The year that was 2008

JANUARY 2

Limitless, the Dubai-based developer, said construction work began on the $11 billion (Dh40.3bn) Arabian Canal, a 50-metre wide and six-metre deep project.

JANUARY 3

Burj Dubai reached 158 storeys and 598.5 metres height.

JANUARY 7

The retail selling price of steel was recorded at $803 (Dh2,947), according to reports.

JANUARY 26

Dubai World Trade Centre awarded the development contract for Dubai Exhibition World (DEW) to international construction firm, Samsung.

The contract is a joint venture with Baytur, valued at Dh1.3 billion and is due for completion at 2010.

FEBRUARY 16

By mid-February, the industry started to feel the pinch of rising construction costs, which rose by 30 per cent in the last 12 months.

MARCH 4

Emaar Properties announced that the opening of Burj Dubai has been delayed by about four months. No reason was cited by the company for the delay.

APRIL 7

Burj Dubai reached 629 metres high, while KVLY-TV, which held the record for the world's tallest supported structure since 1963, has a height of 628.8 metres.

APRIL 10

Arabtec Construction was awarded an $817 million (Dh2.9 billion) contract for the design and building work for the Mohammed bin Rashid Housing Establishment.

APRIL 16

Murray and Roberts said contractors were moving more into negotiated opportunities. 

APRIL 27

Gazprom Neft and the city of St Petersburg awarded Arabtec a $2.7 billion (Dh9.9bn) contract to build the Okhta Centre. 

APRIL 29

Dubai-based developer Nakheel has initiated flooding of the first access point to the 80-kilometre-long Arabian Canal.

JUNE 8

Arabtec Construction was awarded a Dh3 billion deal to build 1,500 homes at Nakheel's Al Furjan development in Dubai. The deal was the company's largest UAE contract so far this year.

JUNE 10

Emaar Properties announced that its Burj Dubai tower, the world's tallest, is facing a nine-month delay and is unlikely to be ready until August or September next year.

The original deadline was December. The delay is due to a redesign of the building's interior.

JUNE 15

Mizin announced its Remraam community project commenced construction on time and as per the planned schedule. Dubai Civil Engineering, Al Ghafly General Contracting and Parkway International won the contracts valued at Dh6 billion.

JUNE 24

Alam Steel Ltd and Macsteel SA signed a 50-50 joint venture to set up the first service centre in the Middle East for processing high-grade steel plates and sections.

JULY 1

ArcelorMittal, the international metals and mining company, announced that it intends to acquire 60 per cent of the entire-issued share capital of DSTC FZCO, a newly incorporated company located in the free zone.

JULY 5

Readymix companies in the UAE raised their prices following continuous increase in the cost of diesel.

Concrete is presently sold at about Dh480 per cubic metre in Abu Dhabi and about Dh430 in Dubai. Companies said talks were held to raise the price by Dh25.

JULY 9

The costs of building materials in the Gulf region jumped 50 per cent during the first half of the year following a 30 per cent hike last year, said regional real-estate developer Al Mazaya Holding Company.

JULY 14

UAE-based Metito said it plans to go for an IPO in 2010.

JULY 15

Robodh Contracting will be the main contractor with property developer Dheeraj East Coast for all its projects worth Dh4.5 billion.

JULY 30

In keeping with the construction boom, the Dubai Municipality's Building Department issued a new safety manual for construction works, said Essa Al Maidour, Assistant Director General of Dubai Municipality for Planning and Building Affairs. The manual is a revision of the earlier one, which was written 13 years ago.

JULY 31

The two months delay to the opening of the Dubai Mall by October will ensure the smooth entry and egress from Sheikh Zayed Road, Yousif Al Ali, General Manager, The Dubai Mall, told Emirates Business.

AUGUST 3

The final design and the structural design for the iconic bridge to Palm Jebel Ali was handed over to Nakheel, said Royal Haskoning, the architects. 

AUGUST 4

Arabtec Construction received a letter of acceptance valued at Dh1.6 billion from Emaar-Bawadi to design and construct 1437 villas as part of the Bawadi project in Dubailand.

AUGUST 5

The UAE construction sector shot up by more than 25 per cent in 2007 to record the highest growth rate in the gross domestic product, official figures showed. From Dh46.4 billion in 2006, the value added of the construction sector jumped by 25.4 per cent to around Dh58.bn in 2007, the Central Bank figures showed.

It was the fastest growing sector in the UAE last year as it surpassed growth in the dominant oil sector, which stood at around 18.5 per cent.

AUGUST 6

The Palm Jumeirah monorail will start operations on April 1, 2009, said Robert Lee, Director of Investments at Nakheel.

AUGUST 9

ZSML was in the tendering stage for up to four new projects in Dubai,

AUGUST 10

By January 1, 2009, the new legislative framework on green building design will be implemented in all new buildings across Dubai said Essa Al Maidour, the municipality's assistant director general. "These regulations will be in line with the Dubai Strategic Plan."

AUGUST 17

Turkey-based construction company Tepe Akfen (TAV) Construction has won the Dh1.1 billion construction contract to build the Marina 101 Tower at Dubai Marina.

Prices of steel in the UAE have dropped by almost 20 per cent during the last three weeks, a reversal from the steady increase during the first two quarters of 2008. Steel was being traded at $1,400 compared to almost $1,700 in July. 

