Where package boundaries leak on Dubai projects: tie-in points between scaffold, formwork, MEP and façade

Summary

Edition #4 looks at the gap between packages rather than the packages themselves. On a typical UAE project the scaffold, formwork, MEP, façade and hoist scopes each come with their own designer and drawings, and each can be correct on paper. What is rarely drawn is the strip where two of them meet, and that is where ties get moved, lifts get dropped and platforms appear that no designer has checked.

The article names four tie-in points that come up again and again: scaffold against façade brackets, scaffold standing on slabs that are still back-propped, scaffold in the path of MEP routes, and loading platforms added to a scaffold that is already up. For each it gives a practical step, such as overlaying the tie pattern on the façade setting-out or marking no-alteration zones for the MEP crew.

It then describes what good control looks like: a short interface list per floor, one owner for every gap, changes sent back to the designer, and inspection after each alteration. The cost argument is simple. One unrecorded change can stall two or three trades, while the interface list takes a few hours to write at mobilisation.

Key points

• The 2026 Guide, 2-3-4, makes the contractor and all subcontractors responsible for applying safety requirements, which can leave interfaces with no single owner.
• BS 5975 (a UK code of practice, not a Dubai requirement) offers a model: one register, a design brief per item and a named coordinator.
• Shared floors need scaffold leg loads and slab support checked together; approved designs are required under 8-1(4) and 10-2-2(3).
• Re-inspect after any alteration and before use (8-10(3)); in the author's reading a removed tie is an alteration.
• Formwork approval must be in place before pouring starts (10-1-2(1)), and site layout changes need a new approval (20-2-1).

This page is a summary written for scaff.ae. The full edition was first published on LinkedIn. General guidance for project teams. Follow your project's temporary works procedure and the current Guide edition.

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