PropTech sets out to transform built world
8 September 2022
PropTech has become a new buzzword in today’s highly digitalised world. The umbrella term for tech-driven innovative building industry solutions, its adoption is accelerating rapidly – rising by a staggering 1,072 per cent from 2015-19, according to Forbes.
Property technology is only poised to keep growing. A recent study by PwC and the Urban Land Institute highlighted that the use of technologies by real estate companies in Europe will trend upwards over the next three to five years.
Expedited further by the pandemic, property technology is reconfiguring how all stakeholders relate to the built environment, from how they experience, design, construct and market buildings to property management.
Outlined below are some important ways this unfolds across the five property development stages.
Digitalised cities
Data technology is the cornerstone of smart cities. Offering multiple sustainability benefits, it is being used to integrate building and infrastructure systems.
Sensors, data centres and digital twins monitor key historical and real-time indicators of demographic trends, property inventories, power and water use, and building carbon emissions. By using urban data analytics, policies for waste reduction, building decarbonisation and even affordable housing can be better achieved.
A prime example is Singapore’s pioneering digital twin experiment. Data in the form of GIS, lidar and satellite imagery were processed to create a 3D digital replica called ‘Virtual Singapore’.

A snapshot of Virtual Singapore, the city’s pioneering digital twin project. Source: National Mapping Archives – gwprime (geospatialworld.net)
The single, centralised, real-time database is already helping the city to respond to challenges related to water supply management, track real estate market changes, and deploy solar farms to meet growing domestic and industrial demands.
PropTech adoption accelerated by 1,072 per cent from 2015 to 2019
E-real estate
In the real estate sector, technology is helping to solve problems such as lack of transparency, information asymmetry and high investment risks. In the UAE, a person renting or buying property exclusively through a broker is almost unheard of, while 93 per cent of US buyers use real estate websites when searching for a home. This may mean the entire market is becoming digitalised.
And for very good reasons. For one, online sales platforms simplify the arduous task of property hunting for people with little background knowledge in a sophisticated and highly technical field. Platforms such as Bayut and RealAR app offer in-depth information on listing characteristics, provide analysis of comparable properties, and even furnish virtual simulations to help guide purchase and modification decisions.
But technology is poised to go even further. For example, price-gouging algorithms are being developed to use predictive analytics that process data on transactions, forecast future trends, value property returns and assess mortgage quotations, all aimed at oiling the wheels of a heavy-moving sector.
Subscribe to MEED.com The #1 platform for business news and intelligence trusted by 1,000+ leading, global brands |
Building information management
BIM has sounded the death knell for the age of Computer-Aided Design (CAD). Architects and urban designers are now using advanced software to model multi-layered information instead of physical forms. By doing so, integrated design – so crucial for sustainable development – has become business-as-usual.
BIM allows professionals to design, modify and manage the building’s entire lifecycle using a single virtual model that simulates its performance. Further, using parametric tools, designers can even tweak design factors to meet priority sustainability targets.
This is how the National University of Singapore delivered its new School of Design and Environment. Using BIM technology, architects were able to explore options in massing and orientation, canopy and opening sizing, and room layouts by reporting their environment and energy performances in real time.
Optimising these, they passively minimised the building’s baseline energy and material demands. Then, a parity was struck by deploying renewable energy technologies such as 1,225 photovoltaic panels and hybrid cooling systems, allowing the university to pioneer the city’s first net-zero energy building.

The School of Design and Environment – Singapore’s first net-zero energy building. Source: NUS School of Design & Environment, SDE 4 – Surbana Jurong
3D construction
Technology’s introduction to construction is transforming the sector into a safer, wasteless, cost-effective and faster enterprise. One way this is happening is through innovations in 3D printing machinery. These use BIM models to digitally produce on-site or prefabricated components most efficiently, while complementary smart machinery robotically performs repetitive tasks like concrete pouring and plastering.
