New lease of life for gutted Tamweel Tower

With negotiations regarding the reconstruction of Tamweel Tower in Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) in its final stages, it will not be long before men at work can be seen at the site of the gutted residential tower, hopes the tower’s Owners’ Association.

The ravaged remains of the 34-story residential tower situated in the far northern corner of the popular JLT community reminds still bears witness to that fatal night when a fire, that started with a thoughtlessly disposed cigarette butt, quickly spread to all floors at back of the building.

That night, residents lost their homes, their belongings, and their hopes of a peaceful life in a high-rise building of this newly developed community. They moved on, re-built their lives while always keeping an eye on the blackened framework of their once beloved building.

Nearly two year later, the tower is set to receive the proverbial new lease of life. The quotations of two contractors are currently passing through the many hands of those involved with the reconstruction, and an approval is in sight.

The Owners Association of Tamweel Tower describes the process as follows:

“We have now received quotations from two contractors of good standing. As is usual in cases like this, there was a further dialogue with the contractors to fine-tune their quotation, fill in certain blanks and so on.

"Based on the final quotations, the engineering committee of the OA and the relevant board members, with the guidance of our own insurance claims manager, have passed on the quotations to the loss adjusters.

"Subsequently there was a meeting between those loss adjusters and our claims manager, after which the claim was to be discussed. We are hoping to get the approval this week if all goes well.”

This is good news for the tower. Earlier, a disagreement between Tamweel and the OA led to a delay as there was no consensus over which party would be in a position to sign a contract for the reconstruction.

The hurdle eventually led to a Rera decision to grant the OA of Tamweel Tower permission to open a bank account, which avoided any impediment to signing a contract with the contractor for the reconstruction.

Since then, things have moved forward rapidly, and it will not be long before work on the reconstruction starts, the board expects. “There is the possibility that there might be further questions, all within the framework of the policy.”

“Once the claim is approved to the satisfaction of all stakeholders, a contract will be signed by the OA with the contractor. After that there will probably be a period of 4 to 6 weeks when they mobilise men and material before starting work,” they informed.

“We do not know of any specific area of concern the insurers might have nor do we imagine, for a moment, that they would not handle the claim with some degree of compassion,” the board added.

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