Landscaping & pools in Jumeirah Islands — designed, previewed, built.
Jumeirah Islands villas are twenty years into their gardens: original pools, paving and planting reaching the age where renovation beats patching. Lake-facing plots deserve landscapes that use the water view instead of turning their back on it.
Montera renovates and rebuilds Islands gardens: modernised pools, levelled and rebuilt hardscape, planting that frames the lake.
What we build in Jumeirah Islands
- Pool modernisation & re-tiling
- Lake-facing terraces & decks
- Garden rebuilds on mature plots
Approvals, handled
Nakheel community NOC for external works, prepared and submitted by us.
Local detail that changes the design
- Villa stock: Nakheel villas on cluster islands from 2006, plots around 700–1,000 m² with lake frontage on many; original gardens are due for renovation.
- Ground: lake-side plots have a high water table and seepage; the pool shell and the drainage design have to respect it from day one.
- Rules: Nakheel NOC; lake-edge works and anything visible from the water carry extra scrutiny; boundary planting is regulated.
- Renovation reality: removing an old skimmer pool and rebuilding as overflow is common here. Access for machinery across the cluster is the first thing we check.
A mature Nakheel community, and gardens due their second life
Jumeirah Islands is Nakheel’s community of lake-ringed cluster islands, handed over from the mid-2000s, with villas on plots of roughly 700 to 1,000 m² and many of them opening onto the water. Twenty years on, the original gardens are at the age where the pool finish, the paving and the planting have all reached the end of their first life together. The typical brief is not a repair. It is a rebuild that finally uses the lake view.
The best Islands gardens turn the villa towards the water: a terrace at the right level for the view, a pool positioned so the lake reads as its far edge, and planting that frames rather than blocks. Most of what we take out is what the original layout put in the way.
Approvals: the Nakheel NOC, then the building permit
External works start with a Nakheel community NOC, which needs drawings of what changes: layout, the pool section, boundary treatment and anything visible from the lake, where the scrutiny is stricter. The building permit for a new or rebuilt pool then follows with the Dubai authority for the plot (Trakhees or Dubai Municipality, which we confirm on the first visit) and it reviews the structural and MEP drawings.
We prepare both packs inside our scope and sequence the work so demolition of the old pool does not start until the permit for the new one is in hand. Access across a cluster island is the other planning item: machinery and skips come in past neighbours, so the route and the hours are agreed with the community before we mobilise.
What moves the budget on an Islands plot
A complete rebuild of an Islands garden with a pool is priced from your own plot, line by line, after the free visit, not a band on a web page, and the figure rises when the old pool is replaced by an overflow pool with a new plant room. The other movers are the amount of demolition and disposal, the lake-edge detail, and how much of the terrace is rebuilt at a new level.
Every line is priced separately at the rates on our cost page, so an owner can keep the existing pool shell and re-tile, or replace it, and see the difference as two numbers rather than two quotes.
Ground and water: what the lake does to the design
Lake-side plots have a high water table and seepage. A pool shell here is designed against uplift and built with proper waterproofing and drainage around it, and the terrace needs falls that take water away from the villa rather than into the lawn. Old pools that were patched rather than rebuilt show this in cracking and constant top-ups.
Planting is chosen for a mature, shaded site: the trees that have grown over twenty years are usually kept and worked around, and the new palette goes in underneath them.
How the project runs
First visit within 48 hours. Design with visuals and the priced BOQ in seven days. A Preview walk at full scale, so the new terrace level and the pool position are settled before demolition. The NOC and permit packs go in on sign-off. Then a live tracker through the build: programme, photographs and money against the BOQ.
Questions Jumeirah Islands owners ask
Can you re-tile our existing pool instead of replacing it?
If the shell is sound, yes, and we say so after we have seen it. Re-tiling, new coping and a new plant set is a smaller line than a new pool; where the shell has moved or leaks, replacing it is cheaper than a second repair.
What does Nakheel need for the NOC?
Drawings of the change: layout, sections through any pool, boundary and planting details, and anything visible from the lake. We prepare and submit the pack as part of the job.
How do you get machinery onto a cluster island?
We survey the route on the first visit (gate width, the island road and the neighbours affected) then agree the hours and the route with the community. On tight clusters we size the equipment to what fits rather than the other way round.
How long does a rebuild take?
Design in seven days; approvals before demolition; then the build, which for a full garden with a pool runs to months rather than weeks. The programme sits on your tracker and you watch it move.
Is it worth designing the garden around the lake view?
It is the reason the plot is worth what it is. A terrace at the right level and a pool aligned with the water change how the whole house feels, and they cost no more than doing it the wrong way round.
What does an Islands garden cost?
It comes from your own plot, line by line, after the free visit, not a band on a web page. An overflow pool with a new plant room moves the figure up; keeping the shell and re-tiling keeps it lower.
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