One notable example is Dubai Municipality’s largest 3D printed structure in the world, built in 2019. Standing 9 metres tall with an area of 640 square metres, the edifice employed only three workers.

Apis-Cor’s award-winning 3D-printed building, Dubai. Source: Apis Cor builds world’s largest 3D-printed building in Dubai (dezeen.com)
The breakthrough came in constructing the walls by a printer instead of the traditional wooden formwork, steel reinforcement and concrete pouring methods. This was complemented by precast slabs and prefabricated windows, which offered multiple cost and environmental savings.
Nonetheless, the extent of the scalability of 3D printing to multi-story residential and office buildings remains to be explored.
Technology is percolating and reforming every stage of the real estate value chain, from smarter cities to efficient building design, construction, operation and marketing
Green building management
Surprisingly, it has been reported that green-rated buildings can miss their performance and savings targets. According to a recent study, the primary cause is human behaviour. Either uninformed or disincentivised to take full custody of carefully-designed systems, end users frequently misuse them.
But technology has provided the solution: building management systems (BMS), through IoT or digital twins, can track parameters like energy and water usage, waste generation, carbon emissions and indoor air quality, and help to control them.
BMS can even compare performance to design metrics. This is demonstrated by the newly completed Beeah headquarters in the UAE. Acclaimed to be the first fully AI-integrated office in the Middle East, this LEED-certified smart building employs a digital twin as the basis for a Smart Facility Management System.
By learning occupancy habits, one novelty of this system is its ability to forecast energy demands and optimise electricity consumption, conduct predictive maintenance checks, and even take autonomous decisions to rectify faults in equipment performance, achieving a huge 90 per cent energy efficiency saving.

Zaha Hadid’s Beeah headquarters is futuristic in form and operation. Source: BEEAH Headquarters – Zaha Hadid Architects (zaha-hadid.com)
Although a relative laggard in digital transformation, the building sector is swiftly catching up. Technology is percolating and reforming every stage of the real estate value chain, from smarter cities to efficient building design, construction, operation and marketing.
By doing so, PropTech is helping to solve some of the sector’s perennial problems. It is improving information transparency, social inclusion, building design and residents’ wellbeing, in addition to reducing risk and limiting waste generation and carbon emissions, among many other benefits.
The views expressed are those of the author and do no necessarily reflect the company's position.
Exclusive from Meed
-
Region positions itself for sustainable future
6 June 2023
-
Hospital boost for Jordan construction
5 June 2023
-
Political deadlock in Lebanon blocks reforms
5 June 2023
-
Saudi construction boom still in early stages
5 June 2023
-
All of this is only 1% of what MEED.com has to offer
Subscribe now and unlock all the 153,671 articles on MEED.com
- All the latest news, data, and market intelligence across MENA at your fingerprints
- First-hand updates and inside information on projects, clients and competitors that matter to you
- 20 years' archive of information, data, and news for you to access at your convenience
- Strategize to succeed and minimise risks with timely analysis of current and future market trends

Related Articles
-
Region positions itself for sustainable future
6 June 2023
Commentary
Colin Foreman
EditorAt the end of November, the region will host the UN’s climate change conference for the second time in two years. Cop28 in the UAE, like Egypt’s Cop27 last year, will bring world leaders together to discuss energy transition and the fight against climate change.
Arresting climate change will arguably be humankind’s greatest challenge over the coming decades. To succeed, people from all over the world will need to work with each other, which is why events like Cop28 that bring countries together are so important – despite the criticism they can attract.
At the project level, cooperation will also become an increasingly important trend.
This year there are clear signs that governments are jointly working on projects that will contribute to the fight against climate change.
Some of the best examples are in the transmission and distribution sector. In recent months, significant steps have been taken across a range of interconnection projects to link countries’ electricity grids.
Efficiency is the main driver for these projects. Particularly for GCC nations, the capacity to obtain large-scale solar energy affordably, combined with the marked differences in peak energy demands between the colder and hotter months, frequently leads to considerable surplus capacity.
