Under Al Sa'fat, new air-conditioned buildings in Dubai must hold the roof to 0.3 W/m²K or lower↗, and flat or low-sloped roofs must use surfaces rated SRI 78 or higher↗ over at least 75% of the roof area↗. Every new building has to meet the mandatory requirements, which means Silver Sa'fa at minimum↗. The system replaced the older Dubai Green Building Regulations on 19 October 2020↗.
What Al Sa'fat is
Al Sa'fat is Dubai Municipality's green building system, structured in sections covering ecology and planning, building vitality, energy efficiency and resources. Ratings run Silver, Golden and Platinum. The current version is the 2nd edition, January 2023↗. It applies across building typologies, and villas are explicitly in scope: villas are covered↗, grouped from private villas, investment villas and Arabic houses.
None of it is a waterproofing code. There is no clause telling you which membrane to use. What it does control is the thermal layer above your membrane and the colour and reflectance of the surface on top, both of which change how the waterproofing lives.
The reflectance requirement
Solar Reflectance Index measures how well a surface bounces sunlight and releases the heat it does absorb. A dark surface with a low SRI gets brutally hot; a white one stays far cooler. Al Sa'fat sets a minimum by roof slope, applied to at least 75% of the roof area↗.
Al Sa'fat Table 304.01 (1) requires a Solar Reflectance Index of at least 78 for flat and low-sloped roofs with a slope of 1 in 6 or flatter, and at least 29 for steep-sloped roofs, over a minimum of 75 per cent of the roof area.
Source: Dubai Municipality, Al Sa'fat – Dubai Green Building System, 2nd edition (January 2023), Table 304.01 (1). Official.
Show the data as a table
| Roof type | Minimum SRI |
|---|---|
| Flat and low-sloped roofs (1:6 or flatter) | SRI 78 or higher |
| Steep-sloped roofs (steeper than 1:6) | SRI 29 or higher |
The gap between the two figures is the interesting part. A flat roof takes the sun full on for most of the day, so the bar is far higher. In practice that means a light, reflective finish on flat roofs rather than dark tiles, and it is the reason so many new Dubai roofs are finished pale.
The insulation requirement
Separately, the regulation caps how much heat may pass through the roof build-up. For new air-conditioned buildings the roof limit is 0.3 W/m²K or lower↗, at Silver as well as Golden and Platinum level: unusually, the roof figure does not get stricter as the rating goes up. Villas also have an envelope-wide average of 0.40 W/m²K↗ in the thermal-bridging clause.
Al Sa'fat Table 501.01 (1) caps the average roof U-value of new air-conditioned buildings at 0.3 watts per square metre kelvin. Section 501.02 caps the average building envelope U-value for villas at 0.40.
Source: Dubai Municipality, Al Sa'fat 2nd edition (January 2023), Table 501.01 (1) and section 501.02. Official. Lower is better.
Show the data as a table
| Element | Maximum U-value (W/m²K) |
|---|---|
| Roof, new air-conditioned buildings | 0.3 W/m²K maximum |
| Villa building envelope, average | 0.40 W/m²K maximum |
Dubai Municipality also publishes the working drawings: villa insulation sections, Types 1–6↗, alongside a U-value calculation spreadsheet. If your contractor cannot say which insulation thickness gets your build-up under the limit, those documents are where the answer comes from.
What this means for waterproofing work
- On a new build, the membrane is part of a stack that has to perform thermally. Insulation thickness is not a detail to leave off a quote, and re-laying a roof without it can put the building out of compliance.
- A reflective finish keeps the membrane cooler. Reflectance rules exist for energy reasons, but a surface that runs cooler puts less daily thermal movement through the waterproofing under it.
- Renovations are a grey area worth asking about. The requirements are written for new buildings. Whether your re-roofing job triggers them is a question for your consultant or the Municipality, not for a website.
Reading the regulation yourself
Every figure above is cited to the table or clause it comes from in the Al Sa'fat PDF, which Dubai Municipality publishes openly. If a contractor tells you the rules say something different, ask which clause, and read that clause. It takes ten minutes and it has settled more than one argument about insulation thickness.
For the parts of the job that are actually about keeping water out, start with the membrane comparison and what the work costs in Dubai.