Five major tower fires have broken out over the past six years, including two blazes at the Torch tower in Dubai Marina. Antonie Robertson / The National
Five major tower fires have broken out over the past six years, including two blazes at the Torch tower in Dubai Marina. Antonie Robertson / The National

Tough fines and enforcement needed in UAE buildings to boost fire safety



From issuing fines to fire drills and inspections, some buildings are making occupants aware of fire safety but thorough and rigorous implementation is needed.

Inspection companies said that some developers who assessed buildings but found it impossible to remove combustible aluminium cladding had formulated rules to mitigate risk by tough implementation of bans on barbecues and shisha on balconies.

“Right now people don’t enforce the rules and security guards are not well trained. Either civil defence or the police have to be called and get involved. These people who break the rules must either be fined or arrested because they are jeopardising the life of people in their building. Enforcement of the rules is a huge education,” said Douglas Ralph, president of the Middle East Real Estate Inspection Association.

In some buildings in the Business Bay, Barsha Heights and JLT areas, residents have received notices reminding them that it is their responsibility to maintain a safe community and that smoking was prohibited in the lifts, corridors and enclosed parking spaces.

_______________

Related:

_______________

“My neighbour was fined Dh200 because his friends came over and they did shisha a few months ago. We were actually relieved when we heard about this but he was very upset about the fine because he felt they were careful while using the shisha,” said Jess Karly, a Jumeirah Lakes Towers resident.

“When he posted that he was upset on the community group, he didn’t get much sympathy. People are definitely worried and know that a small spark can cause a fire.”

The Deyaar Owners’ Association Management, which handles buildings across the Emirates, said it was conducting fire drills across residential and commercial buildings along with Dubai Civil Defence, with plans for 327 inspections by a specialised team of fire risk engineers by the year’s end.

_________________

Read more:

_________________

This will include fire plans for each tower including periodic audits and monthly risk-focused inspections covering all building systems.

In nine mock drills so far, the teams ensured all occupants were evacuated and inspections focused on identifying loopholes in fire doors, stairwell pressurisation fans, fire alarm, firefighting systems, elevators, emergency lighting systems and with immediate action taken to close the gaps.

Tenants and owners are verbally informed of violation of safety rules, followed by a written notice with a fine imposed for repeat offences.

While fire inspections have been conducted since 2015, the frequency of inspections has increased following the updated Fire and Life Safety code issued earlier this year.

“Since our first drills, our on-site team have made significant improvements in clearly defining roles for on-site staff, assembly point coordination, notifying authorities and crowd management,” said Kanagaraj Gurusamy, of Deyaar Owners’ Association Management.

“The common safety error that most on-site teams make is to give one person too many responsibilities. Frequent false alarms in the building is another area of concern. Most residents fail to respond to alarms when they believe it could be a false alarm. Fixing this key gap will significantly improve the response time of the evacuees.”

How to avoid crypto fraud
  • Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
  • Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
  • Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
  • Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
  • Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
  • Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
  • Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Voices: How A Great Singer Can Change Your Life
Nick Coleman
Jonathan Cape

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
The specs

Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors

Power: 480kW

Torque: 850Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)

On sale: Now

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.”

Paatal Lok season two

Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy 

Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

Rating: 4.5/5

Two-step truce

The UN-brokered ceasefire deal for Hodeidah will be implemented in two stages, with the first to be completed before the New Year begins, according to the Arab Coalition supporting the Yemeni government.

By midnight on December 31, the Houthi rebels will have to withdraw from the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Issa and Al Saqef, coalition officials told The National. 

The second stage will be the complete withdrawal of all pro-government forces and rebels from Hodeidah city, to be completed by midnight on January 7.

The process is to be overseen by a Redeployment Co-ordination Committee (RCC) comprising UN monitors and representatives of the government and the rebels.

The agreement also calls the deployment of UN-supervised neutral forces in the city and the establishment of humanitarian corridors to ensure distribution of aid across the country.

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Biography

Favourite drink: Must have karak chai and Chinese tea every day

Favourite non-Chinese food: Arabic sweets and Indian puri, small round bread of wheat flour

Favourite Chinese dish: Spicy boiled fish or anything cooked by her mother because of its flavour

Best vacation: Returning home to China

Music interests: Enjoys playing the zheng, a string musical instrument

Enjoys reading: Chinese novels, romantic comedies, reading up on business trends, government policy changes

Favourite book: Chairman Mao Zedong’s poems