Smoothing out these peaks and troughs as part of a larger regional or international grid also means less power generation is required and reduced carbon emissions.
As the shared challenge of climate change rises up the global agenda, more projects that pool resources, share expertise, and transcend borders and politics will be needed.
From regional collaborations on electricity grid interconnections to international climate conferences, the region is positioning itself at the centre of a more collaborative and sustainable future.
This package includes:
> Region plans vital big grid connections
> Soaring data demand drives boom
> Read the June 2023 MEED Business Reviewhttps://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10910825/main.gif -
Hospital boost for Jordan construction
5 June 2023
This package on Jordan's construction sector also includes:
> Egis selected for Jordan hospital project
> Jordan's largest construction project to move onsite
> Hill wins work on Saudi-backed hospital project in Jordan
> PIF to invest $24bn in six Mena countriesJordan’s construction sector will get a major boost this year as the country’s largest project prepares to move onsite over the summer after the first phase of its masterplan has been finalised.
The $400m hospital project is being developed by the Saudi Jordanian Fund for Medical and Educational Investments Company (SJFMEI) on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.
For the hospital project, SJFMEI appointed US-based Hill International in partnership with the local sub-consultant Dar al-Omran to provide project construction management services last year. The project team is now preparing to tender construction contracts.
“We have completed the first phase of the masterplan,” Said Mneimne, senior vice-president of Hill International, told MEED in an interview.
“This summer, we will appoint a contractor for the enabling works. We will then appoint a contractor for the foundations and the structure,” he added.
The scale of the project is a challenge for Jordan’s construction sector, and an international engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor may be needed to deliver the project.
“We have not yet decided what the contracting strategy will be,” Mneimne said.
The project involves the construction of a university hospital with 330 beds, 72 outpatient clinics, a children’s hospital, and a medical school with a total capacity of 600 students and a projected annual intake of 100 students.
The project also includes five medical centres of excellence focused on disciplines such as cardiology, oncology, neurology, gastroenterology and orthopaedics. There will also be four scientific research centres in genomics and precision medicine, stem cells and regenerative medicine, health systems and public health, and bioinformatics.
The built-up area is estimated at 110,000 square metres. It will be located on the airport road, near the Ghamadan area on the outskirts of Amman.
A joint venture of Lebanon’s Dar al-Handasah (Shair & Partners) and Perkins & Will was appointed for the engineering design and supervision services.
SJFMEI is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Saudi Jordanian Investment Fund (SJIF). Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) owns 95 per cent of the fund, while Jordanian banks hold the remaining 5 per cent.
Ownership of the project will be transferred to the Jordanian government after the end of the investment period.
The hospital is the largest active standalone project in Jordan, according to regional projects tracker MEED Projects. The second-largest project is the estimated $228m King Hussein Bridge Terminal and Freight Yard project, which is at the prequalification stage.
Disappointing decade
Major projects are needed after a disappointing decade for Jordan’s construction sector.
Data from MEED Projects shows a fluctuating trend in the value of construction and transport contracts awarded in Jordan over the past 10 years.
In 2013, the total value stood at $1.429bn. A sharp rise in 2014 to $2.475bn marked the peak of contract awards during the period.
A steep fall was witnessed in the subsequent years, with the total value plunging to just $662m in 2015, a dramatic decrease of nearly 73 per cent from the previous year. This downward trajectory continued, with the value plummeting further to a record low of $79m in 2020 amid the global economic disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
A closer look at the data indicates periods of minor recovery, notably in 2017, when contract awards rose to $866m, following a particularly poor performance in 2016 at just $159m.
Despite these rebounds, the overall trend illustrates a declining construction and transport sector in Jordan, with the years 2021 and 2022 recording values of $32m and $86m, respectively, a stark contrast to the highs of 2013 and 2014.
