Emirates: A new steel plant coming up in Dubai has been granted 100 per cent ownership under the recently-introduced UAE foreign direct investment law which allows full ownership to businesses in mainland.

Bharat Bhatia, CEO of Conares, obtained the license under the new FDI regulations and will invest in a new facility with a capacity to manufacture 100,000 metric tonnes of steel.

The new plant will manufacture products catering to increasing demand of infrastructure-development projects in the Middle Eastern region.

This is the second firm in the UAE which has been granted 100 per cent ownership in mainland. In February, Aster DM Healthcare firm was allowed 100 per cent ownership in its Dubai subsidiaries.

In July 2019, the UAE Cabinet approved 100 per cent foreign ownership in 13 sectors and across 122 economic activities. These sectors were renewable energy, space, manufacturing, hospitality and food services, information and communication. In addition, other sectors and activities approved for full foreign ownership were biotechnology, educational activities, healthcare, art and entertainment etc.

However, each emirate will determine the ownership percentage of foreign investors in these activities.

Bhatia said the decision will allow the firm to operate on a larger scale across the Arab region.

"The business of trading and re-exports is slowly fading out. Value-addition is the only way forward. I believe that the new FDI regulations will attract new breed of investors to set their businesses here. With the government safeguarding industrial interests, more industries shall be encouraged to come forward and set up their units. This will help to make the 'Made in UAE' brand reach new heights, and export the products manufactured in the UAE to be well recognised across the globe," he said.

"In reality, in-office work and remote work are complementary, and neither can completely replace the other. The post-pandemic workplace will involve a combination of three distinct office environments: the corporate office, flexible co-working facilities and remote working. The challenge for occupiers will be to establish the right mix and balance between the different settings and working patterns," said Salbak.

A recent report by Savills noted that flexible offices would continue to grow as 'space-as-a-service' becomes more mainstream across markets. Those cities with higher tech occupier bases should see the strongest increases in flex space demand as startups seeks space on a per-desk basis."

The co-working and flexible work space trend, essentially a post-Great Recession phenomenon, continues to bloom and grow. According to Colliers International, co-working is one of the few expanding office demand sources. And there's plenty of room for it to run. Even with all its growth over the past decade, flexible office space still comprises just a fraction-less than two per cent - of all office space in primary office markets, Colliers reports

The JLL report highlights that most companies see flex space as part of their overall portfolio mix going forward.

"Driven by the shift in the global flex market away from SME's to larger corporates, the Dubai market is expected to experience more concentration in the hands of fewer but larger operators. This will inevitably involve a setback to some independent operators and is likely to be exacerbated by short-time financial pressures resulting from Covid 19," said the JLL report.

The pandemic is resulting in a global shift away from shared co-working facilities to more private and enclosed spaces. "This trend is also apparent with the majority of centres offering only enclosed offices or a hybrid mix of enclosed offices and co-working space. Centres that were originally targeting the co-working sector are now seeking to remodel their space to offer more enclosed offices," it said.