The signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Federal Demographic Council, federal ministries and the municipalities of the seven emirates introduced the Smart Buildability Index, state-owned WAM News Agency reported last week.

The new index will aim to standardise building standards and adopt modern building techniques. The goal of these measures is an acceleration of the construction processes, an increase of productivity and rationalise the use of unskilled labour.

The Smart Buildability Index will be applied gradually to construction projects of 2,000 square meters or more, starting from early 2017.

“Such indexes should be developed to ensure standards in the UAE are on par with the highest international benchmarks,“ said Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who witnessed the signing ceremony along with a number of other senior representatives of the UAE.