Heat is a programme risk. Midday rules, concrete temperature and productivity — planned, not suffered.
Heat is a programme issue, not an excuse
Every UAE summer, poorly planned projects lose weeks to heat. Well-planned ones don't: they shift the programme so the labour-intensive external works happen at the right hours.
The official midday break rules are the floor, not the ceiling. Site leadership sets the real culture — shaded rest areas, chilled water and realistic output expectations.
What we change between June and September
Our summer programme adjustments include:
- External works shift to early morning and evening windows; internal fit-out carries the daytime hours.
- Concrete pours moved to early morning, with ice and chilled water used where the specification demands pour temperature limits.
- Block and plaster work rescheduled, since curing in direct heat causes shrinkage cracking.
- Roof and external painting rotated with additional crews so total duration stays constant.
- Material storage reviewed — sealants, adhesives and timber need shade and ventilation, not a hot container.
Protecting finishes, not just people
Summer also attacks finished work: rapid paint drying, adhesive curing too fast, timber moving after installation, and sealant failure on facades.
Scheduling helps, but so does acclimatising materials and staging deliveries so nothing sits in the sun for a week before installation.
The result on handover dates
Villas delivered through summer are entirely normal. What is not normal is a programme that pretends June, July and August behave like January — and then asks the client to absorb the difference.
Adjust the plan in May, and the handover date in November stays exactly where you wrote it.
Saif writes for Alruqi Almotamiza on construction, approvals and delivery practice in the UAE.
