Swimming pool, landscape, artificial grass and pergola are all named work types on DAMAC’s NOC list. If you are doing anything to the garden beyond maintaining it, assume you need approval before you start.
Gardens are where DAMAC work concentrates
DAMAC villas are handed over with bare plots — sand inside a boundary wall, no irrigation, no levels, no shade. So the garden is not a finishing touch here, it is a construction project, and usually the largest single item in the budget.
Which is exactly why so much of DAMAC's NOC list is outdoor: pool, landscape, artificial grass, pergola.
Apply for the whole garden at once
The common mistake is applying piecemeal. Pool now, pergola in three months, artificial grass after that — three applications, three fees, three waits, and a garden dug up repeatedly.
Designing the external works as one scheme and submitting once is faster, cheaper and produces a better garden. It also lets the levels, drainage and irrigation be designed as a system rather than retrofitted around a pool somebody already built.
What drives a pool price here
Access for excavation, principally. On plots where a machine can reach the rear, excavation is straightforward. Where it cannot, spoil comes out another way and both cost and programme move materially.
After that: plant location, the backwash and drainage arrangement, finishes, and whether heating or chilling is included. Our pool cost guide breaks that down.
Pergolas and shade
A pergola needs an NOC, and in a themed community the design matters. Structures that read as an extension of the building, or that are visible above the boundary from the community side, attract far more scrutiny than a freestanding garden structure in a sympathetic material.
Artificial grass
On DAMAC's list, and frequently installed without asking. Worth doing properly — not only for the approval, but because artificial grass laid without drainage and a correct sub-base traps water, smells in summer and has to be lifted and redone.
Three categories, not one
The thing to understand before applying is that DAMAC's app treats swimming pool, landscape and artificial grass as three separate work types, each with its own document requirements. Pergolas are a fourth.
A typical garden project — pool, hard landscaping, planting, a shade structure and some artificial grass — is therefore four requests rather than one. Owners who raise a single landscape request and assume it covers the pool find out when the pool contractor cannot get on site.
What the pool request involves
Expect to show the pool position on the plot, the location of the plant and how it will be enclosed, the drainage and backwash connection, and the safety provision. The plant location gets more scrutiny than people expect, because filtration equipment is noisy and has to go somewhere that is neither against a neighbour's wall nor outside a bedroom.
Backwash cannot discharge to the garden or the storm system. It needs a legitimate drainage connection, and that is one of the more common reasons a pool application is returned for revision.
Landscaping, and what the community cares about
Hard landscaping, planting, irrigation and lighting are assessed mainly on two things: drainage, and anything visible beyond your own plot. Falls that send water towards the villa or towards a neighbour are the technical concern. Height, boundary treatment and shade structures are the community one.
Artificial grass being its own category is a DAMAC-specific quirk worth remembering. It is a straightforward approval, but it is an approval.
Permits sit alongside the NOC
The DAMAC NOC is the community's consent. A Dubai Municipality pool permit is required separately and is a modest fee, a few thousand dirhams on a typical villa pool. A Dubai Municipality landscaping permit is charged on the landscaped area and likewise runs to a few thousand.
Both are paid at cost and sit below the contract total rather than inside it. For what the work itself costs, the pool cost guide and the landscaping cost guide carry current ranges.
Related Questions
Can I put in a pool and landscaping under one NOC?
Apply for the works you are actually doing, and do them as one designed scheme rather than a series of afterthoughts.
Submitting the external works together avoids repeated fees and repeated disruption, and it lets levels, drainage and irrigation be designed once and properly.
Does artificial grass really need approval?
DAMAC lists it as a work type requiring an NOC, so yes.
Aside from the approval, laying it without a proper sub-base and drainage is a false economy. Water sits, it smells in summer, and the remedy is lifting the whole thing.
How long do garden works take in a DAMAC community?
Allow several weeks for approvals, then a construction period driven mostly by whether a pool is included.
Hardscape, irrigation and planting alone move quickly. A pool adds excavation, shell, waterproofing, plant and commissioning, which is months rather than weeks.
Is a pool NOC separate from a landscape NOC in DAMAC?
Yes. The DAMAC Living App treats swimming pool and landscape as distinct work types with their own document requirements, and artificial grass is a third category again. A garden project combining them is several requests rather than one, even though one contractor builds it.
What does DAMAC check on a pool application?
Position on the plot, where the plant goes and how it is enclosed, the drainage and backwash connection, and safety provision. Plant location and backwash drainage are the two that most often come back for revision — filtration equipment is noisy, and backwash cannot discharge to the garden or the storm system.
Do I need approval for artificial grass?
Yes, and it is its own work type in the app rather than part of a landscape request. It is a straightforward approval but it is still an approval, and it is the one people most often skip because it feels like a furnishing rather than an alteration.
What do the permits cost on top?
A Dubai Municipality pool permit is a few thousand dirhams on a typical villa pool, and the landscaping permit is charged on the landscaped area and runs to a similar order. Both are paid at cost and sit outside the construction contract sum rather than being marked up within it.
Can I do the garden at the same time as the house?
Yes, and it is considerably cheaper. Site set-up, welfare, skips, protection and supervision are paid for once, and plant access for excavation is far easier before internal finishes go in. The thing to manage is raising all the separate approvals at the start rather than sequentially.
How long do the approvals take?
Allow four to eight weeks for the community NOCs and the Dubai Municipality permits running in parallel. The variable is usually how many separate work types are involved, because each is assessed on its own documents rather than as part of a single project submission.
Where does the pool plant have to go?
Somewhere with a drainage connection, acoustic separation from habitable rooms and access for maintenance. The assessment examines this specifically, because filtration equipment runs daily and is noisy. Designing the pool first and finding somewhere for the plant afterwards is the most common cause of a plant room outside a bedroom window.
Can I change the garden levels?
Within limits, and drainage is what decides them. Raising levels against the villa, or creating falls that send water towards a neighbour, is what the assessment looks for. Hard landscaping laid flat is the other recurring issue — in a climate with rare but heavy rainfall, falls matter more here than people expect.
What about shade structures over the pool?
A pergola or shade sail is its own work type again, separate from both pool and landscape. It is assessed largely on visibility and height relative to boundary walls. Specifying it at design stage rather than adding it after the pool is built means one approval cycle rather than two.
Is irrigation included in a landscape approval?
Generally yes, as part of the landscape work type, but the detail that matters is zoning rather than approval. A single zone watering lawn, beds and palms together means something is always wrong and the bill is always high. Re-zoning is inexpensive at design stage and expensive once hardscape is down.