Dubai for Life

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The Cityscape Abu Dhabi launch in 2007, attracted over 15,670 industry professionals from more than 71 countries and showcased 182 exhibitors (photo above). The CityScape Dubai event kicked off today at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre and will last till 18th October.

Improved transparency and regulation is the key to further improving investor confidence in the Middle East property development market, according to the organisers of the world’s largest business-to-business real estate event which takes place on 16-18 October 2007 at Dubai International Exhibition Centre

“Transparency and predictability for investors has improved considerably in recent years and much of this is due to development in legislation and corporate governance,” says Rohan Marwaha, Group Director of Cityscape for IIR Middle East, organisers of record breaking Cityscape Dubai 2007.

But Marwaha added: “There is still more that can be done from a regulatory point of view to help realise a sustainable, predictable real estate market that achieves foreign investor confidence and I am sure governments are aware of this and will gradually make the necessary steps.”

Cityscape is playing its part with a new information service focused on the emerging markets to be launched at the event. The Cityscape Market Information Service contains up to the minute news feeds from over 2,500 global publications as well as comment and analysis contributors worldwide.

“It can be difficult to obtain accurate facts and analysis about the real estate industry in certain emerging markets,” said Marwaha “The new service aims to provide some transparency by providing reliable information from an extensive network of sources.”

Cityscape Dubai is now officially the largest business-to-business real estate event in the world and has grown phenomenally since its launch in 2002. This year Cityscape Dubai is set to exceed 2006 and welcome more than 45,000 real estate professionals and investors from more than 120 countries, making it not only the biggest but the most diverse real estate platform in the world.

“Cityscape is a business-to-business event attracting institutional investors interested in projects around the world and by institutional investors we mean those prepared to invest over US$5 million,” said Marwaha. “The event has been very successful in attracting the truly big real estate institutions, banks, investments companies and funds.

“The last few years have been a rollercoaster ride and I am extremely proud, not only of what the Cityscape team has achieved but the manner in which we have gone about it. We have created a global business-to-business brand and I am excited about the opportunities this has presented for the future.”

Last year’s event broke records before it began with announcements of $160 billion worth of real estate projects – a seven-fold increase on the $20 billion announced before the previous Cityscape.

In 2007, Cityscape became a biannual event in the Middle East with Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, a natural choice for a second location. Cityscape Abu Dhabi in May was a resounding success with over 15,000 participants from 71 countries.

Cityscape Asia and Cityscape China have also become the leading platforms in their regions. The latest entrants are Cityscape India in November which looks set to be biggest launch yet and Cityscape South America is planned for December.

When Cityscape first launched in 2002 it was a small show with only about 500 square metres of exhibition space and about 1,000 participants. In 2006 Cityscape officially became the biggest business-to-business real estate event coming in at 50,000 square metres and 32,442 real estate professionals and investors from 107 countries.

“Cityscape has become much more than an international exhibition brand,” said Marwaha. “We are very much focused towards building a network of international institutional investors, VIPs and high net worth individuals.”

This year Cityscape will have a floor area of 70,000 square metres and the main conference will host the largest ever number of investors, owners and developers in the Middle East and will be focused on property investment and development around the world.

The event also features the World Architectural Congress and the coveted Cityscape Architectural Review Awards. The congress brings together leading international architects to discuss best practice in architectural design in the Middle East and internationally.

Architecture in the emerging world will be honoured at the Cityscape Architectural Review Awards which will take place on the opening evening of the show. Some 350 entries from emerging countries around the world will compete for the awards, which are recognised as the most prestigious of their kind in the region.

Cityscape Dubai has attracted wide industry support with platinum sponsors
Emaar Properties, Tanmiyat Investment Group, Aldar Properties, Dar Al Arkan, Nakheel, and Qatari Diar; gold sponsors Tameer Holdings and Saraya Holdings; and silver sponsor Aqaba Development Corporation.

For more information, please visit: www.cityscape.ae