Conference on Rain Resilience presents granular engineering solutions

PRESS RELEASE

Conference on rain resilience presents granular engineering solutions

Participants discuss stormwater management in the contexts of buildings and infrastructure, facades, basement car parking and facility management, among other topics

DUBAI, UAE, 19 February 2025: The Rain Resilience Conference, on February 19 at Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, brought together government departments, developers, architects, consultants and contractors for wide-ranging discussions aimed at safeguarding people and property confronting extreme weather events in urban sprawls.

The impact of extreme weather events on the global economy is estimated to be between USD 1.5 trillion and USD 3 trillion. Every year, the globe witnesses about 4,000 such events; Dubai had its brush with an extreme weather event on April 16, 2024. Produced by CPI Industry, in association with Fakhruddin Properties, the conference was a response of the urban-planning, civil, structural and MEP engineering communities to the rainstorm that challenged buildings and infrastructure in Dubai and also in neighbouring GCC region entities. The rainstorm demanded analysis and conscious collective effort towards arriving at strategies and solutions to prevent a repeat of or, at the very least, to minimise damage in future such extreme weather events. Building resilience in cities is essential to not only make populations and infrastructure less susceptible to damage and loss but to also make them more agile to the unpredictable nature of weather-related events.

The Conference provided a platform for discussing stormwater management in the contexts of buildings and infrastructure, facades, basement car parking and facility management. It demonstrated the determination of the collective engineering community to present granular solutions relating to architectural features, building materials and electro-mechanical equipment, and their interplay with buildings.

Dr Samiullah Khan, Chief Sustainability Officer, Fakhruddin Properties, said: “It is impossible to ignore the debilitating impact of rainstorms on people and property. As a developer, we have a responsibility towards our customers in ensuring their safety and wellbeing. We have the engineering wherewithal to fortify our properties and minimise disruption.”

Surendar Balakrishnan, Producer, CPI Industry, said: “Given the threat of extreme weather events, rain resilience can no longer be ignored. It demands a place among such factors as energy efficiency, Indoor Air Quality and modern amenities that influence decision-making of property buyers.”

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