Value engineering in Dubai

Eugene Siterman discusses how developers have learnt valuable lessons for long-term survival during the downturn.

Fat City is no place to preach prudence. Dubai enjoyed perhaps the greatest land-and-building rush of all time, thanks to the strong global economy, easy credit and oil markets of 2004 to 2008. In the bonanza, quite understandably, developers bolted to get glassy skyscrapers built, leased or sold.

It is not human nature to optimise behavior, personal or business, in the zenith of a gold rush. So, value engineers, those consultants who streamline systems and fine-tune a building’s constructability, were sometimes backseat drivers in the epic Dubai boom.

How times change. With chilling suddenness, the global economy sank in the last few months of 2008, and the credit spigot was cut off. Oil, nearing US $150 (AED551) a barrel in 2008, sank to nearly $30 a barrel in early 2009.

Economy, credit and oil: It was a triple-whammy up, and then down, for Dubai builders. While the worst is happily over, important lessons have been learned.

The perfect storm
The changing Dubai economy has generated a “perfect storm” of demand for value engineering. There is an armada of projects underway or on the boards, yet there is time to calmly consider quality and efficiency. The marketplace now dictates that the fittest, not just the fastest, will survive.

So developers are bringing in the value engineers to improve projects in the planning stages, or to re-evaluate and optimise projects underway. Quality and efficiency have taken a front seat next to speediness.

From many perspectives, this is an excellent change of focus. In few places in the world are contributions of value engineers needed more.

Dubai is exemplified by massive glass-walled towers that reach for the sky, yet those awesome glass walls also admit large amounts of light and heat, which result in world-class cooling loads, enormous energy consumption, outsized mechanical rooms (reducing leasable space) and a challenge to the ideals of sustainable design.

Competent value engineers, whose sole mission and focus is to make buildings more efficient without compromising architectural ideals, are necessary to select systems, materials and glazing that can substantially reduce cooling loads and electrical demands.

Developers are being reminded that experienced value engineers can optimise project systems while reducing building capital budgets and operating expenses. We have found that on MEP systems planned in Dubai, capital savings approaching 20% are possible, as well as similar or greater reductions in energy consumption.

And streamlining begets other advantages—reduced space for mechanical rooms, and thus more leasable square footage.

In addition, concerted use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) three-dimensional software results in increased constructability of buildings, and helps to avoid unnecessary construction expenses.

Back to value engineering
Of course, in a broader sense, value engineering should always be embraced, even in boom times. It is always a good practice to build efficiently, with results that make best use of energy or water. Whether feast or famine, bringing value engineers into the process early results in better, more valuable buildings.

Many developers now speak of never rushing again, and always turning to value engineers to help visions become realities. Let us hope. Building smart always brings both quantitative and qualitative rewards, and more-sustainable buildings.

Who is Eugene Siterman?
Eugene Siterman is a principal at New York-based VE Solutions Group, an international value engineering firm with offices in the UAE. His role is to establish and oversee relationships with clients worldwide. He has a decade of experience in international business development in sectors including construction and sustainable building. He holds a bachelor of science in business management from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.