Abu Dhabi is undergoing a development boom with individual project budgets as large as several billion dollars. Many developers driving this construction boom are dispersed internationally. No matter their location, a lot of time and resources were being wasted navigating among the 23 permit entities (such as utilities, civil defense, landscaping) that are spread across 12 different reviewing agencies in 12 different locations. The challenge for Abu Dhabi was to figure out how to efficiently streamline its construction development.

The Abu Dhabi municipality contacted Bureau Veritas for help in assessing and improving its construction development configuration and processes. With a track record of over 100 such projects and its international network of offices and experts, Bureau Veritas was well poised to help. Bureau Veritas brought in local and international experts who created a framework detailing how to build safe and socially/environmentally responsible structures in the region through a centralized set of processes and procedures
The next task was to group the 12 reviewing agencies under one roof and then Bureau Veritas further improved the process by developing a one-stop Web portal for the entire internal and external stakeholders. The portal entirely eliminates paperpushing processes. In fact, all permit applications and related tasks must be completed online now, allowing municipal officials to focus on development issues. It also provides a centralized history of each project. Not only can project leaders check progress in real time, but they can also review all related comments from all entities (which previously was nearly impossible to track) and quickly identify and fix any issues. The online tool initially went live in English and is now also in Arabic.

The one-stop construction development environments (physical and online) directly benefit Abu Dhabi’s economy. Previously bottlenecked construction projects flow easily through the new system, allowing Abu Dhabi to expand the number of building permits granted without having to hire additional staff. In the first year alone the municipality granted 10,000 permits. Because the system is Web-based, developers all over the world can obtain permits online without needing to obtain a travel visa and physically go to Abu Dhabi to complete the process. And, projects can be pushed through the process quicker with all the information entered and treated in one place. Accountability has also increased because project leaders can easily identify hold-ups and focus on fixing them.