Dubai's Knowledge Village
Urban design professionals working in Dubai are increasingly on the lookout for skilled workers to contribute to the massive number of urban projects currently on drawing boards across the emirate. Post-graduate design programmes are rapidly developing in Dubai, but there is a definite need for CPD-type professional skills-based training to inform urban designers about the Gulf’s many unique development issues.
Urban design professionals working in Dubai are increasingly on the lookout for skilled workers to contribute to the massive number of urban projects currently on drawing boards across the emirate. Post-graduate design programmes are rapidly developing in Dubai, but there is a definite need for CPD-type professional skills-based training to inform urban designers about the Gulf’s many unique development issues.
The British University in Dubai (BuiD) launched a specialist graduate Environmental Design of Buildings programme in 2005, in partnership with the University of Cardiff, UK. The latter’s Environmental Design course has received the highest research rating in the UK. Dr. Ahmad Okeil, admissions tutor for the BUiD course, commented: ‘The built environment is a major contributor to carbon emissions and the depletion of material resources today, so by teaching students an alternative approach to architectural and engineering solutions we are looking to support a more efficient approach in the future.’
Promoting sustainabilityGlobally, environmental design is seen as a critically-important issue in the construction sector, both to minimise the environmental impact of building work and to ensure that sustainability is considered in the planning and design of new buildings.
The importance of sustainability is only now becoming an issue across the Gulf. On a local level, this will be the first course of its kind to be designed specifically for the Gulf region, taking into account the impact of high temperatures on construction and the need to reduce dependence on the high level of power consumption required for air conditioning. In recent years, major projects like the Burj Dubai Tower in Dubai and the Pearl in Qatar have all incorporated environmental design considerations into their design process.
The fully accredited post-graduate degree is designed for junior to mid-career professionals, and BUiD has received a strong response from professionals in the government, engineering and architectural practice sectors. Students undertake assignments relating to local design issues: for example producing designs sensitive to thermal and visual comfort zones. As Dr Okeil explains, skilled urban design professionals that possess the ‘Big Picture’ of Dubai’s development needs are, sadly, in short supply – just as they are in many other regions of the world, including the UK. With demand high, additional urban design programmes look set to be launched across the Gulf. BUiD has 12 students so far, but hope for a larger intake next year.
Universities across the Gulf have an important role to play in promoting sustainability, and BUiD is contributing to the awareness-raising programme by hosting talks and lectures like that on the role of regulation in environmental design given by Professor Jones of the Welsh School of Architecture at Cardiff in March 2006 (commentary on the lecture can be found online).
‘By offering a pioneering course in this field, we will be enabling BUiD students to play a major role in helping to shape construction and development in the region. Environmental considerations are becoming increasingly important in architecture and building services design, and it’s important that there are educational resources available within the region to support this trend,’ added Dr. Gisela Loehlein, course leader at BUiD.
Atkins endowment
BUiD is also the recipient of an endowment from UK engineering consultancy Atkins – the new Atkins Professorship of the Built Environment. The endowment will create a new post – Head of the Institute of the Built Environment at BUiD – demonstrating the importance of innovative and sustainable building design in the region. ‘The Atkins Professorship confirms BUiD's position as a regional centre of excellence in the field of environmental construction, and it will take this important discipline forward to new intellectual and technical levels, for the benefit of the UAE and the whole of the GCC,' said BUiD's Registrar and Acting CEO, David Lock.
‘The study and improvement of the built environment is central to ensuring that construction continues to enhance the quality of life in the Middle East. We hope that our support for BUiD will create the next generation of business and technical leaders to serve this region in the engineering and construction sectors,' said Tim Askew, managing director, Atkins Middle East.
Atkins has also funded a Research Associate role to work with the professor, as well as six postgraduate scholarships for BUiD's masters' programme for well-qualified UAE nationals and citizens of the region.
Sustainability on the agenda
Dubai’s successful Cityscape conference and exhibition in September 2005 highlighted the increasing importance of environmental awareness in construction, both to minimise the impact of building work on the environment and to ensure that sustainability is considered in the planning and design of new buildings.
Several universities in Dubai, the UAE and across the Middle East offer courses in urban design, planning, architecture and construction, but more needs to be done to sustain demand from a seemingly insatiable growth sector.
Education and CPD: the demand in Dubai
Professionals working in urban development, such as Peter Cottingham of Al Khatib Cracknell, say that they notice a definite skills gap, with a need for designers ‘who can learn to deal with the Big Picture and take on all aspects of development’. Urbanists working in Dubai, he says, need all-round skills: people skills, communications skills, cultural awareness and vision as well as expert professional knowledge. But, he stresses, what is almost more important are healthy doses of reality and common sense. ‘People here negotiate through problems, and don’t always have hard and fast ways of getting things done. We don’t decree, but we influence,’ he says.
UAE-based professional also need the ability to work fast. Timescales are very tight, with major projects going from concept to presentation in as little as a month. ‘We need planners who understand the needs of the community and the environment, and who have the vision to embrace sustainability and to develop it. But this has to be tempered with reality: UK-trained urbanists, for example, have to understand that simply designing out cars is simply not feasible, however desirable it may seem, he says. ‘We need people who are trained to think around problems and to create solutions.’
Architecture and urban design students from around the world are increasingly being invited to visit Dubai and to explore its unprecedented urban growth. A group from Harvard University was briefed in 2005 by Dubai Municipality on the distinctive projects undertaken by the civic body, and graduate urban design teams from Italy, Syria, China, Australia and the US were invited to take part in a competition to create designs for the regenerations of the Dubai core downtowns; the Creekside areas of Bur Dubai and Deira. The competition was won by the team from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA (a report on the competition and its winners is available on RUDI).
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