubai. Starting from the famed Burj Al Arab (hotel ala seven stars) it runs parallel to the coast of the Arabian Sea. After passing the entrance to the man-made Palm Jumeirah island it continues on to the Dubai Marina. Here it separates the man-made waterside development from a wide coastal stretch of beach and the soon to be completed Jumeirah Beach Residences (JBR)—a megalithic project consisting of some 40 high-rise towers.
As I began getting lost about the several road diversions I started to wonder further, not whether such projects could be built but whether they should be built. The scale of it all seemed to rival other great construction works past and present. Why is it, I thought, that the desert in these parts had remained so unpopulated until the discovery of oil? The obvious answer was that climatic conditions were just too harsh. So, what had really changed that it should become inhabited by so many today?
In addition to the singularly tall Burj Dubai tower, presently rising up to 160 floors, there are at least three other towers proposed or under construction in Dubai that are to exceed 100 storeys. The JBR towers alone represent a single project of some 40 towers rising 30 to 50 floors, all being erected within a span of two years. In addition to towers (some sources indicating over 600 under construction or proposed), tens of thousands of villas are buing built, along with eventually hundreds of kilometers of new and expanded highways and roads, tunnels, bridges, massive airport expansions and rail projects. All of this in addition to off-shore reclamation works creating numerous islands and on-shore dredging projects to create and expand lakes and rivers.
Stand Not in the Way
