mideastexpat1234

Hello All, I hope someone may be able to advise me - we are thinking about buying an apartment in Marina Residences on the Palm Jumeirah and I was wondering if any of you have lived there or perhaps know someone who has? We just wanted to make sure there were no major issues in these properties before buying. Many thanks in advance for any info you can provide.

TGFKASE

Are you currently residing in Dubai?

mideastexpat1234

Hello there, yes - we have lived in Dubai for 6 years but have never bought property here before.

mentalist

Ask them to show you the basement sump system. I know for a fact that one of the buildings has sustained sump damage and believe that the entire ground foor would soon get flooded if the back-up also failed.

TGFKASE

So why would you even consider doing so now? Unless you believe some of the excrement being doled out by JLL or other property 'experts'... The same guys who said the worst would be over 12 - 18 months after the bubble burst...

Dubai is STILL deflating, so why throw money into an ever-expanding hole?

weasel decentral

What sort of bullshit is that? Most buildings in the world with a basement will flood if the pumps and the back up pumps failed.
Sump damage? A sump is a hole in the ground. I'd love the see the OP wandering around trying to ascertain the condition of the basement sump system

co durham boy

Ha ha ha ha ha ....

mentalist

Okay then, smart ass, its a submersible pump that was damaged. I was shown it so don't bullshit everybody into thinking these premises are free of flood risk. The building is roughly 3-4 years old (I am told) but the pump is more than twice that age. Make of that as you will.

Patsy Stoned

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/palm-...es-423595.html
They change the rules all the time..

weasel decentral

cool your jets there dude all i make from that is you don't know much about building systems. these pumps are only designed to deal with minor water events and do have standby systems.
however put your thinking cap on for a major flooding event, the municipal system is already at capacity and the external water levels will be higher than the level you are pumping to..glad to educate
I am not defending this building by the way, all buildings have this problem.

Millhouse

why bother fitting them then?

tch. you engineers - let the accountants design this stuff and make some money on it.

weasel decentral

just for burst pipes and that sort of thing (and building insurers), in the uk they are mainly used to drain the rainwater coming in on the wheels of cars. but here the floors are flat so the water doesn't even run to drains.
only be worried when the pumps are running all the time, it means then they are using them to deal with leaks under the structure.
I must be in a very educational mood today.

mentalist

Bearing in mind that the sea is only a few feet below ground level on the Palm Jumeirah complex, do you honestly think that these massive water pumps are for emergency use only? I was told by an engineer that a series of such pumps has to work 24/7 to keep the basement free of water. Yes, they will have a stand-by pump available but they need somebody to be alert enough to switch it over. This is Dubai, where anything goes.

weasel decentral

I did mention only be worried if they are running 24/7 then they are dealing with structure leaks, or a system using a floor over a wet underfloor. Stand by pumps are automatic nobody manually switches them... you are lionheart aren't you?

mission

out of curiosity how much are the aprts going for? I saw a couple last year before i moved into my current one - i gotta say the handful of apartments that i saw were awesome as in huge and with great views - as to the structural guarantee, that i aint got a clue about , but atheistically the aprts were very nice....i guess that pretty much sums up Dubai, both the buildings and the people