The fluctuating values in contract awards reveal the industry’s volatility over the past decade, linked to regional instability, economic downturns and global disruptions including the Covid-19 pandemic.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10914437/main.gif -
Political deadlock in Lebanon blocks reforms
5 June 2023
Lebanon’s political deadlock is likely to continue to weigh on the country’s economy and undermine security over the medium term, according to experts.
The country currently has an interim government and has been without a president since former President Michel Aoun’s term ended at the end of October last year.
Progress towards forming a new government is likely to be slow, with the legislature divided over who should replace Aoun as president.
In March, the Iran-backed Hezbollah group and House Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal Movement party – which together constitute Lebanon’s Shia base – announced their support for the Christian politician Sleiman Frangieh.
Hezbollah and its allies have since tried to gather support for Frangieh as president, but strong opposition from the majority of the country’s Christian, Sunni and Druze political blocs has left him short of the 65 votes required to be elected in the 128-member legislature.
Over recent weeks, members of Lebanon’s parliament that oppose Frangieh have started to rally around the former finance minister Jihad Azour.
Azour currently serves as the director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
As the parliament is divided, whether either candidate can obtain a majority vote remains uncertain. According to experts, even if a president is named, it will be extremely difficult for them to form a government.
Nicholas Blanford, a non-resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Middle East programmes, says it will likely be some time before a government is formed.
“Getting a president elected is only the first step,” he said. “Once the new president is in place, there is the tricky task of forming a new government.
“As we’ve seen over the past 20 years, forming a new government can take months as people bicker and jostle for various lucrative and influential portfolios.”
Barbara Leaf, the US assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs, said on 31 May, during a Senate committee hearing, that the Biden administration was considering sanctions if a new president is not elected soon
Outside pressure
Only when a government has been formed will Lebanon be able to start initiating the series of reforms that the international community has demanded to unlock aid, grants and loans to try to put the country on the path to economic recovery.
As Lebanon’s economic crisis has worsened and the security situation has declined, increasing pressure has been applied from other countries that want to try to restore stability in the region.
Barbara Leaf, the US assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs, said on 31 May, during a Senate committee hearing, that the Biden administration was considering sanctions if a new president is not elected soon.
Separately, two members of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee called on the administration to impose sanctions on individuals involved in corruption to “make clear to Lebanon’s political class that the status quo is not acceptable”.
In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on 30 May, they said: “We also call on the administration to continue pressing for full accountability for the August 2020 Beirut port blast and support independent, international investigatory efforts into egregious fraud and malfeasance by the governor of Lebanon’s central bank.
They added: “We must not allow Lebanon to be held hostage by those looking to advance their own selfish interests.”
French crackdown
French officials have also taken action to try to crack down on perceived corruption by members of Lebanon’s political elite.
In May, French prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Lebanon’s central bank governor, Riad Salameh.
The warrant followed Salameh’s failure to appear before French prosecutors to be questioned on corruption charges.
In response, Salameh issued a statement saying that the arrest warrant violated the law.
Salameh has been the target of a series of judicial investigations at home and abroad on allegations that include fraud, money laundering and illicit enrichment.
European investigators looking into the fortune he has amassed during three decades in the job had scheduled a hearing in Paris for 16 May.
A key problem is you still have the same cabal of oligarchs in power and it is likely they will still be represented in the next government
Nicholas Blanford, Atlantic Council’s Middle East programmesBreaking the deadlock
Analysts believe cracking down on corruption among Lebanon’s political elite is key to breaking the country’s political deadlock.
“A key problem is that you still have the same cabal of oligarchs in power and it is likely that they will still be represented in the next government,” said Blanford. “These oligarchs do not want reform because if they implement a meaningful reform process, they run the risk of losing their positions of power.”
While the country’s opposing political blocs continue to vie for power and the formation of a new government seemingly remains only possible after at least several months of negotiations, the outlook for Lebanon in the short term looks bleak.
