Unless you’re involved in fire safety, you won’t be aware that something life-enhancing is happening in Dubai . And if something happens in Dubai , the trend-setter for the rest of the region, rest assured that it will happen elsewhere in the Middle East. However, if you’re not involved in fire safety, you’ll only be aware of the huge pace of development that’s taking place in the Gulf state. So let’s start with the scale of that development, because it’s that which has fuelled a sea-change in official attitudes towards the vital issue of enforcing fire safety regulations, itself good news for everyone who works in or visits the Gulf state – and, in the longer term, for everyone in the MENA region.

Taking one example, a recent article in Dubai’s Gulf News estimated that the booming Emirate is home to 24% of the world’s cranes – a flock (if that’s the right word) of 30,000 cranes out of 125,000 worldwide. A less ambitious claim might be somewhere between 6% and 10%.

Whatever the real figure, development statistics for Dubai are staggering. From a population size of 183,000 in 1970, Dubai now has a population of 1.1 million, still growing at 6.4% per year, and set to reach 3 million by 2017.

Visitor numbers have also skyrocketed. Today, some five million tourists a year visit the Emirate, one of seven Emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates . By next year, the number of tourists is set to double and will continue to rise to 15 million by 2010.

HSBC Bank estimates that some US $42.5 billion is currently invested in construction projects in Dubai . Other estimates put that figure much higher. On the HSBC Bank estimate of $42.5 billion, that compares with $20 billion for the rest of the neighbouring Gulf states put together.

Some developments, like The Palm and The World, have set new standards for beachfront living – just ask David Beckham or Rod Stewart, both of whom have homes there – and redefined the topography of the Gulf coastline. Others, like the $1 billion Burj Al Alam, which is set to be the world’s tallest commercial building at 1,588 feet, are defining a new commercial future for the city.

Other international firsts include the world’s largest shopping mall, the first underwater hotel and the longest indoor ski slope. Not forgetting Space Adventures, in neighbouring Ras Al-Khaimah, that will soon be offering suborbital spaceflights for the mega-rich (see David Beckham, above).

There is also a $4.5 billion new airport; more than 60 residential towers at the Dubai Marina; the Dubai International Financial Centre which will be bigger than London’s Canary Wharf; Dubai International City; Dubai Healthcare City; Dubai Festival City; and the $5 billion Dubailand theme park, a desert Disneyland. Dubailand alone consists of 45 main building projects and 200 smaller building projects.

On the back of all this, Dubai ‘s economy has grown by an average of 10% per year since 1995, making it the fastest-growing economy in the world. In the past year, that figure is closer to 17%.

Putting all of that together, Dubai is the world’s most exciting property investment market, driven by a series of investor-friendly tax and regulatory policies, not least the fact that foreigners are now able to own property in Dubai freehold. With over 80% of residents coming from overseas, it was a move designed to allay investor’s fears for the long-term safety of their investment.

Previously, ownership in Dubai was limited to UAE citizens and other nationals of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Bahrain , Kuwait , Oman , Qatar and Saudi Arabia . Relaxing the rules on who can own what has opened Dubai to a new breed of international investor.

Inward investment, rather than oil, is the new game in town – and one that the Dubai authorities are keen to protect. While Dubai ‘s growth was built on oil, it’s an asset that is quickly drying up. Some estimates suggest that petroleum reserves may, at current product levels, be extinguished in ten years time. Dubai ‘s strategic vision is therefore to look beyond, and plan for, an economy based not on oil but on tourism, financial services, manufacturing and re-exporting.

Hence, the importance of allowing foreigners to buy property and the importance also of protecting the asset values of the mega-structures that have been, and are being, built. That twin strategy is resulting in one hugely positive outcome: Dubai is finally beginning to enforce fire safety regulations.

Not that Dubai doesn’t have such regulations and, since a large fire last year that destroyed a significant chunk of an international trade exhibition, the municipal authority seems more willing to enforce them. Other capital projects have also sharply concentrated minds.

