With its wide boulevards laid out neatly in a well-designed grid, Abu Dhabi city is every bit the well-planned modern metropolis.

But such has been the pace of change in the emirate over the past decade, driven by rapid economic expansion and population growth, that in 2007, Abu Dhabi established the Urban Planning Council (UPC) to manage the development of not just the capital city, but of all the population centres in the emirate.

[The council’s] main mandate is to manage and masterplan the growth of the emirate

Seven years on from its foundation, UPC is firmly established at the heart of all development in Abu Dhabi, working closely with government ministries, municipalities and development agencies to ensure all development in the emirate fits in with the national vision and also with strategic policy goals such as sustainable development targets.

Managing growth

“We have a lot of goals,” says Mohamed al-Khadar, UPC’s executive director of urban development and sustainability. “But our main mandate is to manage and masterplan the growth of the emirate.”

Al-Khadar is one of four executive directors who make up UPC’s management team; he sits alongside Amer al-Hammadi, executive director for planning and infrastructure, Abdulla al-Sahi, who is responsible for corporate services, and Abdulla al-Shamsi, director for strategic affairs. The management team is completed by general manager Falah Mohamed al-Ahbabi.

Al-Khadar’s role at UPC places him at the very heart of Abu Dhabi’s development programme, with a unique view over all the emirate’s urban development projects. 

“I am responsible for making sure any masterplan or project by individuals or entities meets with our in-house policies and supports Estidama [Abu Dhabi’s green building rating system],” says Al-Khadar. “This covers everything from single buildings to huge developments such as Raha Beach.”

The initial challenge for UPC following its formation was to establish its position as the key central government stakeholder overseeing and approving the development plans of the municipalities, which until that point had been able to pursue their plans without requiring wider consultation or approval. It was not a simple task. “It took three years for UPC to educate the public and the municipalities about its role and values,” says Al-Khadar. “Effectively, we became the client of the municipalities’ activities by 2010.”

UPC has blossomed over the subsequent four years, establishing its role at the head of Abu Dhabi’s long-term sustainable development programme and increasing activities in terms of guidance manuals, projects and staff. The council today has five primary areas of operation:

• Coordinating and planning;
• Coordinating and creating policy to support planning;
• Working with others to bring everything together;
• Approving plans;
• Sustainability.

Small team

Despite the huge volume of projects covered by Al-Khadar’s team, and the scale of technical expertise required, he runs a surprisingly small group of 53 people, split into two technical departments.

The largest of the two teams covers urban development and employs mostly urban planners, while the Estidama department, which comprises mostly engineers, is responsible for ensuring the requirements of the green building code are met.

“I am very proud of the team and their efficiency,” says Al-Khadar. “I come from the private sector and believe that a single person can cover a lot. You don’t need 10 people for one job. We do not subcontract anything.”

He smiles. “I will probably get into trouble for saying that.”

“We are like the film 300,” he laughs, before adding, “Except without the bad ending”.

Inevitably, UPC deals with thousands of projects and all are important. But some have particular significance either because of their large scale or because of their strategic importance to Abu Dhabi. Current projects under development are South Yas, which is being developed by local developer Miral; Masdar City, which is in the final stage of its phase one detailed masterplan; and the expansion of Abu Dhabi International airport, covering the freezone and the Midfield Terminal project.

The most important schemes, says Al-Khadar, are the large-scale masterplans that involve the development of an entire district or zones such as Saadiyat Island, Al-Maryah Island and Reem Island. “We also have strategic projects in the pipeline at query stage,” he says.

The complexity and scale of these projects requires very close cooperation and coordination between UPC and the developer, as well as with other government agencies. But no two projects are the same.

Typically, the planning process for any new scheme starts with UPC providing guidelines for the developer that are aimed at ensuring every development fits in with the wider aims of Abu Dhabi’s Vision 2030 strategic masterplan. These guidelines include government data on population growth and gross floor area, as well as design requirements under the Estidama initiative.

Enforcing guidelines

The developer must then incorporate the requirements into its proposed development to ensure it is compliant with the national vision. If it deviates from the guidelines, UPC will ask the developer to revise the plan.

It is a very dynamic process and, while very few final submissions are rejected, Al-Khadar estimates that about 50-60 per cent of proposals have to be revised following their first submission. “The only ones that are rejected outright are where the developer does not want to include our guidelines,” he says.

A central element of UPC’s planning process is to ensure developments meet the sustainability requirements of Abu Dhabi’s Estidama programme.

Launched in 2010, the initiative provides green building ratings, or pearls, for all building projects in the emirate. It is a mandatory system that requires all new buildings to have a minimum one-pearl rating and all government buildings to have a minimum two-pearl rating.

Currently, more than 12,000 villas in Abu Dhabi have a one- or two-pearl rating. In total, more than 700 schemes have been submitted to UPC for rating, with 60 per cent under construction and 12 per cent completed. Developers can apply for up to five pearls, although no villa has achieved more than three pearls to date. 

The programme has become a huge policy success, for which Abu Dhabi has received international recognition and awards. But it has not been an easy initiative to roll out.

“The programme has been through three phases,” says Al-Khadar. “The first stage was resistance from the private sector because it was perceived as more red tape, more costs and more time. It was an issue of communication and we probably underestimated the reaction.

“The next phase was understanding, where we started a training programme and outreach. And by the beginning of 2013, we had reached the acceptance stage and market understanding that by applying Estidama [rules] you can save water and energy, and create a healthier building.”

UPC’s mandate is to work in Abu Dhabi, but governments across the GCC have expressed interest in the system and Al-Khadar says there is scope for a GCC-wide approach, although he adds there is currently no forum for coming together in the region.

UPC does not make any commercial assessment of proposed developments, although it will seek to ensure commercial calculations of developers are in alignment with the official view. “We provide advice most of the time,” says Al-Khadar. “The masterplan has land use locked into 2030 and because we manage the growth we are able to look at supply and demand analysis. And sometimes we might reject a project, say an office or a hotel, because we can see an oversupply.”

Sometimes we might reject a project, say an office or a hotel, because we can see an oversupply

With so many aspects affecting economic growth and development, it is no surprise that the guidelines themselves are reviewed on a regular basis and UPC is currently updating the 2030 plan. “It is common sense to revisit the plan,” says Al-Khadar. “Indicators change, the market changes, the political situation changes and the social requirements change.”

“We have the whole Vision 2030 and we will roll out the revision of the city plans as required,” he says. “So if we feel there is huge demand for middle-income houses, then we plan a dedicated area and we work with the government and investors.”

Vision updates

All of the four main components of Vision 2030 are either being updated or have revisions planned. The most advanced of these is the review of Plan Capital 2030, the masterplan for Abu Dhabi city. This has been conducted over the past year by UPC working with UK consultant Arup, and is scheduled to be published in early 2015. Meanwhile, the update of Plan Al-Gharbia, which covers the development of the population centres in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region, is in its final stages.

The review of Plan Al-Ain will start next year. The development plan for Al-Ain was originally completed in 2007 and covered the development of 20 separate settlements. Under the review, the development plans for Al-Ain city and region will be consolidated into a single plan.

In the seven years of its existence, UPC has seen the effects of the economic roller coaster ride that Abu Dhabi has had to endure, starting with the real estate boom at the time of its formation, the global financial crisis and real estate crash, and finally the oil boom of the past three years. And it knows better than most that situations change.

“The two lessons we have learned over the past seven years are firstly that masterplanning can change rapidly and that we have to be ready and resilient to this change,” says Al-Khadar. “And second, that the public needs to realise the benefits of our input to their daily lives.”