Meaningful government assistance for Lebanese citizens struggling with declining security and heightened economic pressures remains a distant prospect. High levels of emigration are also likely to continue as the country’s population seeks relief from the hardships at home.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10907713/main.gif -
Saudi construction boom still in early stages
5 June 2023
Register for MEED’s guest programme
Construction activity associated with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the kingdom’s gigaprojects is ramping up fast, but is still in the early stages.
“MEED estimates that there are $879bn of projects planned, of which only about $50bn have been awarded so far,” said MEED’s head of content and research, Ed James, while opening MEED’s Saudi Giga Projects 2023 conference in Riyadh on 5 June.
While much work is still needed, progress is being made on projects with a step change in the total value of contracts awarded.
“According to data from MEED Projects, the total value of contract awards in 2022 more than doubled compared to 2021,” said James. “In 2021, there was $11.9bn of contract awards, and in 2022 there was $24bn of awards.”
The Saudi Giga Projects 2023 event has speakers from projects including Roshn, Diriyah Company, Red Sea Global, Boutique Group, King Salman Park Foundation, Sports Boulevard Foundation and the Royal Commission for AlUla.
Saudi Giga Projects 2023 is followed by MEED’s Mena Construction Summit on 6 June, focusing on how the industry rises to the challenge of delivering projects amid unprecedented global demand and competition for resources.
Companies speaking at the event include Al-Bawani Capital, Autodesk, Bechtel, Caldwell, Diriyah Company, Amana, DuBox, HKA, Jacobs, KEO Infrastructure, LITE Development & Consulting, Ministry of Investment Saudi Arabia (Misa), Mott MacDonald, MZ Engineering, Nesma & Partners, Oracle, Procore, Red Sea Global, Roshn, Parsons Saudi Arabia, Saudi Entertainment Ventures (Seven), Socotec and Thinkproject.
Find out more about tomorrow’s event here.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10913130/main.gif -
Kuwait to complete remediation projects before 2028
5 June 2023
All of the ongoing remediation projects that are part of the multibillion-dollar Kuwait Environmental Remediation Programme (Kerp) are expected to be completed before the end of 2027, according to Muthanna al-Mumin, a team leader for remediation projects at Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).
The five contracts awarded in 2021 are worth $949m and are expected to be completed either in late 2025 or early 2026, according to Al-Mumin.
These are:
- NKETR A – Sabria – Kharafi (Kuwait)/Lamor (Finland) $194m
- NKETR B – Raudatain – KCPC (Kuwait)/ETC (Saudi Arabia) $188m
- SKETR A – Greater Burgan – Kharafi/Lamor $197m
- SKETR B – Greater Burgan – HEISCO (Kuwait)/Zaopin Hangzhou (China) $185m
- SKETR C – Greater Burgan – Enshaat Alsayer/Water & Soil Remediation (Italy) $185m
Three additional contracts signed on 7 March this year had a total value of $460m.
These are:
- Zone A – Al-Sayer Group (Kuwait) $155m
- Zone B – Al-Ghanim International Trading & Contracting Company (Kuwait) $153m
- Zone C – Zaopin Hangzhou (China) $152m
Speaking in an interview with MEED, Al-Mumin said: “The planned completion of the present five contracts is between late 2025 and early 2026 whilst three more contracts have recently commenced and the planned completion is before the end of 2027.”
Kerp is the largest environmental remediation project in the world and was established by the UN Compensation Commission to allow Kuwait to address the ecological damage resulting from the 1990-91 Gulf War.
As part of Kerp, KOC aims to award contracts for planned revegetation works in late 2023 or early 2024.
Earlier this year, KOC extended the bid deadlines for the recently tendered revegetation contracts, increasing expectations that the scheme would be significantly delayed.
Bids for the contracts are currently due to be submitted by 18 June 2023. Previously, the deadline for the bids was 16 April.
The project is expected to be divided into four packages with a combined value of about $675m.
The four revegetation contracts being tendered by KOC are expected to be awarded to four separate contractors and include a wide range of work activities.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10912851/main4752.jpg