Dubai approves buildings with eight residential floors for Al Satwa — The National

Dubai Municipality in the UAE has updated urban planning rules for the Al Satwa district, allowing buildings with a ground floor and eight floors of residential apartments to be constructed on certain plots. Al Satwa, which borders Jumeirah and Bur Dubai, predominantly has low-rise development.

As The National reports, the new regulations are intended to give landowners and investors more opportunities to redevelop properties and use plots more efficiently. Previously, the rules mainly allowed the construction of attached villas.

Rules for different plots

On plots along internal roads, it is now possible to build a ground floor and two floors of residential apartments. For plots along external roads, denser development options are provided: a commercial ground floor and two or three floors of apartments, depending on the location and current urban planning requirements.

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Greater development potential is envisaged for plots of at least 1,000 square metres. They may already meet this criterion or be formed by merging two or more land parcels.

Incentives for merging land parcels

Subject to the established conditions, buildings with a ground floor and eight floors of residential apartments may be permitted on such plots. Access roads between merged plots may also be included in the combined sites.

The municipality said the incentives are intended to encourage owners to merge smaller parcels into larger sites suitable for comprehensive development. According to Mansour Al Rais, director of the executive planning department at Dubai Municipality, the changes are part of a flexible and sustainable approach to developing existing urban districts. Before their introduction, the municipality, together with local authorities, assessed infrastructure needs and traffic management.