United Arab Emirates
UAE Mixed-Use Development
Transforming an industrial site into a walkable mixed use neighbourhood.
Client: Confidential
Collaborators: Confidential
Year: 2025
Service: Technical Masterplanning
Expertise: Sustainability, Mobility, Utility Infrastructure, Drainage, Building Services Engineering (MEP), Structural Engineering.
Homa provided technical masterplanning services for a mixed-use masterplan in the UAE. The 40 hectare site currently contains a wholesale mall surrounded by surface parking and industrial land with limited public realm. The client's ambition is to transform it into a walkable mixed-use destination incorporating residential, retail, hospitality, and community uses.
Homa developed a sustainability framework that considered alternate accreditation schemes, establishing a pathway aligned with Estidama while maintaining potential for LEED accreditation. The framework defines strategies and KPIs that underpin all other disciplines and provide a basis for performance tracking through design and delivery.
The mobility strategy aimed to transform the existing car and parking-dominated environment into a pedestrian-friendly destination while ensuring efficient mall access and separation of visitor, residential, and logistics flows. Homa tested a range of options for parking provision serving commercial and residential components. This analysis was crucial to driving the overall site structure and layout.
Utility and drainage strategies integrate stormwater management using SUDS principles alongside rooftop photovoltaics to meet renewable energy targets. Structural strategies for the mall retrofit maximise reuse of existing steel frames while enabling new architectural interventions—transformed circulation corridors, plaza spaces, and canopy structures. MEP strategies address thermal performance, passive solar design, and efficient building systems. Together, these inputs establish the technical foundations for a high-performance masterplan.
