Burj Al Wasl designs and builds gardens, compact pools, shade structures, joinery and smart home systems for Elan townhouse owners in Tilal Al Ghaf. Elan A and Elan B were handed over from Q4 2023, so most owners are now two years in and working out how to get more from a small outdoor space. We handle design, approvals and every trade.
Elan was the first townhouse release in Tilal Al Ghaf, launched by Majid Al Futtaim in January 2020 and sold out the following month. Elan A and Elan B are three and four bedroom townhouses with built-up areas in the region of 1,500 to 2,400 square feet and plots that are typically smaller still. Both phases were handed over in Q4 2023.
More than most owners expect, but only with a plan. The constraint in Elan is not budget, it is square metres, and the mistake we are called in to fix is a garden where three things were added separately and now none of them work.
On an Elan plot the realistic ambitions are a plunge pool or compact lap pool rather than a full family pool, a shaded seating area that doubles as the dining space, built-in bench seating instead of freestanding furniture, and vertical planting on boundary walls to gain greenery without losing floor area. Designed together, those fit. Added one at a time, they do not.
Often yes, in the form of a plunge pool or a narrow lap pool. The questions that decide it are access for excavation, the position of services, the setback from boundaries, and whether the plant equipment can be housed somewhere sensible. We look at all four before we discuss a design, because the honest answer on a very tight plot is sometimes a water feature rather than a pool.
Storage, overwhelmingly. Townhouse living rewards built-in joinery: wardrobes that use the full wall height, understair storage, a proper utility arrangement, and a kitchen layout that gains worktop without losing circulation. After storage, the common requests are flooring changes, upgraded lighting, and converting a room to a home office or a guest suite.
Yes, and it is one of the most common Elan projects. A finished, occupied townhouse can take lighting control, climate control, security and access, and audio without opening up walls everywhere, provided the design accounts for what is already in place. The right time to plan it is alongside any other work, because sharing one round of making good is far less disruptive than doing it on its own later.
Anything permanent, anything structural, and anything that touches power or water needs sign-off before it starts. Pools, built pergolas, boundary changes and electrical alterations all sit in that category. The route is a Majid Al Futtaim community NOC through the Belong by MAF app first, then a building permit from the Dubai Development Authority where the work is structural, with DEWA separately wherever electrical load increases. Many published guides still name Dubai Municipality as the permit authority for Tilal Al Ghaf; the better-evidenced position is DDA, and it is worth confirming with community management before you submit. We prepare and run those applications as part of the project.
On a townhouse plot the reported timings matter more than they look. Soft landscaping clears in around one to two weeks, hard landscaping and decking in two to four, and a pergola in three to five because it carries wind-load engineering. A pool runs four to six. Those are third-party reported estimates rather than guarantees, but they set the shape of a realistic programme: the approval is usually longer than the work.
Elan handed over from Q4 2023, so owners here are around two years in and the problems are becoming predictable.
Compact paving settles visibly. A small yard hides nothing. Where sand backfill consolidates under two years of irrigation, a dip that would be lost in a large garden reads as a fault across a townhouse patio, and tiles crack along the line of the settlement. The fix is a properly compacted sub-base, which means lifting what is on top of it.
Drainage becomes a neighbour problem. Townhouse plots sit close together with shared boundaries, so a fall that sheds water the wrong way does not stay on your plot. Grading that runs water onto a neighbour is a listed rejection trigger for landscaping applications and it is also the fastest route to a dispute with someone living a wall away.
Electrical headroom is tighter than in a villa. A three or four bedroom townhouse has a smaller developer allocation than a standalone villa, so a plunge pool with heating, an outdoor kitchen or an EV charger consumes a larger share of it. An MEP load audit matters more here, not less, and an EV charger beyond available capacity needs dynamic load management designed in with a DEWA-certified installer.
Unapproved work surfaces at resale. Majid Al Futtaim inspects before issuing a resale No Objection Certificate. A pergola or a boundary change made without approval shows against the approved drawings and stops the sale until it is either retroactively approved or removed.
Planning a full renovation rather than a single job? Our interior fit-out and landscaping teams work as one, which matters on a compact plot where the garden and the house have to be solved together. See the plot development guide, the approvals checklist, or the Tilal Al Ghaf overview for every neighbourhood we work in.
Premium quality, fair prices and a professional, standardised way of working that homes and businesses across Dubai rely on.
Tell us what you are planning and we will arrange a free site visit, a measured scope and a fixed-price quotation. Design, approvals and every trade run under one accountable team, with payments tied to milestones you can see rather than to dates in a calendar.
Serving all of Dubai & the UAE · We prepare and submit the approvals
Approvals handled: We obtain Dubai Municipality, DEWA, SIRA, DHA and Dubai Civil Defence approvals for your project.
Send photos or your floor plan on WhatsApp and we will come back with a scope, not a number plucked from the air.
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