AUGUST 25

Dubai Properties announced that Dh50 billion Culture Village project crossed key construction milestones, including the completion of 90 per cent of the Dh1bn infrastructure works.

AUGUST 29

The Energy and Environment Park (Enpark), announced a Sustainable Development Policy, which stipulates LEED Gold certification as the minimum standard for all developments within the free zone.

SEPTEMBER 1

Real estate leaders Tameer and Sorouh finalised an agreement with a joint venture of Al Habtoor Engineering/Murray and Roberts/Al Rajhi Projects to construct the Tameer Towers project in Abu Dhabi for a cost of Dh6 billion.

Burj Dubai reached a new record height of 688 metres (2,257.2 ft). Currently at over 160 storeys, the tower also has the largest number of floors in any building.

SEPTEMBER 3

Rakeen successfully completed the development of new green building code to be implemented in all its developments.

SEPTEMBER 6

Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) extended the deadline for bids for the largest solar power plant in the world by a month, to September 30.

SEPTEMBER 7

Nagarjuna Construction Company Limited (NCCL), one of India's leading contractors has won two projects worth Dh1.1 billion in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. David Savage, Managing director of Al Habtoor Leighton Group said that with the recently signed five contracts, the figure will now go above Dh30bn. 

SEPTEMBER 13

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) awarded the contract to Avecon Co for constructing crossings and roads leading to Meydan project in Dubai. 

SEPTEMBER 21

The Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari (IMG) Group has awarded a Dh500 million monorail contract for the City of Arabia to Metrail AG of Switzerland.

SEPTEMBER 30

Drake and Scull International announced that it successfully held its first Board of Directors meeting on September 27 , 2008. DSI is due to list on the Dubai Financial Market by the end of the year following the completion of regulatory formalities.

Steel prices in Abu Dhabi declined by up to 15 per cent in August after jumping by at least 90 per cent in the first half of this year, said an official report from the Abu Dhabi Department of Planning and Economy (DPE).

OCTOBER 4

Three of the seven newly created initial Board of Trustees of the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) have a GCC working presence.

OCTOBER 9

The 2.4km building image, which is the next contender of the tallest building in the world, has been circulated widely but is not yet on the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats (CTBUH) list, said David Scott, Chairman for the CTBUH and Principal at Arup. 

OCTOBER 11

Construction firm Laing O'Rourke plans to add up to 4,500 more staff to its operations in the Middle East next year. 

OCTOBER 19

Al Shafar Contracting signed a Dh1.1 billion deal with Nakheel to build a residential project within the Jumeirah Heights. 

OCTOBER 20

Nakheel began on site testing for its newly delivered monorail trains on Palm Jumeirah – the first monorail service in the Middle East. 

OCTOBER 22

Parsons International, the Al Habtoor Leighton Group, Drake and Scull, Buro Happold and Multiforms joined the Buildsafe Dubai HSE initiative, taking the memberships to 74 companies.

Arabtec Holdings current order book figures total to Dh49 billion, said Ziad Makhzoumi, Chief Financial Officer at Arabtec Holding. 

OCTOBER 28

Limitless invited construction firms to bid for the second phase of earthworks on Arabian Canal, its $11 billion waterway. It follows the appointment last month of Abu Dhabi-based Tristar for phase one.

NOVEMBER 1

Buildsafe Dubai was renamed as Buildsafe UAE.

NOVEMBER 9

Reclamation of the Palm Deira is expected to finish in 2014 and land equivalent to three Palm Jumeirahs has been reclaimed so far, said Abdullah bin Sulayem, operations director at Palm Deira. 

NOVEMBER 10

Fu He, Executive Director, China State Construction International Holdings Limited and Chairman of CSHK Dubai Contracting, said the current value of projects in hand stand at an excess of Dh3 billion. 

NOVEMBER 18

The current areas under construction on Nakheel's Waterfront will stay on schedule to fulfil the obligations to customers, said Matt Joyce, Managing Director at the Waterfront. 

NOVEMBER 19

Property developer MiNC sent a letter to investors in its Prodigy 1 project in Jumeirah Village, Dubai, asking them for up to 88 per cent extra capital up front to cover construction costs.

NOVEMBER 27

Al Habtoor Leighton Group won a $2.4 billion contract, the biggest single building deal ever awarded in the Gulf, for the construction of Dubai Pearl, a development planned opposite Palm Jumeirah.

NOVEMBER 30

Mizin, the real estate development arm of Tatweer, awarded Phase II infrastructure works on the Liwan, Arjan and Majan master developments to Bin Laden Construction and Emirates Roads Contracting (ERC).

DECEMBER 7

The Al Habtoor - Murray & Roberts – Takenaka (HMRT) Joint Venture was awarded an Dh4.9 billion contract for the construction of Dubai Airport's new Concourse 3 for Dubai's Department of Civil Aviation (DCA).

DECEMBER 15

A construction-based payment plan from the Chapal Group could be the beginning of a new trend in the UAE market. "In the current market situation, people are not planning to invest in the market," said Jawad Chapal, Executive Director at the Chapal Group.

DECEMBER 16

Bishoy Azmy , CEO of Al Shafar General Contracting, confirmed that the firm is laying off between 500 to 1,000 staff instead of the 2,000 as reported.

DECEMBER 23

Customers who place new orders for their projects will benefit from lowered prices in 2009, said Andrew Shaw, Managing Director at Ducab.

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