During the last decade, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been the biggest market for public–private partnerships (PPPs) in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Currently, PPPs are increasingly being used in the rapid development of UAE infrastructure projects. Despite this fact, little is known about the success factors for adopting such an approach for the infrastructure projects in the UAE. Twenty-one in-depth interviews were held with PPP experts and key personnel who have experience in the development life cycle of PPP infrastructure projects in the UAE in order to investigate their perception of the key success factors of PPP in UAE infrastructure projects and examine the relative importance of these factors. The results show that the five most important critical success factors (CSFs) for all respondents were: availability and effectiveness of proper regulatory and legal framework for PPPs; proper risk allocation and sharing among project stakeholders; clear project brief and client outcomes; comprehensive and business viability of project feasibility study; and finally, proper project value management systems during different project phases. These findings should be taken into consideration by public and private partners when developing new PPP projects in the UAE in order to increase the success rates of these projects.

As occupants spend almost 90% of their day indoors, especially in the workplaces, Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) plays a primary role in health and wellbeing, productivity, and building energy consumption. Adopting the IEQ and Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE), data has been gathered from nine multilevel open offices within a university building located in Al Ain, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for three winter months. Physical parameters were monitored using data loggers to record the main IEQ factors. In parallel, POE questionnaires have been distributed to obtain occupants’ satisfaction with the IEQ and health-related symptoms experienced in the workspaces. The IEQ and POE data have shown slightly above or below the recommended ranges with the occupants similarly and slightly dissatisfied with the building. The thermal comfort revealed concerns with 99% of temperatures below international standards where 55% of the survey respondents reported “too cold”. The IAQ measurements showed 45% and 30% of the respondents reporting “stuffy air” and “headache” which indicated symptoms that could be tracked to other parameters or a combination of several, and the findings have been discussed in detail in this paper. This research contributed to identifying correlations between measured data and occupant satisfaction and identifying common IEQ defects and their sources to better communicate with facility managers and architects.

With the prevalent use of large glazings, particularly in office buildings, offices receive an abundance of light and are among the largest consumers of electricity. Moreover, in an extreme hot arid climate such as in the UAE, achieving comfortable daylighting levels without increasing solar heat gain is a challenge, in which the window or fenestration design plays an essential role. This research adopts a case study of a higher education (HE) office building on the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) campus, selected to investigate an evidence-based retrofitting solution for the west façade that can be applied in existing office buildings in the UAE in order to reduce cooling energy load as well as enhance indoor environmental quality. To achieve an evidence-based retrofitting solution, the research design built upon a comprehensive exploratory investigation that included indoor environmental quality physical monitoring and occupant satisfaction surveying. Model simulation was performed by means of DesignBuilder software to perform a single- and multiparameter sensitivity analysis for three key passive window design parameters, i.e., window-to-wall ratio, glazing type, and external shading, aimed towards minimizing annual cooling load and solar heat gain, while maintaining appropriate indoor daylight illuminance levels. The results highlight the importance of the window-to-wall ratio (WWR), as it is the single most significant parameter effecting total energy consumption and daylighting levels. The results recommend 20–30% WWR as the optimum range in the west façade. However, by utilizing high performance glazing types and external shading, equal energy savings can be achieved with a larger WWR. Double Low E tinted glazing and 0.4 projection shading overhang and side fin revealed a noteworthy reduction of energy use intensity of 14%. The study concludes with final retrofitting solutions and design recommendations that aim to contribute validated knowledge towards enhancing window performance in a hot arid climate to guide architects and stakeholders to apply a range of passive parameters towards reducing energy consumption and improving occupant comfort in office buildings.

Space programming is one of the most important elements of client briefing on building projects. It aims to determine the internal space required for the facility in order for it to function properly. For public healthcare projects in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), there is a need to develop space programming guidelines that will assist in developing more accurate client briefing during the appraisal stage. This article reports on a research project aimed at establishing space programming utilization factors that assimilate the UAE healthcare project environment and reflect the outputs of all design forces during its development. Nine existing and functioning hospitals from different UAE cities were selected as case studies to establish these utilization factors. It was found that the calculated grossing factors for all hospital departments showed a positive variation when compared with guidelines for hospital space programming published in Western countries. It is recommended that the adoption of the extracted figures in the space programming process during the appraisal stage of the UAE healthcare projects will lead to a more accurate facility scope/function plan. Subsequently, more accurate and realistic cost estimating can be achieved.

With the increasing complexity of the construction industry, disputes continue to take their toll in most construction projects. Litigation is still considered one of the most common forms of dispute resolution. Construction litigation usually involves complex technical issues, several parties, and a large volume of documents to review. With the technical complexity of construction litigation, technical experts are usually hired to assist the judge and to provide their technical opinion diagnosing the dispute-associated problems. A court case was initiated by the owner of a residential building in the UAE in response to a long-unresolved dispute with the contractor and the architect due to several defects that were discovered by the owner during the construction and after receiving the project. Mediation and arbitration are not common practice as dispute resolution methods in cases of residential projects financed by government loans in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. The authors were invited to form a ...