27 January 2014
- UAE enjoys biggest year of project awards for three years, hitting $34 billion of contracts
- 2013 on a par with 2012 for Dubai construction; 2012 was biggest since 2008
- More than 500 major new UAE projects in 2013, the most since 2008
- $132 billion worth of projects in UAE over next three years ($75 billion for buildings)

MEED Projects put its new data acquisition strategy in place in late 2013, revealing record numbers of new projects and a construction market springing back to life.

The UAE projects market exceeded expectation in 2013, hitting $34 billion worth of major contract awards, according to regional project tracker MEED Projects. While some way off the levels seen in the five-year period between 2006 and 2010, when between $42 billion and $62 billion worth of contracts were awarded annually, there is optimism that the UAE projects market could return to levels above $40 billion over the next two or three years.

Dubai's construction and infrastructure projects were the major driver of UAE projects' expansion between 2005 and 2008, with at least $20 billion worth of contracts being awarded in each of those years. This period was followed by a three-year slump in which the value of contracts struggled above $7 billion. Both 2012 and 2013 hit the $11 billion mark and the indications are that Dubai will average $20 billion a year for the next three years. Furthermore, MEED Projects recorded more than 500 new projects in 2013, the biggest number of new projects created in any year since 2008.

This resurgence of positive sentiment returned to the UAE economy during 2013, culminating in the award of Expo 2020 to Dubai in November.

“This is already translating into more announcements, more conceptual schemes and more awards” said Julian Herbert, Director of MEED Projects, speaking on the eve of MEED's Destination Dubai Conference.

“The two months since the Expo announcement have seen media discussion of projects like the double-decker highway on the Sheikh Zayed Road and an 11 kilometre boardwalk around the outside edge of Palm Jumeirah, unheard of since the recession. The World Islands project is also coming back to life.”

“Confidence is returning particularly in the luxury residential, leisure, retail and hospitality sectors,” he added.

Herbert says that such is the level of returning confidence, MEED Projects has upgraded its expectation for 2014 contract awards for the UAE from $35 billion to $40 billion.

Between August and November 2013, MEED Projects undertook a programme of visiting and logging every single site where a new building is planned, on hold or under execution in the UAE. Details, including GPS co-ordinates and site photographs have been captured for more than1,300 projects worth $10 million and above. The programme has revealed not only that many previously on hold projects are being recovered, but that there are 300 previously unrecorded projects at an early stage. These projects now appear in MEED Projects.

The Destination Dubai Conference, organised by MEED Events on 28 and 29 January 2014 at the JW Marriott Marquis, Dubai, UAE, will showcase the myriad of opportunities that are arising from Dubai winning the mandate to host the Dubai Expo 2020. Colin Foreman, Editor of MEED, and Edmund O'Sullivan, Chairman of MEED Events, will be speaking at the two-day event while representatives from MEED Projects will be available to share info about the platform and how it can help businesses.