Pool party poopers at Disco Gardens

Nakheel: Working as a matter of priority to progress the handover of the swimming pools.

As owner association licencing looms giving residents the power to award facilities management contracts, 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 on that promise.

“I’ve been living there for a year. The pools are in exactly the same state then as they are now,” said Michael Aldendorff, who co-ordinates an unofficial owners association.

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“I started having meetings with Nakheel in June in which it said it was looking to get a couple of the pools open by July. Nakheel blamed Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) for not installing meters, so it wasn’t accepting any responsibility. Now the meters are installed we don’t know what the excuse is.”

A statement issued by Nakheel said it was, “working as a matter of priority to progress the handover of the swimming pools. We can confirm 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 whether it wished to be identified.

Currently the pools remain a supposedly operational construction site, although a fmME 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 Nakheel about the safety issue months ago. It was only recently workers boarded things up.”

Nakheel declined to comment on why this request had not previously been acted on, or to provide an estimated delivery date. However, a spokesperson confirmed the pools would be open to residents “in the coming months”.