A developer's view

It is no secret that there is a fade currently being experienced in the UAE property market. The question is, what do you do about it? How do you deal with it? How do you plan for the future so that your company will emerge from this period stronger than ever?

We at Omniyat are in a fortunate position – over the last three years the company has become synonymous with the development of outstanding real estate projects, which aim at integrating innovative design and technology solutions into real estate to deliver superior commercial and residential lifestyles.

The recent global economic crisis has reached the UAE, and in anticipation of the difficult times ahead, Omniyat Properties has taken the proactive step of reinventing the company under a 'Fit for Growth, Fit for Life and Fit for Purpose' manifesto, maximising the return on the company's valuable resources, by focusing on the delivery of their nine projects.

It is now the moment of truth, where we convert imagination into reality, and we are very proud to be fast approaching our next milestone of completion and delivery of our first 3 projects; One Business Bay, Bayswater and The Square by April 2009.

With a project portfolio under development valued at over AED13 billion, Omniyat is well placed to consolidate its position within the Dubai real estate landscape, and capitalise on the supply and demand dynamics within the Business Bay master plan.

Over the next 3 years, Omniyat will deliver 3 projects per year, every year. We have entered a new phase of our organisation’s history, where completion and delivery of our projects has required the company to deploy resources where we can add significant value to our brand proposition.

But in the process of evolving the organisation, the review of the short to medium term growth strategy has required some modification.

Earlier this year, we announced an aggressive new project pipeline which would have increased our projects under development to AED21 billion by year end 2008.

With the current market conditions, we have taken the decision to consolidate all of the projects that we have launched to date, focus our resources to deliver them on time, in full and with the ultimate Omniyat customer experience. Our new projects will remain under design until such time as the market conditions become more conducive.

Focusing resources on the existing Omniyat portfolio and the rephasing of when new projects will be brought to market has required 69 redundancies at Omniyat, almost entirely within the Sales, Marketing and Support Services functions, with the core property development roles of Development and Project Management remaining intact.

It is a time where leadership of organisations will be tested. It is a time when companies need to ensure they plan for the journey ahead, and are fit enough to execute strategy with precision and with speed.

The short term will be difficult, but we are confident that the Dubai and UAE market have all the fundamentals in place to move through the period of market fade, stronger than ever.

Our latest strategy and focus on delivery provides Omniyat with an exceptional opportunity to create value and capture value for our stakeholders.

Alex Andarakis is managing director of Omniyat Properties

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READERS' COMMENTS

Sama Dubai are Worse!
Posted by Valerie Pinkerton, Dubai, UAE on Wednesday 26 November 2008 at 10:54 UAE time

Delivery was originially due in December 2008, and now they have decided to charge us a second instalment without even starting the substructure!

Omniyat trying to pretend they are fine
Posted by Geoffrey Humphries, Dubai, UAE on Tuesday 25 November 2008 at 21:13 UAE time

I cannot believe that Omniyat is coming out with a slogan like 'Fit for Growth, Fit for Life and Fit for Purpose' at a time like this! This is exactly the kind of marketing and slogan strategy that Omniyat has used to pull over the eyes of the buyer about this company. I believe a company like Omniyat represents the very worst of developer culture in Dubai.

Omniyat was always good at PR
Posted by Jack, Dubai on Tuesday 25 November 2008 at 10:40 UAE time


I guess the biggest strenght of Omniyat has always been PR and Marketing...they have created a name for themseleves in the market without delievering a single project. And people who have been to cityscape and visited their booth, know exactly what I am talking abt.
Now again they are making sure that they are in the news even in these troubled times by either giving interviews or spreading news of "lay offs."
The truth is companies like Omniyat are in for tough times ahead. Removing IT functions from their smart buildings is one more way of cutting costs which they have started to do. when their investors find the truth about their marketing gimmicks, then they will be in even deeper troubles.

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