Landscaping & pools in The Meadows — designed, previewed, built.

An Emirates Living landscape, twenty years on

Emaar established Emirates Living in 2003, and The Meadows sits among its lakes, parks and walking trails. Inside the villa walls, the best landscapes now have trees that shade the whole terrace, and the rest of the landscape has aged around them. Paving settles, irrigation lines fail under the lawn, pools and plant rooms reach the end of their first service life, and the layout still reflects how the first owners wanted to live.

So the right brief here is rarely a repair. It is a landscape that works for the family living there now. That means shade where they sit, a pool that is a pleasure again, planting that looks after itself, and a terrace that opens towards the lake or the park rather than towards the wall.

Designing around the view and the trees

Many Meadows villas look onto a lake or a park, and a renovation should turn the landscape towards that view. The terrace goes at the height that frames it, the pool is placed so the water reads against it, and the planting screens the neighbours without closing the outlook. The trees that have matured over two decades are usually the landscape’s best asset, so the design works around them and protects their roots during the build.

Planting follows the community rules as well as the climate. New trees go in at least 1.5 metres from the boundary walls. Damas, which the community does not permit, is replaced with screening that gives the same privacy without cracking walls. The community also asks for landscapes to be kept trimmed and clear of dry leaves, so the planting is chosen for easy upkeep.

Hardscape, lighting and irrigation, rebuilt together

Paving comes up and goes back down on a proper base, with falls that carry water away from the villa, so the terrace stays level. Emaar Community Management notes that sinking interlock in a villa carport is most often a sign of an underground water leak. That is why we trace and test the irrigation before any new paving is laid, and usually replace it with zoned circuits on a controller.

Lighting is designed from inside the landscape, because the community rules do not allow lights on top of a boundary wall or on its community-facing side. Trees, paths, steps and the pool are lit low and warm, on circuits that switch by zone.

The pool: renovate, rebuild, or add

Where the villa has a pool, it is inspected before anything is promised. A sound shell takes new tiles, coping, lighting and a new plant room, and becomes a different pool. A shell that leaks or has moved is usually better rebuilt than repaired twice. Where there is no pool, one is designed with the landscape, so its position, its plant room and the terrace around it are settled together. Either way, redoing or adding a pool needs the Emaar NOC.

Approvals: the Emaar Home Modifications NOC

Emirates Living follows Emaar’s Home Modifications process. The owner applies for a NOC through the community portal before any alteration, and Emaar Community Management names pergolas and pool works among the changes that need it. We prepare the drawings and the application with you, starting from the villa drawings Emaar makes available to owners on the portal. We register our team for entry permits and do not start until the NOC is issued.

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 terrace levels and the pool are settled before anything is broken out. The NOC application goes in on sign-off. Then the build runs on a live tracker, with the programme, the photographs and the money against the BOQ.