Al Satwa plots of 1,000 sq m can now rise to ground plus eight floors

Dubai Municipality has updated the planning rules for Al Satwa, one of the oldest neighbourhoods between Sheikh Zayed Road and Jumeirah, so that owners can build higher and add more homes and shops. The Government of Dubai Media Office announced the update on 1 November, and Gulf News set out the detail of what each kind of plot can now take.

The rules depend on where a plot sits and how big it is. Plots on internal roads, which until now were mostly for attached villas, can be built as a ground floor plus two residential floors. Plots on external roads can have a commercial ground floor with two or three residential floors above it, depending on the location and the planning requirements for that street.

The biggest change is for large plots. A plot of 1,000 square metres or more can be built as a ground floor plus eight residential floors, with a maximum floor area ratio of 3.5, meaning the total floor space can be up to three and a half times the plot area. Owners do not need to hold one big plot to qualify: the 1,000 square metres can be one existing plot or two or more smaller plots joined together, and access lanes between them may be counted, subject to approval and the other requirements.

The municipality says the aim is to make better use of land, encourage investment and help Al Satwa develop, while keeping the character of the area, and it nudges owners of small plots to merge. It says it worked with the service authorities to check that roads, utilities and traffic can take the extra building. Eng. Mansour Al Rais, Director of the Executive Planning Department, said the rules give owners more choices when they redevelop their properties.

Al Satwa sits next to Jumeirah Garden City, the area where Meraas has been redeveloping plots for several years, and its low villas and small shops have long stood beside towers on Sheikh Zayed Road. The new rules are the first broad change to what the older part of the neighbourhood can hold.

For owners, the rules and the services to apply for a permit are on the Build in Dubai platform, buildindubai.gov.ae. The announcement does not give a start date or say how projects already under way are treated, so check the platform or ask Dubai Municipality before you plan. For tenants, nothing changes straight away: any new building still needs designs, permits and construction before it can replace what stands there now.