Bac de Roda and Eywa: the European developer behind a Barcelona office and a Dubai tower
Bac de Roda is an office building in Barcelona’s 22@ district, and it is not a Dubai developer’s venture into Europe. It is the work of R.Evolution, a company with Latvian roots and more than twenty-five years of European work, for which Dubai — and the Eywa tower on the Dubai Water Canal — is the new market.
Who is actually behind Bac de Roda and Eywa?
R.Evolution, a developer that grew out of the European market. Its founder is Alex Zagrebelny; the company’s headquarters are historically tied to Riga, offices in Berlin and Barcelona followed, and Dubai came only after that.
It has more than two dozen completed projects and over twenty-five years of work behind it. All of that experience was gained in Europe, not in the Emirates, which is the opposite of what the phrase “from the creators of Eywa” suggests.
So Eywa, its debut project in the UAE, is better read as a European product that arrived in Dubai. Biophilic architecture, natural materials and a wellness agenda were not adapted to the taste of an Emirati buyer; the company had worked on them in Europe long before it reached the Dubai Water Canal.
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For a buyer in the UAE the conclusion is practical. This is not a local developer with a long list of towers handed over in Dubai, but a strong European one for which the Emirates are a new market. That is an advantage, and also something to verify separately.
What is Bac de Roda, and why is it not apartments?
Bac de Roda is an office building in 22@, Barcelona’s innovation district, which grew on the former industrial land of Poblenou. It has about 22,000 square metres, room for roughly two thousand workplaces, terraces and underground parking, and forms part of the Manzana de la Concordia block.
The architecture is a good deal louder than an ordinary office block. A forty-metre waterfall runs down the south facade on collected rainwater, a vertical forest holds nearly two hundred trees, and vertical wind turbines are part of the design.
The certificates declared for it are WELL and LEED at Platinum level — the top grade for the health of the indoor environment and for sustainability.
The point to fix is that this is commercial property for a corporate tenant, not a residential scheme. Anyone who goes looking for a flat in Barcelona by the makers of Eywa is looking for something the project does not contain. The company’s residential product is the one in Dubai.
What does a European background give a buyer in Dubai?
Several measurable things. In the Emirates the developer’s name is the main filter, because the buyer pays by instalments for something that does not yet exist and the track record is the only assurance of quality.
The first is a culture of certification. In Europe WELL and LEED are a procedure with audits and measurements, not a line in a presentation. A company that has been through it on an office building in Barcelona brings settled requirements for materials and engineering to Dubai.
The second is a long horizon. The European cycle of approvals and operation trains a developer to think about how a building lives ten years on. That is rare in Dubai, a young market where many first-generation towers are ageing faster than their buyers expected.
The third is concept over floor area. A product built around an idea, not around a price per square foot, is harder for competitors to copy. Where dozens of developers sell similar units in similar towers, that is real protection of value.
Where is the weak point?
A European reputation does not transfer to the UAE automatically, because the mechanics of the market are different: another regulator, other contractors, another pace, another kind of buyer. A good office in Barcelona says nothing about how the company handles a Dubai sales and handover cycle.
The second issue is a short local record. When this was filmed in 2023 the company had few completed and occupied buildings in the Emirates, and those are what a developer is normally judged by: the state of the complex after three years, the owners’ view, the service charge in fact.
Until that history exists, the European portfolio stands in for it. That is a reasonable substitute, but not an equivalent one.
The third is the premium for the concept. Projects with a strong idea cost more than the average for their location, and the circle of buyers at resale is narrower. For a plan to buy and leave within a year that is a drawback; for long ownership, much less so.
How does European development differ from Dubai’s?
It starts with scale. A Dubai developer can bring thousands of units to market in a year. In central Barcelona new construction is counted in tens and hundreds of properties, and approvals take years.
The business models follow from that. In the Emirates money is made on the speed of turnover; in Europe it is made on scarcity and on the value of the asset.
What is sold differs too. The Dubai model is the sale of units to private buyers at the earliest stage of construction, through escrow. An office project such as Bac de Roda is let to corporate tenants or sold whole to an institutional investor, and is not aimed at a private buyer from the UAE at all.
Then tax. A purchase in Spain carries transfer tax or VAT on a new build, the annual IBI, non-resident tax on rental income and capital gains tax on sale. In Dubai the owner’s burden is minimal: a one-off 4% DLD fee at registration and the annual service charge.
That difference is the reason European developers come to the Emirates, and not the other way round.
What should you check before buying from such a developer in the UAE?
Start with the RERA project number and the escrow account, which can be checked in a couple of minutes through Dubai REST or on the DLD website. If the project is not in the register the conversation is over, however strong the European portfolio.
Next, the main contractor: who is physically building in Dubai, and what that firm has already handed over in the Emirates. For a developer new to the market this tells you more than the developer’s own name.
Then the payment schedule and the handover date. See how far the instalments are tied to stages of construction instead of the calendar, and what the contract says about compensation for delay.
Ask about the service charge. Concept buildings with planting, water features and a large set of services are expensive to run, so find out the rate per square foot before the deal and compare it with neighbouring towers of the same class.
Finally, visit the company’s completed buildings where they exist and set what was promised against what was built. It is the only way to test a product claim that does not rely on renders.
Frequently asked
Did a Dubai developer expand into Barcelona, or a European one into Dubai?
A European one into Dubai. R.Evolution has Latvian roots and offices in Riga, Berlin and Barcelona; Dubai is a new market for it, and Eywa is its debut project in the UAE.
Can you buy an apartment in Bac de Roda?
No. It is an office building in Barcelona’s 22@ district intended for a corporate tenant. The company’s residential product is in Dubai.
Does European experience remove the risk of buying in the UAE?
No. It raises confidence in the product, but the regulator, the contractors and the handover cycle are local, so the project is checked by Dubai rules: RERA registration, escrow, the main contractor and the dates.
Which matters more, the concept or the price per square foot?
It depends on the aim. For living and long ownership, concept and the quality of the environment pay for themselves; for a quick resale liquidity matters more, and concept projects have a narrower circle of buyers than standard housing in the same location.
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