This is luxury
DAMAC managing director Ziad El Chaar reflects on the developer’s success
DAMAC’s other eye is firmly on the luxury buyers’ market and evolving to the needs of the global jetsetter who wants an apartment in every port. Q2 2013 will see the launch of Burjside Boulevard – overlooking Burj Khalifa – the first in a string of planned serviced apartment offerings that will offer residents – no matter how long or little they reside in their apartment for – “one of the most comprehensive concierge services”, according to El Chaar and the project is close to selling out.
“The moment you arrive you are offered every service you need, from bookings to car rentals to baby sitting and concert tickets. Anything you would expect a concierge to do,” he says, adding that such developments are helping to evolve competition in the serviced apartments market.
Explaining that the concept brings DAMAC back to its leading luxury standard roots, El Chaar says DAMAC’s serviced apartments brand is rooted on four pillars: luxury, location, rental returns and world class concierge services.
But luxury isn’t just about the branding of a product. As El Chaar himself says; luxury is also about quality, and that means location, design – for which DAMAC has won a number of awards – amenities and the endurance of the built structure.
With contractors carefully selected according to specific qualifications assessed by DAMAC’s technical management team, El Chaar says there are five criteria that must be met: Experience; quality of projects delivered to date; financial capability; experience in the market; and reputation.
“You cannot have luxury without quality. When we have a new customer today we do not take them to the new buildings, we take them to our first building, Marina Terrace, which is seven years old.
“Once we take them and they see the building and that it is seven years old, they see the quality enduring.
“In terms of building codes, we have one of the best building codes in the world. The quality isn’t just the quality of paint, it’s the quality of the foundations, structure and facades, the glass, the quality of the endurance to any effects whether seismic or otherwise. We have one of the best civil defence codes in the region or even world,” he continues.
This year, the message to Cityscape Global is one of resilience and success, with the promotion of existing projects and the stability of the regional market taking precedent. For El Chaar it’s all about the tangible return on an abstract concept. And free massages for visitors to the developer’s prime location stand.
“The good thing is that, today, you can find here a market for everyone. Dubai is no longer just building for the rich and the superrich, now there are communities that will provide a very nice environment for everybody.
“This Cityscape we will continue to focus on the same products we did last year, including the luxury serviced apartments concept, in which market we will be the number one in the Middle East. This is our focus.”
