Real Estate Development Consulting in the UAE

27 April 2017

The key profit drivers for a real estate development project occur in the initial project stages. It is a saying in the development industry that the later you discover a problem, the more expensive it is to fix it – for example, revising an electrical design is less costly than re-doing electrical work on a construction site. A development project without a development and delivery strategy, inevitably returns less profit than a project with a professional and well thought-out strategy.

While large developers tend to operate with in-house development management teams, it is the small and medium enterprises as well as family run developers that can truly benefit from engaging a real estate consultant who can provide actionable solutions at a fraction of the overall project budget.

Simple real estate development projects, such as the construction of a few villas for private use, can be done with only two outsourced resources – the architect and the contractor. However – once the project is a commercial enterprise designed to meet return on investment hurdles and involves either the sale or rental of units to customers, the picture changes. This leaves a significant “gap”, which grows larger as the project’s complexity rises – which is, who is responsible for maintaining and even increasing the project’s return on investment? Who is coordinating the design and construction with other project aspects such as sales, marketing and finance? Who is advising the client at the key project milestones such as value engineering, design approval, procurement and authority approvals?

This is where a team of commercial property consultants can step in to fill the gap with a value-added solution that increases the project’s return on investment (ROI). This timely input from a professional development team at key stages of a project, such as concept design, value engineering, approvals and construction procurement, eliminates the need for the client to hire an expensive in-house team. This removes the developer’s headache and allows them to focus on their core strategy of delivering the most efficient product to the market while achieving their ambitions.

Julian joined Cavendish Maxwell as Chief Economist in January 2019. Coming from an old real estate family in Ireland, his career as an economist began with a first-class honours degree in philosophy, politics and economics at the age of 19, following which Julian was an analyst with the UK Government. He later helped develop and launch the UK’s residential forecasting service with the firms that merged to become Global Insight. Julian subsequently developed derivatives in the City of London and established real estate futures contracts for what is now the International Commodity Exchange. He also ran a property development and management firm, before eventually serving as an international consultant and trainer to governments, central banks and notable firms including AXA, Citibank, DBS, Deloitte and Thomson Reuters.

Julian fills his work-free time with academic pursuits; he holds several postgraduate degrees, including a PhD in International Risk Management Policy, and also the Licensed Conveyancer qualification. Julian has published many business and academic texts and articles, and is also a keen walker – especially fond of the Scottish Highlands.

Sarah-Jane joined Cavendish Maxwell in January 2020 as Head of Marketing and is responsible for the development of the marketing strategy and execution across the Middle East region. An energetic and results driven marketer, Sarah-Jane possesses a wealth of multi-channel marketing experience, within both B2B and B2C environments which she has gained over a 25 year career. Prior to joining Cavendish Maxwell, Sarah-Jane held senior marketing positions for major developers in Dubai including Emaar, Dubai Properties and Dubai Sports City. She also worked for IWG as the Regional Marketing Director responsible for the MEA and APAC regions. Before relocating to the UAE in 2005, Sarah-Jane held various management roles in public and private sector companies in the UK including ten years at Royal Mail and seven years at the Bank of America.

Sarah-Jane is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and has a BA(Hons) Degree in Business and Marketing