To end two years of studying at Kingston and complete my final piece of coursework, myself and 30 other students headed to Dubai to see for ourselves what construction is like in the World’s most rapidly growing city.

The week consisted of talks given by various speakers, including Dubai Tourism, Dubai Land Department, Dubai Municipality and AE7 Architects, to name a few. We also got the opportunity to visit a couple of sites, which would not have been possible without the support of Damac, one of Dubai’s biggest developers.

Damac Towers was the first, this project is almost complete and consists of approximately 800 units over 80 floors.

This was a really high quality development, with amazing views over Business Bay, including the world’s tallest building, the Burj Kalifa.

The second site visit was to Damac Hills, a development on the outskirts of the city in partnership with Trump Estates. This was in the early stages of development with the concrete floor slabs being poured.

The week’s activities culminated in giving a presentation to some industry professionals on a proposal for a hotel development at a selected site in the city, using what we had learnt and a report we had completed back in the UK.

Fortunately we managed to fit in some sight-seeing, which of course meant going up the Burj Kalifa and going to the beach!

A special thanks must go to NEA & Partners and Damac Properties for their involvement in organising the site visits and talks from industry professionals.