Forum will update investors and property professionals on the latest property trends and initiatives impacting on the sector both locally and globally

Dubai, UAE, 24 March 2015

The Dubai Land Department (DLD) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) have joined forces to launch a full day program on March 31st at the Real Estate Forum during the 11th International Property Show which will take place from 30 March - 1 April 2015 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

The aim of this Forum is to update investors and property professionals on the latest property trends and initiatives impacting on the sector both regionally and internationally by bringing together world-class speakers and content covering many aspects of the real estate industry.

"We are supporting the vision of the International Property Show to inject innovation into the property market," said HE Sultan Butti Bin Mejren, Director General of the Dubai Land Department. "The insightful Real Estate Forum is a move in this direction. We are working closely with RICS to ensure this forum offers high value to attendees."

RICS stated that: "As Knowledge Partner to the International Property Show Real Estate Forum, we have collaborated with both Dubai Land Department and Strategic Marketing & Exhibitions to pull together a very interesting line up of speakers on highly relevant topics for discussion. We believe such discussions would educate buyers, investors and many other property related stakeholder groups on issues which both directly and indirectly impact on the market trends and help investors fine-tune their strategies for the region."

Josine Heijmans, Exhibition Director, Strategic Marketing & Exhibitions, organizers of the International Property Show 2015, said: "We appreciate the efforts of the main supporter DLD and our Knowledge Partner RICS in bringing this concept to life. This is one of the several innovative additions we have made to the International Property Show to enhance its mission."

The forum will include 8 sessions over two days featuring industry experts and thought leaders from around the world.

The first day's sessions (30th March 2015) will mainly highlight latest developments in overseas property investment destinations such as Barcelona in Spain, New York in the USA and major capital cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth in Australia. This first day will be moderated by Peter Robinson, Managing Director of the Association of International Property Professionals (AIPP) from the UK, who will also present the concluding session on: "AIPP's & THE LONDON VIEW: New digital methods to give property developers 100% control of their product & distribution, agents a better service and buyers greater confidence." It will identify the latest digital initiatives to support the property industry do better business and higher volume sales around the world.

The second day of the forum  (31st March 2015) organized together with RICS and supported by the Dubai Land Department as the show's Main Supporter, will feature a series of workshops involving presentations, panel discussions and case studies on very relevant industry topics.

The 'not to be missed' highly interactive session on "The Effective Use of Expert Witnesses in Property Sector Disputes" will feature key experts; Mike Wing (Capita); Guy Elkington (Navigant); Matei Purice (Freshfields) and Abigail Powell (Bonnard Lawson) in a panel session moderated by Victor Leginsky of Arbitralis; where the participants will also execute a mock case on the impact and role of Expert Witnesses and Conflict Avoidance in the MENA region.

There is a session on "International Property Measurement Standards (IPMS)" led by Mohammed Khodr Al Dah, DLD and Alexander Aronsohn of RICS and who also sits on the IPMS Standards Setting Committee who will give an update from the IPMS Coalition on the new global standards and their significant impact they will have on all stakeholder groups involved in real estate.  This session will also feature speakers from DLD and will look at the practical application of the standards and provide insight as to what the various stakeholders in the property sector need to be aware of as the standards are introduced regionally and globally.

The third workshop, "What do we mean by 'Sustainability' and how do we assess its value in the MENA Construction and Real Estate sectors - focuses on a recent study of five Middle East cities which made a recent 'World's Sustainable City' ranking and analyses just how sustainable they are in reality, benchmarking them against the UN Global Compact's 10 principles of best practice. This panel session will be moderated by Ms. Cara Tissandier, Middle East Sustainability Group Principal of Hoare-Lea and will also discuss the collaboration of RICS and the UN Global Compact in jointly endeavouring to improve responsible business practices in the land, real estate and construction industries and how the Best Practice toolkit can help companies manage issues such as human rights, environment, labour and anti-corruption.

The session on "Strategic Facilities Management" will feature Mr. Lionel Prodgers, (Agents4RM) who will deliver a presentation on Best Practices and case studies in strategic facilities management and how to add significant operational & capital value to real estate. The region is only now starting to grasp the significant value strategic FM can add and the massive risk it can also help mitigate for asset owners and occupiers.

The forum is planned on the first and second days of the three-day International Property Show which will host over 125 exhibitors from 25 countries. The show will also coincide with the 5th Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) 2015, attracting a new set of global buyers and decision makers.

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For further information, please contact:
Virtue PR & Marketing Communications
P.O Box: 191931
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Tel: 00971 4 4508835
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© Press Release 2015