Across the UAE, retail no longer plays by old rules. Malls cease to function as static destinations or single-purpose assets. Instead, they evolve—organically, ambitiously into living ecosystems. These new environments are less about transaction and more about transformation. They invite visitors not simply to shop, but to connect, pause, and participate.
For those shaping this shift from quantity surveyors to project managers, the challenge is no longer just to build retail. The challenge is to engineer the atmosphere, to construct stories people can walk through.
Space With a Pulse
Retail breathes differently now. Anchor brands no longer anchor, they orbit alongside artisan pop-ups, cultural moments, sensory immersion zones, and health-driven experiences. People arrive not just with lists or purchasing intent, but with curiosity. They seek the unfamiliar. They expect design to respond to mood, time of day, even energy levels.
This shift demands better systems and surfaces. Ceilings lift to reveal light. Sound curves around soft thresholds. Air moves as deliberately as people do. Pathways pause, redirect, reveal. Logistics plans stop privileging efficiency alone and begin to embrace flow. Even infrastructure takes on tone with movable flooring, programmable lighting, power that travels.
Every component surely joins the narrative.
Craftmanship That is Curated
In this new chapter of retail, material matters more than ever—not just for how it performs, but for what it says. A wall cladded in reclaimed teak whispers authenticity. A bespoke terrazzo floor invites pause. Hand-applied plaster holds the imprint of a maker’s hand.
Procurement is no longer about sourcing—it’s about storytelling. Teams no longer track costs in isolation but trace value across origin, impact, and expression. Lead times stretch, but so does meaning. Estimators, cost consultants, and planners become not just gatekeepers of budget, but curators of experience.
Every texture has a role. Every surface speaks.
Wellness as a Built Intent
Health and safety is an assurance in the modern retail experience. A corridor that opens into a green courtyard becomes a breath for customers to step out. A filtered skylight becomes clarity. The scent of living plants offsets the noise of a commercial footprint, which is what most citizens expect.
Delivering this requires more than greenwashing gestures. It calls for HVAC strategies that support biodiversity, acoustic zoning that respects serenity, and lighting calibrated to daylight rhythms. MEP consultants, planners, and engineers now design for feelings, designing not just for performance, but for peace.
Designing for Change, Not Just Completion
Today’s malls must be able to transform without disruption. Spaces shift. Functions overlap. One week a fashion brand launches in a sculptural space; the next, that same shell becomes an art installation or digital product demo.
Design must allow for metamorphosis. Walls unclip. Grids flex. Retail evolves at the pace of relevance. Project teams no longer treat fit-out as a finish line—it becomes an ongoing layer in a long-term strategy. Procurement allows for unknowns. Programming anticipates iteration.
In this world, permanence is overrated. Adaptability is luxury.
Cost Consulting for the Retail Experience
There was a time when quantity surveying spoke only the language of volume of square metres, standard rates, and measurable outputs. But in this new era of experiential retail, value shifts. It no longer resides solely in what can be counted, but in what can be felt.
Cost planning takes on new dimensions. What is the worth of a hand-carved stone counter that transforms a checkout point into a memory? How do you quantify the return on custom lighting that encourages guests to linger further, or on digital installations that generate social capital before financial profit? Traditional benchmarks don’t hold the answers. What’s required instead is a narrative-based cost framework—one that weighs time, texture, engagement, and change-readiness as part of the financial model.
This reorientation calls for early involvement. The most successful QS contributions now happen upstream, before a line is drawn or a finish is chosen. Risk is no longer just a spreadsheet column; it is a dialogue, a live negotiation between ambition and feasibility. Contingencies become design enablers. Provisional sums are crafted with care, protecting not just against unknowns, but for possibilities.
And post-completion, the QS role continues. Lifecycle costing isn’t just about wear and tear, it’s about relevance. How do we model the cost of reinvention? How do we fund transformation without disruption? In a space that must evolve to remain iconic, the numbers must stay agile. The logic must stay creative.
It’s no longer just about estimating cost. It’s about evaluating experience.
Featured Perspective
This article includes contributions and insights from Lakshitha Ashan, Team Lead for Cost Management at Stonehaven whose project experience in the industry has shaped much of this discussion.
Lakshitha Ashan is a Project Lead for our Quantity Surveying team with over a decade of experience delivering successful residential, commercial, infrastructure, and mixed‑use projects. Skilled in BOQs, cost estimation, budgeting, and contract administration, he is renowned for precision, collaboration, and strategic oversight — ensuring cost‑effective solutions, stakeholder alignment, and high‑quality outcomes throughout the project lifecycle.
A Living Relationship With Place
Retail in the UAE no longer behaves like static real estate. It acts like a living brand. It absorbs context, hosts community, and adjusts with time.
And when built with clarity and purpose, these spaces create something more than footfall. They become places of emotional return. Places remembered. Places loved.
For those delivering the next generation of retail, this is the opportunity: not to build faster, cheaper, or bigger—but to build with feeling, with foresight, and with the freedom to evolve.
Because the future of retail isn’t retail at all. It’s experience, it’s identity, it’s place.
About Us
At Stonehaven, we approach retail construction not just as a technical exercise, but as a creative partnership with place, purpose, and people. As a multidisciplinary consultancy based in the UAE, we specialise in cost management, project delivery, and design coordination for complex, future-forward spaces, including next-generation malls, lifestyle destinations, and mixed-use precincts.
In an era where retail is becoming more experiential, we support developers and operators in navigating the intersection of design, storytelling, and financial rigour. Our cost consultants, planners, and project managers are embedded early—shaping procurement strategies that allow for flexibility, curating materials that speak, and modelling costs not just for fit-out, but for evolution.
We understand that in today’s retail environments, adaptability is the real asset and our role is to bring structure to transformation. Whether it's aligning budgets with ambition or preparing spaces for continuous reinvention, Stonehaven is your partner in building spaces that live, breathe, and belong.
