Sharjah will begin to remove fire-hazard cladding from 40 high-risk buildings this week at a cost of Dh100m in the first stage of a major safety drive.
Authorities have identified 203 residential towers and commercial buildings, both privately and government owned, where flammable cladding is to be replaced under the wider scheme.
Existing cladding will be replaced with fire-resistant materials to reduce the risk of blazes spreading quickly and provide potentially life-saving additional time for emergency services to respond.
The campaign is being launched under the directives of Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah.
The project is expected to be completed within six months, with the Sharjah government covering the cost.
Improvement work will be carried out on the remaining 163 buildings once the initial high-priority phase of the project has been completed.
“The safety of our residents is our top priority and we have been working diligently to identify and replace any flammable cladding in the emirate's buildings,” said Khalifa Al Suwaidi, director of the engineering and building sector at Sharjah Municipality, during a local radio broadcast on Monday.
“We have held several meetings with contractors and have struck a deal with one who will begin work immediately this week on the 40 high-risk towers.”
Latest bid to boost safety
Aluminium composite-panel cladding was prohibited in the Emirates under the country's Fire and Life Safety Code of Practice, which was introduced in January 2017.
Further updates came into effect the following year.
New buildings must be fitted with advanced non-combustible cladding that is able to stop the spread of flames and is more durable under intense heat.
It is not mandatory for buildings built before the new legislation was introduced.
A high-rise Sharjah tower that was gutted in May 2020 was covered with cladding that is banned on newer buildings.
Abbco Tower was built in 2005 with an external material that was widely used in the Emirates until it was prohibited in 2017.
“The fire spread faster because of the cladding,” Col Sami Al Naqbi, head of Sharjah Civil Defence, said at the time.
“Since the building is somewhat old, it was installed with the cladding before it was banned.”
Speaking at a fire safety conference in Dubai in January, specialists said there was a big demand on new building projects for solid aluminium panels, due to their durability and aesthetics.
Latest fire-resistant materials are about 40 per cent more expensive than those previously used, leading to some building owners to seek other cheaper safety measures instead.
Dubai Civil Defence chiefs said during the Intersec Conference they were facing challenges in convincing high-rise building owners to do away with hazardous facade cladding.
“The compliance of existing building facades is a challenge,” said Salma Humaid Saeed, head of drawing and projects at Dubai Civil Defence.
“They are legally acceptable but if there is an accident in the building or if the building owner wants to comply with the new regulations, then fire and safety companies need to help them renovate with the right kind of facade,” said Ms Saeed, whose role involves assessing the fire safety of building design blueprints.
“It is the owner’s responsibility to decide if they are willing to change it."
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Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
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Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
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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.”
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EKinetic%207%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202018%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Rick%20Parish%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Clean%20cooking%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Self-funded%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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The Details
Article 15
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