Submitting a Pearl Rating Application

All relevant new projects must achieve a minimum 1 Pearl rating to receive approval from the planning and permitting authorities. Government funded projects must achieve a minimum 2 Pearl rating.

Registration of projects for Pearl Ratings with UPC is not required at present. A formal registration process will be in place in the future.

The submission requirements for the design and construction stages of the Pearl Rating System (PRS) are outlined in each credit. The Design Rating application is linked with the building permitting process at the relevant Municipalities and must be made at the end of the construction documentation stage. The Construction Rating application must be made on completion of construction.

Any building and villa project located within a proposed Pearl rated community must demonstrate an integrated approach between the PCRS application and the PBRS/PVRS application(s). The PCRS application must be submitted and approved before NOPC letters can be issued for the individual project villas and/or buildings.

Confidentiality

There will be no public disclosure of information provided as part of the Submission Requirements. Information provided will remain confidential, except as required for identification of the project and its key participants for the purposes of providing Certification.

Correspondence Protocol

Project Specific Estidama Correspondence

All project specific Estidama correspondence must be addressed to the following:

Estidama Program Manager

Development Review & Estidama

Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council

7^th Floor Al Mamoura B Building

Note: All correspondence submitted must be signed by the appointed PQP for the project or the company authorized signatory.

Non-Project Specific Correspondence

All non-project specific Estidama correspondence must be addressed to the following:

Mohamed Al Khadar

Executive Director

Development Review & Estidama

Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council

7^th Floor Al Mamoura B Building

Note: All correspondence submitted must be signed by the company authorized signatory.

Design Rating Application

From 1 June 2011, all PRS submittals must be done by a certified PQP in the applicable rating system.

All applicable Community, Building and Villa projects must submit the Design Rating Application to UPC following the instructions below:

1. Download the submittal template and the accompanied submittal guide for either a Community, Building or Villa project.

2.Download the latest versions of ALL calculators applicable to the project from the Estidama website.

3.Complete the submittal template and upload all the supporting documents, such as narratives, drawings, specifications, calculators etc within the relevant credit folders. Project submittals must be complete. If a project is 2-5 Pearls, then the submittal must be complete before UPC will start the evaluation.

4.Print or attach the "Project Information" tab of the submittal template to a cover letter. Ensure this cover letter is prepared in accordance with the Correspondence Protocol outlined above and also includes the project Community ID, Plot ID, and Building ID for geo-tagging purposes.

5.Copy the submittal template (including folder structure with all supporting documents) onto a CD.

6.Submit both the CD and two copies of the cover letter/Project Information sheet to UPC, one of which will be stamped as confirmation of receipt. Directions to the UPC are available here. Note that the Estidama team is on the 7th floor. Submissions are only received between 8:30am and 4:30pm Sunday to Thursday.

Please note that projects requiring Development Review must not submit for a PRS Design Rating until they have received their Detailed Planning Approval letter. See Estidama and Development Review for details about the Development Review process.

UPC Pearl Rating System Review Process

Following submission of the Pearl Rating application to UPC, the Estidama team will review the application and provide feedback and comments to both the project PQP/PVRS Professional and to the project owner. The flow chart below illustrates the review process for projects aiming for minimum 1 Pearl (privately funded) or minimum 2 Pearl (government funded) rating.

The UPC team is available throughout the review process to help project teams in obtaining rating approvals in no more than two submissions over a period of less than two months.

Estidama envisions recognition of projects achieving 2-5 Pearls at Design Stage; the details of that recognition are being determined at present and once completed will be posted here.

Construction Rating Application

Projects that have received a Pearl Design rating and are under construction are required to submit a Pearl Construction Rating application after construction is completed. At this point the Pearl Design Rating will expire and will be superseded by the Construction Rating.

The Construction Rating application follows the same process as the design one. Project teams can update the previously submitted templates including a concise description of the changes that occurred between obtaining the design rating and completion of construction. The instructions of the submission process are outlined above.

Currently, all Construction Rating applications must be submitted to the UPC.