Villa renovation, Nad Al Sheba
Nad Al Sheba Villas: renovating inside a fixed extension schedule
Nad Al Sheba Villas is the one Dubai community that publishes its extensions as fixed modules, measured to the square metre. The same code rules out garage conversions and colour changes. We match a brief to what the code allows before anyone prices it.
The code
Nad Al Sheba villa renovation: what can change, and by how much?
A Nad Al Sheba villa renovation is shaped by the design code Nakheel published for the community in February 2023, which does something no other Dubai community code does: it lists the extensions an owner may build as pre-defined areas, chosen from a menu 'to ensure uniformity within the community'. The community has about 1,500 four and five-bedroom villas in Mediterranean and Moroccan styles, managed today by Dubai Holding Community Management.
How big can a Nad Al Sheba villa extension be?
The code sets the ceiling at 7.51 m², about 81 sq ft, on a four-bedroom villa, 8.51 m², about 92 sq ft, on a standard five-bedroom and 36.11 m², about 389 sq ft, on a five-bedroom on a large plot, assembled from pre-set modules. The rooms it names are a driver's room, a maid's room and a majlis, and corner five-bedroom villas on large plots may add an external majlis as well.
Which modules does each villa type get?
| Villa type | Modules offered | Maximum added area |
|---|---|---|
| Four-bedroom | A, 5.03 m², and B, 2.48 m² | 7.51 m², about 81 sq ft |
| Five-bedroom, standard plot | A, 5.03 m², and B, 3.48 m² | 8.51 m², about 92 sq ft |
| Five-bedroom, large plot | A, B at 3.48 m², and C, 27.60 m² | 36.11 m², about 389 sq ft |
On the smaller villas the modules are modest: the whole allowance on a four-bedroom villa is less than a single 3 by 3 metre room. Only the large-plot module C, at 27.60 m², adds the area of a sizeable room. Because the sizes are fixed, the design question is small and the approval chain is the usual Nakheel one, set out step by step under the extension chain: Nakheel's consent first, then Trakhees issues a Modification Permit against the consultant's drawings, and only then does the contractor get onto the site.
Ask which modules your villa gets
What the Nad Al Sheba code rules out
- Balcony and terrace enclosures.
- Garage conversion.
- Free-standing structures in the villa's grounds, beyond the permitted garden structure.
- Changes to rendering or cladding, boundary walls included.
- Any colour that does not match the existing one.
- Changes to external elevations, windows, balustrades or the roof, including its materials, slope, parapet and height.
Read together, the list keeps every street looking the way it was built. A renovation here changes the inside of the villa and a small, fixed part of its footprint, and almost nothing a neighbour can see.
What can be built in a Nad Al Sheba garden?
Less than in most Nakheel communities, and in set colours. Shade structures are capped at 8 m², fixed between the villa and the boundary wall, no higher than the wall and 1 m from it. A rear-garden structure may reach 12 m² or 2.80 m in height, 1 m from the boundary, lightweight and open-sided, in natural wood or earthy beige to match the villa. One allowance is peculiar to this code: a beige tensile fabric membrane may be stretched between the villa and the boundary wall for extra shade. Planting, upstand planters and new paving at the existing level need no NOC under Nakheel's codes, while raising the garden level is not permitted, and Ficus and Damas trees are banned.
Nad Al Sheba villa renovation and the plot question
Before any extension is designed, check which plot the villa stands on. Regulation No. 3 of 2006 lists Nad al-Sheba plots 209, 215 and 222 among the areas where non-UAE nationals may own, and its Article 4 makes plot 224 usufruct or leasehold for up to 99 years, never freehold. On plot 224 the lease, not a title deed, is the first document to read. The plots are drawn on Dubai Land Department maps that are not published with the regulation, so we confirm a villa's plot through the Department's Dubai REST app; our Dubai freehold list covers the wider picture.
What does a Nad Al Sheba villa renovation cost?
None of the companies behind our Dubai bands prices Nad Al Sheba Villas on its own, so the Dubai-wide bands apply: First Unicorn Interiors starts a full renovation of a basic three-bedroom villa at AED 150,000, and Vision Three prices mid-range work at AED 350 to 600 per sq ft, both set out on our Dubai villa rates page. Size is the figure to pin down first. Dubai Residential, which lets villas in the community, lists its four-bedroom villas at 3,731 sq ft and its five-bedroom at 4,051 sq ft, so ask every contractor whether a rate covers the whole villa or only the rooms being worked on.
Approvals follow the Nakheel pattern, with worker access permits at AED 52.50 a person on NOC-grade jobs (nakheel.com, read September 2026). Nakheel's withdrawn 2023 codes put the NOC at AED 1,000 plus VAT and the contractor deposit at AED 10,000; Dubai Holding's 2026 rulebook gives neither figure, so we confirm them at application. How Trakhees and the Municipality divide Dubai is mapped on our Dubai permit routes page.
Related
Questions
Nad Al Sheba Villas: related questions
- Can I build a larger extension than the modules allow?
- The code asks owners to select the pre-defined area, and Nakheel's online services list a review of non-standard designs for requests outside the rules. Whether extra area would be granted is Nakheel's decision, so we plan to the modules and raise anything larger with the community office before any design fee is paid.
- Can I change my villa's colour?
- No. The code prohibits colours that do not match the existing ones, and changes to rendering or cladding, boundary walls included. Repainting in the existing colour is maintenance.
- Do I need an NOC for a new kitchen?
- Not if the walls stay where they are: Nakheel's 2023 codes exempted kitchen and bathroom refurbishment that leaves the wall layout alone, and Dubai Holding's FAQ still needs no permit for like-for-like fixture replacement; the contractor needs a gate pass. A kitchen that moves into an extension module travels with the extension's approvals.
- Which authority issues the permit?
- Trakhees. Nakheel's code for the community puts the Trakhees Modification Permit after its own NOC and the Modification Completion Certificate at the end, and the certificate comes before the altered space is used again.
- Where is the community office?
- Dubai Holding's engagement centre for Nad Al Sheba Villas is on Level 1 of Dragon Mart rather than in the community itself, so allow for the trip when documents have to be handed in.
Who you are dealing with
- OperatorWebsiteOS LLC
- Licence2646567.01
- Cost to homeownerNone
- Figures datedSeptember 2026
Tell us about your Nad Al Sheba villa
Four or five bedrooms, the plot size and what you want to add or change. We check it against the module schedule and come back with contractors who work in Nakheel communities.