For example, to cope with huge population and economic growth, Dubai has just started building a $3.9 billion urban transit system which, when it fully opens in 2012, will be 70 kilometres long and have 57 stations. It will be the world’s most advanced metro system and, mindful of the threat of underground fire and terrorist attack, the Dubai authorities have very publicly stated that it will be the safest in the world.

That bold statement mirrors other fire safety claims made for the new six-runway Jebel Ali airport, which will be ready for its first flights in September 2007. With an eventual capacity of 120 million passengers (compared with Heathrow’s current 60 million passengers), it is set to become one of the most important hubs in world aviation.

With such huge investment flows, the difference now is that the Dubai authorities seem to be taking fire safety seriously. Until now, despite having building regulations that promised much, little was done to make sure that proper protection was built into the fabric of buildings. At Wrightstyle Ltd, a company that has long been involved in major projects across the MENA region, we know that to be true.

By law, architects and developers in Dubai are responsible for implementing fire safety and building regulations. However, in a bewilderingly fast market, the building sector has been beset by two factors: price and the need to build quickly. With investment in new buildings sometimes changing hands several times during the construction phase, there was – and is – huge pressure on contractors and sub-contractors to cut corners.

Until now, when architects specified that a particular area should be fire protected by suitable glazing systems or fire doors, the contractor would sometimes install an untested and non-certified system, and simply submit a false fire test certificate. Like others in the sector, we would sometimes discover that our test certification was being used to endorse a system that we hadn’t supplied, which we know wasn’t fit for purpose and, worse, would rapidly and catastrophically fail in a real fire situation.

However, the problem isn’t simply confined to sub-standard systems. There are many differing aspects affecting the compliance of fire rated glazing; for example, a fire test that covers a single piece of glass, of a certain size and fixed into concrete, would not cover a multiple run of glazing, particularly if the glass was installed in a different framing system. Fire test certification must be specific if it is to hold any validity, and must cover both the glass and the framing system that supports it.

As a responsible supplier to the MENA market, we have responded in two ways. First, to ensure that design proposals for fire resistance being submitted to architects and consultants are fit for purpose, as well as compliant with performance criteria, we now offer a free evaluation service. This covers all submitted drawings and test certification that are being used to support either the framing system or the proposed glass, to ensure it is fit for purpose and meets the required performance standard.

Second, to further aid the architect and consultant, Wrightstyle Ltd now only issues project-related test certification. In other words, when our fire resistant systems are used, the test report will refer to that particular project, and will only be valid for the named building. This once-only test certification reduces the chance of illegal or unsuitable test reports being used to support non-compliant installations.

A sign that things are changing for the better is the announcement that Bodycote Warringtonfire has entered into an agreement with the Dubai Civil Defence (DCD) authority, to establish a centre for excellence for fire safety testing and the approval of products in Dubai . This facility, being built at the DCD’s own training centre, will be open for business next year.

Already, that announcement and the sea-change in enforcement attitudes that led to it, are having a profound effect on how products and systems are being specified and test certificates ratified. In the past few months we have seen a growing number of specifiers come to us, particularly for our fully-glazed two-hour fire doors and screens, requesting project-by-project fire test certification.

Those specific requests represent a huge step forwards, because it now means that the fire test certification for individual projects is now valid. In the event of a fire, fire doors and glazing systems will perform as designed.

Companies such as Wrightstyle Ltd put enormous resources behind developing and, more importantly, testing our systems. Our glazing and door systems do protect against fire and blast because, using independent companies such as Warringtonfire, we’ve put them into furnaces or tried to blow them up.

In the past, in Dubai and elsewhere, we’ve been disadvantaged by contractors compromising on safety to save money, using systems that look good on paper but which have not been through rigorous and independent testing processes. As in so many other fields, Dubai is wisely showing a better way forward: that when it comes to fire safety, human life is beyond price.