Construction works on Gemini Splendor, a G+8 residential project that Gemini Property Developers is building in Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid City, is nearly 70% complete Construction works on Gemini Splendor, a G+8 residential project that Gemini Property Developers is building in Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid (MBR) City, is nearly 70% complete.

Anand Kolappa Pillai, vice president of Global Green Bridge Contracting, said that structural works on the project have been completed and finishing works have started.

Green Bridge, formerly known as Al Jihan Gulf Horizon General Contracting, is the project’s main contractor.

“The building will be ready for handover by end of January 2018,” he told Construction Week on the sidelines of a press conference that Gemini and SPF Realty organised yesterday, 17 August, to announce a new payment plan for Splendor.

Talking about the fire safety features of the project, Pillai revealed that Dubai Civil Defence (DCD) has visited and inspected the development, which has an estimated value of $76m (AED280m).

“The fire safety features of Splendor follow the latest DCD codes, including the cladding and external glazing. As per the new regulations, DCD inspects projects five times during the whole construction,” Pillai said. “There are stages of inspections, and there is a protocol followed.”

He added: “The protocol includes having a witness representative from all parties. So you have a witness from [Green Bridge], from the consultant, from the client side, and from a third-party consultant for fire safety, along with Dubai Civil Defence.”
Pillai noted that he doesn’t anticipate any problems arising in relation to the DCD requirements since the project was designed according to the updated fire code, as well as the latest green building regulations.

In May this year, Construction Week visited the project site of Splendor, during which Pillai mentioned that accessibility was a major challenge Green Bridge was facing, saying: “There is no proper road infrastructure connecting the site to the main road, making ingress and egress a bit problematic.”

At yesterday’s press conference, Pillai said that this issue is now being addressed by Sobha, the master developer of the area on which Splendor is being built.

“The master developer has started preparing the infrastructure. Works are ongoing now, and should be done before handover,” he elaborated.

According to Gemini, its newly launched payment plan will “help property buyers and free them up from the cost of home finance burden”.

The new scheme, the company said, will allow buyers to pay for up to five years after handover and choose a payment plan from as many as seven options.

Sudhakar R Rao, managing director of Gemini, commented: “We want to give [customers] the freedom to pay at their ease, choice, and convenience.
“Once the buyer moves in, upon paying 50%, it frees up the rents – that could be converted into monthly instalments for five years or as low as 0.83% per month, which could be paid in quarterly instalments.”