Lootah Real Estate Development said the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is expected to change the region’s real estate design and property management in the short and long term, Trade Arabia reports.
Lootah noted the ways that COVID-19 can change real estate, listing down its immediate solutions while advising long-term measures developers can do.
For short-term solutions, the company’s CEO Saleh Abdullah Lootah said they have focused on stricter sanitation measures both for its occupants and staff.
These include the provision of hand sanitizers in traffic areas, limitation of people in elevators, placement of posters raising awareness of health and safety, in addition to disinfection of surfaces that are frequently touched.
It has also temporarily closed its amenities like gym, pools, sauna and spa as per the UAE guidelines in all of its properties, stated Lootah.
He added, “We also make sure we stay up to date with the current developments in the UAE and the world so we can arrive at informed decisions on how we can make everyone safe.”
Lootah also advised other industry leaders to think of long-term plans such as the development of buildings with contingent designs that may act as preventive measures in the future.
Such measures may include touch-less technology in the buildings – wherein there could be automatic sliding doors and voice-activated elevators, he advised.
Another measure that could be implemented in real estate is the installation of heat map detectors to scan the temperature of each visitor at the building entrances, he added.
Lootah also recommended re-modeling the vent system of the building that involves air purification measures.