Article
Quality and safety of buildings: How Dubai’s new law will go beyond compliance
Article summary
Dubai’s Law No. (3) of 2026 introduces a framework to improve building quality, safety and continued suitability for use. Owners must obtain certification through authorised engineering assessments and address identified defects.
- Condition assessments: buildings condition assessments must be carried out to confirm the quality, safety, and suitability for use of a building before certification can be issued.
- Renewal obligations: certificates must be renewed periodically, with remediation works potentially carrying high cost and revenue disruption for building owners.
- Fire safety focus: fire risk is central to the Law, with performance-based fire engineering offering a cost-effective route to determining proportionate repair and remediation.
Dubai has enacted new legislation to improve safety standards in buildings. “Law No. (3) of 2026 Concerning the Quality and Safety of Buildings in the Emirate of Dubai” (the Law) was published in the Official Gazette in March 2026.
The law introduces a regulatory framework seeking to enhance the quality and safety standards of buildings across the Emirate, ensuring their continued suitability for use in accordance with the “highest construction standards” (Article (4) item 1).
Buildings subject to the law will have to undergo a building condition assessment for quality, safety, and suitability for use. Building owners will need to engage authorised engineering firms to conduct a condition assessment before applying to the Dubai Municipality (DM) for a Quality and Safety Certificate.
Global trend towards building safety
This law sees Dubai strive toward higher standards of safety in buildings. There is a clear comparison between this law and legislation enacted elsewhere.
In the UK, the Building Safety Act has empowered the government to raise safety standards and to improve competency across the built environment. In the UAE, the law empowers the DM to unify quality standards and mitigate safety risks.
Likewise, in the UK, the Building Safety Act places obligations on the building owner to assess building safety and prevent building safety risks from occurring. In the UAE, the law requires the building owner to rectify building defects that pose a risk to structural, life, or property safety
Building condition assessment
The condition assessment will follow a technical checklist, and the assessment will be required to address the following:
- the integrity of the structure;
- the integrity of the building’s cladding;
- the condition of windows, doors and security barriers;
- the condition of electrical and mechanical installations;
- that the building meets the requirements and procedures for safety and security specified by Dubai Civil Defence;
- and the condition of security systems such as CCTV.
Each of these elements will be assessed against recognised engineering standards and where they are found to be defective remediation will need to take place.
Once the required remediations have been verified by the engineering firm, DM can issue a Quality and Safety Certificate. This will certify that the building is suitable for use. The certification process recognises that safety and reliability degrade over time by requiring the certification to be revalidated after 10 years for buildings less than 40 years old and every 5 years for buildings older than 40 years.
The engineering assessment will be critical in defining the scope of remediation and the impact that this scope will have for the owner and the occupant.
Cost and damages could be significant, and it is therefore important that the assessment and scope reflect the essential works to meet the desired “quality and safety standards.”
Fire engineering
HKA’s Forensic Technical Services (FTS) team supports the resolution of disputes by providing expertise from across our international business in architecture, structural engineering, building services engineering, façade and fire engineering.
Fire safety is an important element as Article (7) d.5 of the law requires a confirmation that the building meets the requirements of Dubai Civil Defence.
Our fire engineering expert team is well-positioned to apply our global experience in fire-related disputes in Dubai and the region.
Building safety is a composite of numerous systems operating effectively: how effective is the structure to resist collapse when exposed to a fire, the cladding to prevent a fire leap-frogging floor to floor, the electrical and mechanical installations in protecting from fire?
The engineering assessment will be based on compliance with prescriptive codes and standards, but more cost-effective remediation works can often be achieved by a risk or performance-based fire engineering approach.
Peter Van Gorp, who has lived and worked in Dubai for almost 23 years and leads the HKA International fire engineering team, confirms:
In the last decade, and particularly after the Grenfell tower fire that occurred in 2017 in London, HKA receives multiple enquiries on fire safety-related claims and disputes almost every week. With more than 50 years of combined fire expert experience in Dubai and the Middle East, HKA is well placed to aid in cases that typically involve building owners, contractors, fire safety specialist subcontractors, architects, and engineers. HKA’s fire experts provide expert opinion related to fire safety related defects, where not only compliance with building regulations, code or standards is addressed, but also increasingly more the risk that fire safety defects have on building safety. Our experience from the UK is that often, assessments based on strict compliance can lead to extensive remediation works. A broader range of remediation solutions is possible by adopting a performance risk-based assessment.
This new law aims to drive down the occurrence of fire events and protect lives and property. HKA’s fire engineering team has significant experience in the review of building safety and assessing fire risk.
Working in close collaboration with our multidisciplinary team of building experts, HKA’s fire engineering team offer expert opinion on code compliance and on performance risk-based assessments. We are ideally positioned to support building owners in Dubai who are responding to their obligations under this new Law.
About the author
Chris Chennell is a fire engineer with over 20 years of experience in fire safety. He has assisted the named expert on several occasions.
Chris has assisted regarding disputed matters in the UK, Australia, and the Middle East. Predominantly these have involved external wall defects and compartmentation surveys, as well as post-fire assessments, on behalf of owners, operators, lawyers, and insurers.
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This publication presents the views, thoughts or opinions of the author and not necessarily those of HKA. Whilst we take every care to ensure the accuracy of this information at the time of publication, the content is not intended to deal with all aspects of the subject referred to, should not be relied upon and does not constitute advice of any kind. This publication is protected by copyright © 2026 HKA Global Ltd.
