Landscaping & pools in Al Shamkha — designed, previewed, built.
Al Shamkha and the surrounding Abu Dhabi villa districts have the biggest private plots we work on: room for a family pool, a majlis courtyard, a proper outdoor kitchen and still a lawn. The brief is almost always shade, privacy and a landscape the whole family uses.
Montera designs and builds these larger landscapes with an eye on how they are lived in (separate zones, generous circulation, irrigation and lighting designed for the size of the plot) on private plots and in the newer managed communities such as Fay Alreeman alike.
What we build in Al Shamkha
- Family pools and water features
- Majlis courtyards with pergolas and outdoor kitchens
- Large-plot irrigation and lighting
- Privacy planting along long boundaries
Approvals, handled
The building permit for the pool and any structure is part of our scope; in a managed community the community’s own rules and NOC come first. We prepare the drawings, confirm the path on the first visit and manage the process.
Local detail that changes the design
- Villa stock: large private villas on generous plots in Al Shamkha, Zayed City and the Riyadh City phases (often a first landscape on a new build) plus newer managed communities such as Fay Alreeman.
- Ground: inland sand and gatch, low water table, extreme summer heat; irrigation design and shade decide whether planting survives.
- Rules: Abu Dhabi Municipality building permit for pools and structures; many private plots have no community NOC layer, while managed communities add their own.
- Brief pattern: family pools with a majlis pergola, privacy planting along long boundaries, and a lawn sized to what the irrigation can actually hold.
A landscape the whole family uses
On a large Al Shamkha plot the landscape is not one space but several: a majlis area for guests, a family pool the children can use, an outdoor kitchen and barbecue, a lawn, and the service side of the villa that should never cross any of them. The design work is in the zoning (who walks where, what is seen from the majlis, where the shade falls at five in the afternoon) before any material is chosen.
The best of these landscapes separate the guest side from the family side, keep the pool in view from the house, and put the heaviest shade where people actually sit in the evening.
Shade and irrigation decide whether it survives
Inland Abu Dhabi is hotter and drier than the coast. The ground is sand and gatch with a low water table, so nothing grows without water, and a lawn the size of the plot is a promise the irrigation cannot keep. We size the lawn to what the system can hold, choose planting that tolerates the heat, and design the irrigation in zones with a proper tank and controller rather than a timer on a tap.
Shade is the other half: pergolas and majlis structures that make the landscape usable from May to October, positioned from the sun path on your plot rather than from a catalogue.
Approvals on a private plot and in a managed community
On many private plots the path is the Abu Dhabi Municipality building permit for the pool and any structure, without a community layer in front of it. In a managed community such as Fay Alreeman, the community’s rules and NOC come first. We confirm which applies on the first visit, prepare the drawings and submissions, and do not mobilise until the approvals are back.
What moves the budget on a large plot
Whether it is a whole landscape designed as one (hardscape, planting, irrigation and lighting) a large plot with a pool leading the scheme, or one area done properly, such as a majlis courtyard or a pool terrace on its own, the figure comes from your own plot, line by line, after the free visit rather than a band on a web page. The movers are the size of the paved area, the pool type and its plant room, the number and size of shade structures, and the irrigation and lighting spread across the plot.
Every element is priced as its own line in the bill of quantities, so the outdoor kitchen, a second shade structure or a larger pool can each be seen, and kept or dropped, without the rest of the price moving.
How the project runs
A designer at the villa within 48 hours. The design with visuals and the priced bill of quantities in seven days. A Preview walk at full scale, so the family can stand in the majlis and by the pool before anything is built. The permit pack on sign-off. Then a live tracker through the build, with the programme, the photographs and the money against the BOQ.
Questions Al Shamkha owners ask
Do you build pools and landscapes in Al Shamkha and Fay Alreeman?
Yes. Family pools, majlis courtyards, pergolas, outdoor kitchens and planting, on private plots and in managed communities, designed and built by one team.
Can the pool, the majlis and the outdoor kitchen be designed together?
That is the point of one design: the zones, the shade and the circulation are planned as one plot, and each element is its own line on the bill of quantities.
How big a lawn can we have?
As big as the irrigation can keep green in August. We size the lawn to the system and the water available, and use heat-tolerant planting and paving for the rest.
What approvals are needed?
Usually the Abu Dhabi Municipality building permit for the pool and any structure; a managed community adds its own rules and NOC first. We confirm the path on the first visit and handle the submissions.
What does a large family landscape cost?
It comes from your own plot, line by line, after the free visit, not a band on a web page. Whether it is a complete landscape, a large plot with a pool leading the scheme, or a single area such as a majlis courtyard, the figure follows the paved area, the pool type and the shade structures.
The Montera way — same promises, every community
- On-site within 48 hours — free visit, no obligation
- Design in 7 days — visuals and commercials together
- Walk it before we build it — Montera Preview
- One team, ground to finish