It is essential in today's increasingly competitive real estate markets that the requirements of potential tenants are researched and incorporated into building design. Banks typically insist on professional feasibility studies being undertaken before financing projects, but many owners can still afford to bypass this process, sometimes with unfortunate results. Once built, there is often no clear differentiation by landlords between rent, service charge and running costs, according to Nicholas Witty, assistant general manager of DTZ Debenham Aleyasi in Jeddah. Many landlords simply don't know how much money they are making, or otherwise - that's why here in Jeddah there's an oversupply of offices, yet building continues apace. We have just convinced a local developer not to build a 30-storey office building, because there is simply no market for it here in Sharjah.
Specification can be another victim of inadequate pre-planning.
In Abu Dhabi, there are believed to be no buildings with raised floors provided for technology cabling - something that tenants are crying out for. Buildings typically have fan coil units which 'send chilled water through a hair dryer', according to Andrew Charlesworth, general manager of Colliers International Property Consultants. Part of the problem is that contractors earn margins of as little as one per cent, and there is little incentive to introduce such measures into the specifications of new buildings. Serve and protect Other underlying factors inhibit the optimum performance of regional property markets. In Abu Dhabi, building owners are effectively protected from commercial realities by the workings of the Department of Social Services and Commercial Buildings, otherwise known as the Khalifa Committee.