Dubai: About half of the luxury villa buyers working with Dubai design consultancy Imperium Group are purchasing homes with a renovation already planned. For these buyers, the right address now matters more than finding a finished home that ticks every box.
Based on its luxury residential portfolio, Imperium says villas in established locations are being extensively redesigned around each owner’s family, lifestyle and long-term plans for the property. In many cases, the purchase is not the end of the search but the start of a wider transformation.
From interior refresh to full redesign
Imperium has delivered approximately 30 to 40 luxury renovation projects over the past three years. The firm says the scope of that work is widening. Projects that once focused on interior upgrades now increasingly include:
- Architectural and structural redesign
- New building systems and smart home technology
- Landscaping and external works
- Dedicated spaces for wellness, work and entertaining
|
Renovation is now part of the acquisition strategy
Karim Karam, Founder of Imperium Group, said: “For many luxury buyers, the existing villa is no longer the finished product. It is the starting point. They are purchasing properties based primarily on location and then reconsidering almost every aspect of the home. Renovation has become part of the acquisition strategy itself, allowing owners to secure a preferred address without compromising on how they ultimately want to live.”
Case study: a private resort on Palm Jumeirah
A Palm Jumeirah villa commissioned by one of Imperium’s clients shows what this looks like in practice. The consultancy has developed the concept for a four-bedroom beachfront residence designed to work as a self-contained private resort.
The proposed home spans approximately 1,173 square metres of built-up area (about 12,600 sq ft, by PROPERTY TIMES’ conversion). It carries an estimated construction and fit-out budget of AED 8 million, excluding the cost of the land. That budget covers construction, interior fit-out, building systems, external works, landscaping, the swimming pool and specialist facilities.
The brief
The client’s wish list reads more like a boutique hotel than a family home:
- Wellness: a gym, a massage room, and a beachfront swimming pool with an integrated spa
- Personal care: a hairdressing and manicure salon
- Entertainment: a private cinema
- Work: a rooftop office
- Kitchens: a show kitchen for everyday family use and a separate industrial catering kitchen for larger-scale entertaining
How the wish list shapes the floor plan
These requirements affect more than the list of rooms. Imperium’s plans separate family, guest, wellness and service areas while keeping practical connections between them. Staff accommodation, storage and dedicated service circulation support the household behind the scenes, while the central living area links the entrance with the pool, garden and beachfront.
According to Imperium, increasingly specialised requirements are changing how Dubai’s high-end homes are planned, with wellness, entertaining and personal care facilities influencing architecture, infrastructure and circulation from the earliest design stages.
The bigger picture
In an earlier market update in August 2026, Imperium estimated that demand for luxury villa renovations had risen by 35 to 50 per cent over five years. It said homeowners typically spend 10 to 25 per cent of the purchase price on renovation, rising above 30 per cent for large-scale projects. Its own projects have ranged from interior upgrades of about AED 700,000 to full villa transformations above AED 20 million.
What it means for the market
Imperium is responsible for the architecture and interior design of the Palm Jumeirah residence, which remains at concept stage. The project illustrates a wider shift in how Dubai’s luxury buyers approach a purchase: secure the location first, then build the home around the way they want to live.
AT A GLANCE: THE PALM JUMEIRAH VILLA CONCEPT
|
ABOUT IMPERIUM GROUP
Imperium Group is a multidisciplinary consultancy specialising in architecture, interior design and construction consultancy across the UAE. The firm works on residential, commercial, hospitality and mixed-use projects, spanning new developments, repositioning projects and renovations, with an integrated approach that covers architecture, interiors and project delivery.
