Alessandro Daverio, CEO of Tasmim shares his thougths on the highlights of Habitat and what makes it an attractive investment opportunity. An OER report

Can you give us a brief background of Habitat and its operations?

Habitat will be ready by Q1, 2022. Construction started and is progressing well ahead of schedule and all the technical aspects are under control. For us, it was very important to start the construction of the building before the sales start, because we want to offer our customers a solid investment that is growing every day, showing what we are capable of. The Shanfari group of companies had strong belief in Tasmim as the developer and Mandressi GmbH as lead architect from Austria, with a vision to design a great building that aims at becoming a reference in Oman for quality, lifestyle and even as a business model.

What is the differentiation and salient features of Habitat office spaces?

Habitat is a multifunctional building and from the concept stage the idea was to offer a unique experience. Offices users will enjoy a community feeling, and having 20,000 sqm retail area will help them to start their days well with a nice breakfast in the food court area, bring out their clientele for lunch or dinner, and enjoy a break whenever needed.

In addition, Habitat will have well organised parking, stunning receptions, elevators and common areas to welcome guest in a high end, safe, well controlled, functional and well-designed environment. There are several typologies, all open spaces that can accommodate a range of companies from startups to large organisations. The 118 offices will have raised flooring system, high speed internet connections, and independent bathrooms for each unit, high quality pantries and modular layout fulfilling all of client pre requisites.

High natural light standards have always been considered in order to have maintain the right mount of light in every area. The lighting design is undertaken to improve end user productivity, in addition to monitoring fresh air levels in the offices. We also know that appearance is very important and for this we invite interested people to visit our website www.habitat-oman.com and check out our designs for themselves. In the complex there will be also 44 apartments and an exclusive sales campaign is going to start soon.

What are the new trends the office spaces in Oman and how are you adapting to the latest innovation and technological advancement in this area?

We believe that we are setting a new trend in Oman because we know clients are always looking for better quality and it is important to achieve a great functional working environment. Functionality and comfort mixed with a design touch at an affordable price. This is what we achieved with Habitat. We are taking adaptability to a whole new level with the raised floor system that makes it easy for any user to configure their office lay-out and the lighting levels solutions provided are designed to contribute to staff productivity.

We have further allowed fiber optics high speed internet solutions to be installed into every office and we are still having discussions with one of the leading service providers on how we can further improve end user experience and operations by making the offices smarter. We are opening a showroom in Q4 2019, to show potential clients the turnkey solutions and options that Habitat has to offer both on the residential and commercial side.

What is your outlook for the real estate industry?

Tasmim is looking always to expand their services designing and managing quality real estate project for investors. Habitat will be the showcase of our capabilities and we are confident this will be the best business card for future developments. For the industry outlook in general, we underline the long term vision of Oman, to diversify from the income generated by oil and becoming more attractive for foreign investors. The recent announcements for further changes in the investor market will make Oman more attractive to foreign investors and this will spin off also in the real estate market.