WRC Councils began with one idea: the future of real estate cannot be shaped in silos. Its first roundtable put that idea to work, bringing leaders from every stage of a building’s life to one table.
October 23, 2026 | Tripti Mehta | UAE | Real Estate | 3 Min Read
Image Courtesy: WRC Councils
Real estate is built by many hands. Developers conceive a project, contractors deliver it, and community managers, facilities operators and asset managers look after it for decades afterwards. Yet the people responsible for each stage rarely sit in the same room. WRC Councils was created to change that.
“WRC Council was born from a simple belief: the future of real estate cannot be shaped in silos. We need different perspectives around the same table, having conversations that lead to meaningful change,” said Jatin Deepchandani, Founder, World Realty Congress and WRC Councils.
WRC Councils is one of five pillars of the World Realty Congress (WRC) ecosystem, alongside the Congress, the WRC Awards, Community Tours and WRC After Hours. Each plays a distinct role. The Congress is the common stage where the industry meets each December. The Awards recognise work worth learning from. Community Tours take delegates into the assets under discussion, and After Hours makes room for relationships to form away from the agenda.
The Councils carry that work beyond the Congress dates. Building on the conversations WRC starts each year, they offer a smaller, closed-door setting where leaders can examine difficult questions in depth, and where the outcomes are documented and carried forward. A question raised at a Council can find a wider audience on the Congress stage, and an idea first heard on stage can be explored further around a Council table.
Each roundtable brings together 12 to 15 invited leaders from across the value chain, including developers, brokers, construction firms, facility and community managers, PropTech leaders, finance and legal stakeholders, and regulators. Participation is by invitation, keeping every table balanced, senior and relevant.
What sets the model apart is what happens after the conversation. Each council follows five steps: identify shared challenges and emerging risks, convene the right voices, align on priorities across sectors and markets, document the outcomes, and carry priority themes into future councils. Alongside its roundtables, the platform spans specialised chapters covering brokerage, facilities management, development, PropTech, real estate governance, community management and construction.
That model was put into practice for the first time on 21 October 2026, when the inaugural WRC Leadership Council met at Taj Business Bay, Dubai. Its theme, “From Project Delivery to Long-Term Asset Value”, went to the heart of the platform’s purpose. Handover is not the finish line. A building’s long-term worth depends on how it is operated, maintained, managed and lived in, and each of those responsibilities sits with a different part of the industry.
The participants reflected that range. Prof. Jeevan D’Mello, CEO, Zenesis Corporation, moderated the session, with Jatin Deepchandani as co-moderator.
The development perspective came from Abhishek Jalan, CEO, Grovy Developers; Allaoua Gaham, Chief Wellness Officer, Citi Developers; Faris Al Khattab, Managing Director, Object 1; and Madhav Dhar, CEO & Co-Founder, ZāZEN Properties. Ali Sharif Al Marzooqi, VP – Property & Community Management, Deyaar Community Management LLC, and Mohamed Kotb, Senior Director – Community Management & Compliance, LOAMS, represented community management.
Facilities and asset management was represented by Tarek Al Assil, Executive Director, iFM Facilities Management; Garry Murray, Chief Growth Officer, KAIZEN Asset Management Services; and Kartik Shankar Narayan, Chief Sales Officer, Berkeley Services UAE. Shadi Küzam, Founder & CEO, Gulf Modern Contracting, brought the construction view, and Said El Haouasli, Chief Executive Officer, Land Sterling, the consultancy perspective.
The Council’s key themes, sector perspectives and recommendations will be captured in a post-event whitepaper, with participating leaders acknowledged as contributors.
The conversation does not end with the whitepaper. The next opportunity to take it to a wider audience comes at the 11th edition of World Realty Congress, returning to Dubai from 7 to 11 December 2026 at Mövenpick Grand Al Bustan.
