The growing popularity of waterfront residential developments in Dubai is a clear sign that the emirate's housing market has reached the level of sophistication found in western countries, where similar developments are well established, according to leading French architect, Bernard Spoerry.
Currently involved in the Green Community Commercial Center within Dubai Investment Park, featuring a four hectare lake and over 110 000 square meter floor area, Spoerry said developments such as Dubai Marina and Palm Island fit into a worldwide trend for up-market residential marinas.
"Dubai's residential market is liberalizing and maturing. There is a growing demand for waterfront properties that offer glamour, status, lifestyle, sea-sports and fun," said Spoerry. "In most marina projects, the sale of boat moorings is a small part of income, the lion's share of developers' profits being in the value added to the real estate."
Spoerry, who will be among 39 experts from 12 countries addressing the fourth International Property Investment and Management Conference (IPIC) in Dubai later this month, believes water villages—low-rise, human-scale, canal-laced communities planned as integrated resorts—have a bright future in the region.
"The main attraction for residents is their boat mooring along a private quay at the end of their garden. Boats are a status symbol on a par with a luxury sports car and who would prefer to have his Ferrari parked miles away, rather than at home? Water villages make it affordable to have a boat at home," said Spoerry,
IPIC is being organized by the Institute for International Research (IIR) alongside Cityscape 2002, the international commercial architecture, property design and development sector exhibition to be held at the Emirates Towers hotel from December 14-16, 2002.
According to Spoerry the biggest challenge facing regional developers of water front projects is the Gulf's tidal range which hampers canal-based schemes. "Our Sentosa Cove project in Singapore encountered similar tidal range that complicated mooring arrangements and required tall and expensive quays. We chose to stablize the canals' water level through the use of locks at the port entrance," said Spoerry.
"The system has now been in use for years and has brought many benefits including savings of up to 70 percent on water-edge infrastructure, perfectly controlled water quality, less cluttered mooring arrangements and the use of the canals as an architectural water feature," he added.
The region's first stabilized canal project in the Gulf is Bahrain's $70 million Al-Marsa Floating City, part of the much larger reclaimed Amwaj Islands project that is linked to Bahrain by a two kilometer long causeway. When the project is completed in 2005 it will cover 26 hectares. It will have 240 canal houses, a 150-room hotel, time-share apartments, shopping mall and restaurants and a yacht club. It will accommodate between 1,500 and 2,000 people. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
