Owners blast Nakheel over Discovery Gardens pools

Owners allege very little work has been done on the pools since handover last year

Residents in the Discovery Gardens development in Dubai are fuming over a lack of pool provision.

Owners of apartments at the Nakheel development say they were promised pools in July, a year after handover, but have yet to see the Dubai developer deliver them.

“I’ve been living there for a year, I moved in August last year. The pools were in exactly the same state as they are now,” said Michael Aldendorff, who co-ordinates an unofficial owners’ association. “I started having meetings with Nakheel in June, and then they said they were looking at getting a couple of the pools open by July. They blamed DEWA for not installing meters, so they weren’t accepting any responsibility. Then they said the meters are now installed – that was some time in July – and then after that it was a case of now we don’t know what the excuse is.”

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FEATURED COMMENT The pools are eventually filled BUT when will we beable to use the pools. People can enter at their own risk.   19 Comments Read more comments »

In a statement issued to Construction Week, Nakheel said they were “working as a matter of priority to progress the handover of the swimming pools. We can confirm that we are in the final stages of development and these facilities will be open to residents as soon as possible.”

A spokesperson confirmed a contractor had been appointed to complete the pools but explained it was the contractor’s prerogative if they wished to be identified.

Currently the pools remain a supposedly operational construction site, although a CW investigation into the area suggested less than 20 workers were active across the whole development, which contains 13 pool sites.

In response to a query regarding the safety of having an active construction site in a residential area, Nakheel stated “the swimming pools at Discovery Gardens are surrounded by pre-cast walls, as well as barriers and clear warning signs to prevent entry.”

However, residents dispute the safety provision at the development. According to Aldendorff, the pools remained an open construction site until two weeks ago. “It was extremely dangerous. Over the last two weeks they’ve boarded up the entrances because kids were going in and playing in the pools,” he said. “A lot of people were complaining and we informed them about the safety issue months ago. It was suddenly in the last two weeks they boarded things up.”

Nakheel declined to comment on why this request was not previously acted upon or provide an estimated delivery date. A spokesperson confirmed the pools would be open to residents “in the coming months”.