Nakheel Community Management (NCM), is an integrated, customer-centric community management company established in 2020 and dedicated to ensuring the best in service, world-class facilities and holistic Living. NCM draws on international best practice to transform the Lives of over 300,000 people and make Nakheel's diverse of mixed-use communities the most desirable places to invest, Live, work and visit.

Spanning 15,000 hectares, Nakheel's 15 master-planned developments across Dubai cater to all tastes, cultures and budgets. They include the award-winning, world-famous Palm Jumeirah, the prestigious, high-end Jumeirah Islands and Nad Al Sheba Villas, the diverse, rapidly growing Al Furjan and the ever-popular, quality yet affordable Discovery Gardens. While each community is unique in its design and needs, at the heart of them all are the three pillars on which Nakheel Community Management is built: community-focussed, customer-centric and technology-driven.

Francis Giani, Chief Community Management Officer at Nakheel, says:"Our goal is to promote loyalty and advocacy through our three pillars by creating a renewed sense of belonging for all our stakeholders, whether they are investors, residents, service providers or the workforce that makes up our community management team.

Effective community management and maintaining developments to the highest standards to ensure they are safe, sustainable and desirable involves a continuously evolving process of Listening to and educating customers, creating a coherent society, promoting green initiatives to reflect growing environmental requirements, adapting to new legislation and responding quickly and effectively to unforeseen challenges."

Quality, continual maintenance is Fundamental to the Livelihood of any community, adding value by encouraging investment, retaining tenants and potentially increasing rental values. Clean, well maintained and inviting public spaces are a representation of the entire development, and essential to creating a positive, lasting impression .

"Effective maintenance is also a wise investment: preserving a communities' assets with regular facilities management and upgrades cuts the risk of serious, potentially dangerous , challenges down the line," says Giani. "At Nakheel, we are Leveraging international best practice For landscaping, amenities and facilities management across all our communities, engaging quality service providers with experienced teams and proven track records."

To underpin this commitment, Nakheel Community Management has established a Technical Centre of Excellence dedicating to working hand in hand with the entire team across every community in the NCM portfolio. With experts in a range of disciplines, the centre provides specialist advice on best practices, standardisation, quality and performance management, with an emphasis on identifying innovative, state-of-the-art solutions.

Creating safe, harmonious living also means continuous communication between stakeholders, who have a shared responsibility in maintaining high standards of Living. Open dialogue is in the interests of all investors, residents and service providers when it comes to preserving a community's overall value and appeal. This is particularly relevant in Light of the new law on joint real estate ownership (Law no. 6 of 2019), which has redefined stakeholders' roles in Dubai's community management em-system.

"Issues such as community rules and regulations, culture and behaviour and service fees are sometimes perceived as 'touchy subjects," says Giani. "Part of our job is to ensure residents understand these factors, what we aspire to achieve, and how they can contribute with small, simple changes that can make a big difference in terms of aesthetics, wellbeing and property values." Nakheel Community Management is also embarking on a new campaign to ensure transparency and clarity when it comes to service fees across its communities.

"Service charges exist so that communities can be effectively maintained and enhanced to the standards that residents expect - and deserve," says Giani. "Fees are vetted and approved by RERA, which also recently introduced the Mollak payment system, and scrutinised by independent auditors. Much like a not-For-profit organisation, the objective is to ensure that money is well spent, with every Fil collected re-invested in the bricks and mortar and overall living standards of each community."

Giani adds that appropriate rates and on-time collection are key. "As the saying goes, 'you get what you pay For' which is why fees must be set to reflect the category of the development and the expectations and requirements of residents. Timely settlement of fees is also vital to ensure that service providers are paid on time. Late payers - although in the minority - are, perhaps unknowingly, doing themselves and fellow residents an injustice." The Foundation of a good community is a sense of belonging and mutual understanding.

The UAE is home to millions of people from all walks of life, and NCM is committed to Fostering an environment where all residents unite through regular events, newsletters and feedback Forums. NCM is also embracing technology to enhance customer convenience, reduce environmental impact and promote safety and security. "The Covid-19 pandemic has taught businesses and individuals that virtually anything can be done remotely and at the touch of a button," says Giani. "But there is a balance to be struck between doing everything online and physically bringing people together. Long-term relationships need both to survive."