Skeletal steel structures are rapidly taking shape at the home of the Dubai Exhibition Centre, a venue that will soon be the region’s largest for hosting exhibitions and events.
The National was given exclusive access to record the scale of construction at the Dh10 billion project in the Dubai South neighbourhood, which will be the venue for large events such as Gulf Food and Arab Health next year. Senior officials at Dubai World Trade Centre outlined how the space was linked to the emirate’s overall masterplan. The vast exhibition space will have a daily visitor capacity of more than 65,000 people by 2031 and will be the gateway to Expo City, the UAE’s planned first 15-minute pedestrian-friendly city.
Construction is on track for 140,000 square metres to be completed in the first phase of next year. This will allow big exhibitions that have expanded beyond the capacity of the Dubai World Trade Centre to be hosted across both venues, easing the pressure of Downtown traffic. The blueprint includes building residential units, a hotel, business parks and retail space.
Diego Cortese, vice president of venue commercial at Dubai World Trade Centre, said three mega exhibitions - Arab Health, Gulf Food and Gitex - had maxed out the space at DWTC and would be organised at the new DEC next year. "The location is the future of Dubai," he told The National. “We're not just building the largest exhibition centre in the region just to have the region’s largest exhibition centre, but really because this fits into the overall economic agenda of the city of Dubai."
At the site on Monday, about 1,000 workers were busy as steel frames and trusses were erected to set up the north and south halls. Workers in protective gear also prepared a service tunnel being built that will feed water and electricity into the building.
Sense of festivity
This is part of the overall road map announced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, for the emirate to grow into a powerhouse in the exhibition sector.
“Over the next few years, the intention is to become a top international tourism and business destination in the world,” Mr Cortese said. “So, it's not just about having more events coming to Dubai, it's also about making sure we can offer the infrastructure for those which are taking place here to grow. Having both the World Trade Centre and DEC will help us reposition and increase space to attract international associations and congresses, which currently we struggle with finding the space to host.”
Events will span the city, lifting the congestion around the World Trade Centre on Sheikh Zayed Road. “For us the future of events is going to be activating both sides of the city at the same time,” Mr Cortese said. “We are very excited, we are in the middle of building the first phase of DEC that will be delivered in January 2026 when we will see the existing building more than double in size.
"The first event moving in will be Gulf Food in January 2026, that will run across both our venues. It will be shortly followed by Arab Health, rebranded as WHX, the World Health Expo, that will run simultaneously at DEC and the WHX lab will run in parallel at the World Trade Centre during the same week. The whole objective in those mega shows is to activate a sense of festivity. These events in 2026 will be followed by Gitex, that is also moving here to DEC.”
During Gitex, the plan is to use locations across Expo City Dubai for outdoor events, dinners and live shows.
Main gateway
Officials are planning spaces to serve the people who will live and work in the area. The community is already well connected, with a Metro station working since Expo 2020 located near Jebel Ali port, close to Al Maktoum International Airport and linked to the road network.
“The Dubai Exhibition Centre is considered one of the main gateways to Expo City,” said Amer Alfarsi, vice president of real estate development at Dubai World Trade Centre. “We have implemented a solid expansion plan. Our aim is to host more international events and to continue with the legacy from hosting Expo 2020 and Cop28. We would like to position Dubai as the global hub for exhibitions and international events.”
More than 2,200 residential units are ready at the Expo Village, a mall has been built, and there are plans to construct a hotel. “Surrounding the development we have different land banks and those are dedicated to mixed-use development,” Mr Alfarsi said. “We are considering building a hotel to service customers who visit the development.”
Unique space
The centre will provide a 1.2km stretch from north to south that can be used for a single event without any columns. It can also be split up into 26 halls with dedicated entrances to host simultaneous events. The plan is divided into three phases with 160,000 square metres to be delivered by 2028 and 180,000 square metres of exhibition spaces completed in the final phase.
“The Dubai Exhibition Centre, by 2031, will be the largest venue of its kind in the Mena region,” Mr Alfarsi said. “We will welcome more than 65,000 visitors on a single level supported with high-level amenities. We are expanding and doubling our events from 300 to 600. It is all due to creativity and innovative design that we can host one mega-event or more than 20 different events.”
Company%20profile
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SPECS
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How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Company%20profile
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MEDIEVIL%20(1998)
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
Points classification after Stage 4
1. Arnaud Demare (France / FDJ) 124
2. Marcel Kittel (Germany / Quick-Step) 81
3. Michael Matthews (Australia / Sunweb) 66
4. Andre Greipel (Germany / Lotto) 63
5. Alexander Kristoff (Norway / Katusha) 43
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
MATCH INFO
Watford 1 (Deulofeu 80' p)
Chelsea 2 (Abraham 5', Pulisic 55')
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Fund-raising tips for start-ups
Develop an innovative business concept
Have the ability to differentiate yourself from competitors
Put in place a business continuity plan after Covid-19
Prepare for the worst-case scenario (further lockdowns, long wait for a vaccine, etc.)
Have enough cash to stay afloat for the next 12 to 18 months
Be creative and innovative to reduce expenses
Be prepared to use Covid-19 as an opportunity for your business
* Tips from Jassim Al Marzooqi and Walid Hanna
HIV on the rise in the region
A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.
New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.
Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.
Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.
Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
F1 drivers' standings
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 281
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 247
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes 222
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull 177
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 138
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull 93
7. Sergio Perez, Force India 86
8. Esteban Ocon, Force India 56
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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World record transfers
1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m
Why seagrass matters
- Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
- Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
- Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
- Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality
