Dubai Land Department (DLD) announced its achievement of the ‘Ideas Arabia 2019’ award, an addition to its track record of many local and international accomplishments, after taking first place in the “Productivity” category for its ‘Building Survey and Classification’ initiative.

HE Sultan Butti bin Mejren, Director General of DLD, said: “We are proud of this remarkable achievement that recognises the benefits of the first-of-its-kind ‘Building Survey and Classification’ system. This system was approved by the Executive Council in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to transform the Government of Dubai into a smart government. The system is distinguished by its wide inclusiveness that provides all the needed data, including the building age and name, property image, the number of floors and units, and the area of units and the construction, in addition to 64 criteria to classify a building from one star to five.”

The building is classified according to its existing facilities, while its implementation mechanism is based on international best practices, including the LEED Classification for Sustainability, AL SA’F​AT – Green Building Evaluation System, supplied by Dubai Municipality and the Hotel Classification System at the Department of Tourism in Dubai.

“This achievement will have a positive impact on DLD’s operational mechanisms and help create a roadmap to reach new levels of creativity, achieve leadership, and become a pioneer and innovative entity by providing effective and sophisticated services to our clients to ensure their satisfaction and happiness,” added bin Mejren.

DLD previously identified the challenges related to the surveying and classification of buildings, including the need to strengthen the existing database and determine the number of units, especially in non-freehold areas. Through this initiative, DLD aims to tackle the population and commerce density as well as the issuance of tenancy contracts, especially in those areas, to overcome the problems of information entry in (Ejari). The teams had to visit each building individually when requesting their valuations, as there were no recent photographs of the buildings and villas in DLD’s system. The first objective of the system was to improve the rental index with the area and number of rooms as they serve as the sole indicator for rental index calculator while disregarding other factors such as the facilities, age, or condition of the building.

Based on these challenges, the initiative adopted a work mechanism that includes the surveying and classification of buildings and the development of a building classification system to standardise the database. The project required the visit of every plot of land in Dubai to survey all its buildings and units, take the necessary photographs that show the condition of the building and its facilities, and keep the information and pictures in the system, all which will be made available by a user name and password.

The project also required the classification of areas by available services to help clarify the benefits and disadvantages of all interested parties, including the owners, tenants, and investors among others, as well as the rating of each building from one to five stars, based on 64 criteria, to improve the quality of the buildings and improve the rental index. The system will allow users to search plots across Dubai and verify buildings, registered units, areas, and the property’s condition and its classification. When used, a comprehensive report will be obtained showcasing the building condition, the classification and age of the building, providing an easy and comprehensive reference as well as an integrated land registry.

The ‘Ideas Arabia’ award is an essential step in realising the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to promote the culture of creativity and innovation when launching corporate ideas. The Dubai Quality Group (DQG) award aims to identify the most important ideas applied within organisations during the year, and the organisers seek to honour the institutions and employees who provided the best ideas.