Cityscape Global encourages int’l access to Mideast market

Cityscape Global, the largest business-to-business real estate investment and development brand in the Middle East, will be opening its doors from September 27-29 in Dubai to a provision of global exhibitors offering a steady stream of up to date information for property professionals.

Celebrating its 10th year in Dubai, the region’s premier event for the international real estate industry will offer investors and end users an opportunity to connect with developers on a global scale. This year’s event will encompass the real estate exhibition, showcasing the latest developments and investments from across the world, as well as the global real estate seminars, retail city conference, world architecture congress and future cities.

“CBRE research indicates that there is an increasing level of international business interest in the MENA region. For those organisations entering the Middle East for the first time, Dubai, because of the quality of its infrastructure and accommodation, is clearly the most popular location and therefore Cityscape’s new global positioning can help accelerate access to the region,” Nicholas Maclean, managing director of CB Richard Ellis Middle East, said.

The exhibition will once again feature the region’s leading real estate developers, such as Emaar Properties, Nakheel, Dubai Properties Group, Union Properties, DAMAC Properties and Meraas Development. Overseas participation will be represented by real estate companies including the Agricultural Property Agency (Poland), Crown Acquisitions (UK), Novacasa Valencia (Spain), IP Global (Hong Kong) and Fragrant Property (Thailand); architects including RTKL (UK), Tabanlioglu Architects (Turkey) and yoo (UK); along with government representation from the Ivanovo Region of the Russian Federation.

“Throughout the past 10 years, Cityscape events have driven unprecedented amounts of real estate investment into the UAE and Dubai, as well as other markets across the MENA region,” Chris Speller, group director of Cityscape, told Khaleej Times.

Cityscape Global has acknowledged the recent shift in focus for the real-estate market, which has forced developers to consider new markets and territories. The event will bring together international companies that are keen to access and invest in the Middle East real-estate market.

“Investors attending Cityscape Global today hold a more serious and long-term outlook for their investments, and consequently are requesting more information from developers and regulators before actually entering into any deals. Cityscape Global, through the exhibition and several conferences and seminars, gives them direct access to exactly that kind of information, and as such will continue to play a major role in driving real estate investments in Dubai,” Speller said.

In reply to a question, he said it is too early to say exactly what the attendance levels will be for 2011. Last year’s event saw more than 28,000 participants from 102 countries, with 181 exhibitors from 34 countries. “The majority of our 2010 visitors said they intend to be back again in 2011, which is something we already see reflected in the number of preregistrations and conference delegate registrations we have received to date. Based on this we are expecting this year’s participation to be on par with last year and are looking forward to a successful 2011 event.”

Yoo, a world leader in architecture and residential interior design will be exhibiting at Cityscape Global for the first time this year. “We see Cityscape being an ideal forum to show potential clients in the Middle East how we offer branded design and marketing services to assist in enhancing the value of real estate projects. Whilst we have attended the event before, to be present as an exhibitor will raise our profile significantly,” Chris Boulton, CEO of yoo, said.

“At the exhibition, yoo will be exclusively revealing exciting projects in Russia... We are delighted to be working on two projects for Barkli Group in Moscow under the yoo inspired by Starck and Kelly Hoppen for yoo brands.”