The Zoning Authority/Development Control of Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone is witnessing an increase in requests for design conversions to include more residential components within business master developments such as Business Bay.

"Following the global financial crisis, people who had commercial units, which were earlier in demand, are now requesting us for conversion from office to residential buildings in Business Bay. No one is asking for a full conversion. The decision is usually taken at the excavation or piling stage," Issam AlAoui, Senior Architect, Regulations and Compliance, at Zoning Authority/Development Control told Emirates Business.

While AlAoui did not disclose the exact numbers, he said: "Developers have to resubmit requests to our committee depending on the percentage of conversion. Following approval, they have to resubmit the design, which goes to the design review department.

"Those with open office spaces will also have to get new approvals from the Civil Defence and so on. These might face some difficulty, but small offices will not find it difficult to convert since they were originally planned as dwelling units."

Basically, the biggest difference between the two is the parking requirements in the building, he said. "This causes a lot of headache in tall towers. In an office building, you need a car parking for every 500 square feet of built-up space, which is a lot. So if you have podiums, you need to go a lot deeper and the deeper you go, the more expensive it becomes. So the conversion to residential is usually at the piling stage."