Before the Dubai Building Code, a structural submission in Dubai meant working out which authority's rules applied to your plot and designing accordingly. Dubai Municipality, the Dubai Development Authority, Trakhees and Dubai Silicon Oasis each published their own building design regulations. The code consolidated that. This guide sets out what it requires structurally, and where Abu Dhabi differs.
What the Dubai Building Code is
The Dubai Building Code was approved in October 2020 by the Dubai Executive Council, published in December 2021, and implementation began on 30 December 2021. Its stated purpose was to incorporate, unify and replace the separate regulations related to building design previously issued by the individual authorities.
For structural engineers the practical effect is singular: there is now one code basis to establish rather than an authority to identify first. The code applies to new buildings and to changes to existing buildings, with projects whose designs were finally approved before publication treated separately.
One code, four authorities
The code incorporates and replaces the building design regulations previously published by Dubai Municipality, the Dubai Development Authority, Trakhees and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority. If you are searching for Trakhees structural approval requirements or Dubai Municipality structural regulations as separate documents, that is why the trail goes cold: the structural design basis now sits in the Dubai Building Code.
Authority-specific procedural requirements, submission routes and fees still differ. It is the building design basis that was unified, not the whole approval process. Confirm the submission route with the relevant authority even though the code basis is common.
The structural code basis
The code adopts United States codes and standards for the structure, and BS EN for geotechnics. That split is the single most important thing to understand about designing in Dubai, and it catches out teams arriving from markets where one code family covers everything.
| Element | Basis |
|---|---|
| Concrete design | ACI 318-19 |
| Wind loading | ASCE 7-16 |
| Seismic loading | ASCE 7-16 |
| Robustness against disproportionate collapse | ASCE 7-16 |
| Geotechnical design | BS EN (Eurocode 7) |
| General structural reference | IBC, specifically referenced in the Structure chapter |
Concrete: ACI 318-19
Concrete design aligns with ACI 318-19. For practices arriving from a Eurocode or British Standard background that is a genuine shift, not a relabelling: development and lap length provisions, shear design, and detailing requirements all follow different formulations in ACI. Carrying Eurocode habits into an ACI design produces results that are sometimes conservative, sometimes not, and consistently hard to defend at review.
Loading: ASCE 7-16 with Dubai parameters
Loading requirements, wind and seismic, align with ASCE 7-16. Importantly, the loading parameters were optimised on studies specific to Dubai rather than taken as generic values, which the code's own material notes results in more sustainable construction.
That matters in two ways. First, you cannot take a generic ASCE 7 map value and assume it applies. Second, and this surprises people: the United States has moved on to ASCE 7-22 under IBC 2024, while Dubai remains on 7-16. A practice working both markets is running two editions of the same loading standard at once. Our comparison of ASCE 7-16 and 7-22 covers what differs between them.
Geotechnics: the BS EN split
Geotechnical design follows BS EN rather than the US standards used for the structure. So a single Dubai project runs ACI 318-19 for the concrete frame, ASCE 7-16 for the loads applied to it, and Eurocode 7 for the ground it sits on.
The friction point is the interface. Structural reactions are produced under one code family and used for foundation design under another, and the partial factor philosophies are not the same. That interface has to be handled explicitly in the design basis, stating which factors apply on which side of it, rather than left for whoever picks up the foundation design to interpret. In our experience this is the most common cause of a query on a UAE foundation submission, and it is covered directly in our foundation design service. The wider Eurocode position, including the second generation transition now under way, is set out in our Eurocode guide.
Disproportionate collapse
Robustness against disproportionate collapse is taken to ASCE 7-16. This is a requirement teams routinely acknowledge and then do not evidence. It is not satisfied by a general statement that the structure is robust: it needs the specific check the standard sets out, documented, for the structure as built. Reviewers increasingly ask for it.
Abu Dhabi is a different basis
Abu Dhabi does not run on the Dubai Building Code. The Abu Dhabi International Building Code, administered by the Department of Municipalities and Transport, derives from the 2009 International Codes.
So the two emirates sit on different code vintages, and a consultancy working both is managing two bases simultaneously. Assuming a Dubai design basis applies in Abu Dhabi, or the reverse, is a straightforward way to have a submission returned. Establish which emirate and which authority before anything else.
Developer standards can lag the authority code
A further complication: major developers publish their own structural design guidelines, and those documents do not always track the authority code. Some still baseline earlier editions, for example ACI 318M-08 for concrete and ASCE 7-05 per the older Dubai Municipality circular, with later editions permitted subject to conditions.
Where a developer standard applies it is contractually binding on you regardless of what the authority code says, and the two can be in tension. The resolution is not to assume either one wins: it is to identify both at the outset, confirm in writing which governs each element, and get that position agreed before modelling. Discovering the conflict at submission is expensive.
What to confirm before you model
- Emirate and authority. Dubai Building Code or ADIBC, and which authority the submission routes through.
- Developer standard. Whether one applies, which edition, and where it diverges from the authority code.
- Concrete code edition. ACI 318-19, or an earlier edition if a developer standard mandates it.
- Loading edition and parameters. ASCE 7-16, with the Dubai-specific parameters rather than generic values.
- Geotechnical basis. BS EN, and explicitly how the structural to geotechnical interface is factored.
- Disproportionate collapse. That the check is in scope and who is evidencing it.
- Seismic parameters. Site class and spectral values, with their source stated.
None of this is difficult. It is simply a set of decisions that has to be made deliberately at the start, in writing, rather than inherited from the last project. Every structural package we deliver begins with that basis confirmed and signed off, across RCC design, steel design and loading, with your reviewing engineer retaining approval authority throughout. The full service range is on our structural engineering page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Dubai Building Code?
The Dubai Building Code was approved in October 2020 by the Dubai Executive Council, published in December 2021, and implemented from 30 December 2021. It incorporates, unifies and replaces the separate building design regulations previously published by Dubai Municipality, the Dubai Development Authority, Trakhees and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, giving one design basis across those authorities.
Which structural codes does the Dubai Building Code adopt?
United States codes and standards for the structure, and BS EN for geotechnics. Concrete design aligns with ACI 318-19. Wind and seismic loading, and robustness against disproportionate collapse, align with ASCE 7-16, using loading parameters optimised specifically for Dubai rather than generic values. The IBC is specifically referenced in the Structure chapter.
Does Trakhees still have separate structural approval requirements?
The building design regulations previously published by Trakhees were incorporated into the Dubai Building Code, so the structural design basis is now common. Authority-specific procedural requirements, submission routes and fees can still differ, so confirm the submission route with the relevant authority even though the design basis is unified.
How do Dubai and Abu Dhabi structural codes differ?
Dubai works to the Dubai Building Code, which uses ACI 318-19 for concrete and ASCE 7-16 for loading, with BS EN for geotechnics. Abu Dhabi works to the Abu Dhabi International Building Code, administered by the Department of Municipalities and Transport, which derives from the 2009 International Codes. The two emirates are therefore on different code vintages and a consultant working both manages two bases simultaneously.
Why does Dubai use ASCE 7-16 when ASCE 7-22 exists?
The Dubai Building Code aligns loading with ASCE 7-16 and applies parameters derived from studies specific to Dubai. The United States has since moved to ASCE 7-22 through IBC 2024, but that does not change the Dubai basis. A practice working both markets runs two editions of the same loading standard concurrently, so the governing edition should be confirmed per project at design basis stage.