Researchers in Ras Al Khaimah are looking to Switzerland for inspiration to design buildings that remain cool and comfortable all year for a fraction of the cost.
At Al Hamra Village, homes are being used as a case study to see whether the Minergie Swiss building standard can be adopted here.
Double-glazed windows, external shading and insulation are among the main components of Minergie houses, which use up to 80 per cent less energy than conventional buildings - resulting in utility bills that can be reduced by up to a third.
Franco Vigliotti, the dean of RAK's Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) said the technology could "definitely be adopted to this region".
EPFL is a research centre that is leading the project with the support of the RAK Government.
"This is about changing our thinking of a house not as bricks, but as an envelope that has to be airtight," Mr Vigliotti said.
He hopes the study will result in houses being built within the year so residents can feel the benefits.
The Minergie standard is based on properly insulating a building through controlled ventilation, which exchanges outside air with inside air, ensuring constant fresh air at the same temperature.
Ruedi Kriesi, the founder of Minergie, said the same principle could be adopted in the UAE through a mechanical ventilation system that exchanges the hot air entering the house with the cool air leaving it.
Instead of putting heating in the floors as they do in Switzerland, houses in the UAE will have cool water circulating in the ceilings.
The EPFL is planning to adopt the Minergie code for its new campus.
Abu Dhabi's Urban Planning Council has been implementing an environmentally sustainable building standard since 2010 with its Estidama Pearl Rating System, where projects gain points and credits.
Mr Vigliotti said the difference was that Minergie was more focused on the "energy balance of the house, whereas Estidama looks at where the materials come from to minimise the energy consumption".
The obstacles facing such standards in the UAE are financial, as one of the major factors for success in Switzerland was government incentives, he said.
"If this region wants to go beyond being an intensive carbon consumer, there needs to be a way that incentivises sustainable behaviour," Mr Vigliotti said.
One of the incentives to own such a home is the resale value, which is between 30 and 40 per cent higher than that of a normal house.
In Switzerland, more than 25 per cent of houses are Minergie certified. Mr Vigliotti said the abundance of such buildings had resulted in additional construction costs dropping below 10 per cent.
Jean-Louis Tardent, who became the first person to build a Minergie standard home in Switzerland 18 years ago, said it was "so comfortable, I don't even go outside".
The price to build his three-bedroom house, which uses less than a third of the energy used by his neighbours, was between 15 and 20 per cent more than a normal home.
The temperature in his home is regulated to a constant 21°C in every room and the air is always fresh.
A Minergie-certified building must consume no more than 3.8 litres of fuel for every square metre a year, including water, heating and ventilation, which means five times less than a traditional building.
Mr Kriesi said the buildings in the UAE would need to run on electricity. To be certified they will not be allowed to use more than 30 kilowatt/hours a square metre of house a year.
Mr Vigliotti said it would take time to fully integrate Minergie in the UAE, as it is about "rethinking the way we value energy".
But he said: "We are experiencing a change in mindset about the environment and this decade will probably be historical in that sense."
molson@thenational.ae
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
