Step into a bedroom at EYWA Way of Water and you will feel like entering a sanctuary. The invisible electromagnetic hum that fills every modern home has been filtered out. This allows the body to recover and improve residents’ longevity. Engineered quiet for the nervous system: This is the EMFIS® Certification quality seal, which will be granted to this waterfront residential development on the Dubai Water Canal in Business Bay. The project is targeting EMFIS® certification as part of a wider suite of international wellness benchmarks that includes LEED Platinum, WELL Platinum, and WiredScore Platinum.
The appointment builds on EMFIS’s earlier certification of EYWA – Tree of Life, which established the partnership between the two organisations and made EYWA one of the region’s first residential developments to certify electromagnetic hygiene as a measurable, independently verified building standard. At EYWA Way of Water, EMFIS® is applying the same methodology at greater scale across approximately 65 ultra-luxury residences spanning 2– to 5-bedroom apartments, duplexes, and a penthouse, designed by OAD (Zane Tetere-Sulce) with John R Harris as consultant. Delivery is expected around 2028.
At EYWA Way of Water, EMFIS® will pay particular attention to bedrooms, and verifying that shielding and infrastructure choices keep exposure within the bounds EMFIS® considers appropriate for long-term occupancy. All while preserving the aesthetics of the spaces. Where integrated at the design phase, as is the case at EYWA Way of Water, EMFIS’s approach has achieved reductions of up to 98.7% in low-frequency electric fields and 81.8% in high-frequency electromagnetic fields that are verified through independent third-party testing. That’s the difference between a room full of EMF pollution and one fit for a retreat.
Electromagnetic exposure remains the one dimension of indoor environmental quality that most healthy-building frameworks have yet to address. Modern buildings generate a continuous electromagnetic environment from internal wiring, Wi-Fi networks, smart systems, and external 5G infrastructure, operating around the clock regardless of occupancy. The World Health Organization classifies radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic, and mounting regulatory action in Europe, including France banning Wi-Fi in daycare centres and Switzerland writing precautionary EMF limits for schools and hospitals into national law, reflects growing institutional recognition of the issue.
The Global Wellness Institute values the global wellness real estate market at $876 billion, on a trajectory to $1.8 trillion by 2030. In the UAE, the sector has grown from $3.3 billion in 2017 to $14.6 billion in 2025, expanding at 21% annually, making it one of the fastest-growing real estate categories in the region. Wellness-focused properties already command a price premium of 10 to 25% over conventional equivalents. EMFIS’s own benchmarked data across certified projects shows low-EMF certification specifically delivering an average added value of approximately 14%, reflecting a market that increasingly distinguishes between properties that carry a wellness label and those that can demonstrate independently verified wellness standards.
Federico Marangoni, Founder and CEO of EMFIS® commented “Green building told us how a building treats the world outside it. The next question – the one EYWA Way of Water is helping answer – is what a building does to the people inside it over the course of a lifetime. Electromagnetic pollution is the dimension of the indoor environment the industry has not yet had the tools to measure and certify. That is exactly the gap EMFIS® closes, and EYWA Way of Water is one of the clearest examples in the region of a developer addressing it at design phase, where it makes the most difference. EYWA Way of Water is pitched to offer the quietest square meters in Dubai.”
Mariska Stoffel, Director of Design & Development at R.Evolution commented, “Architecture is becoming much more sophisticated in how it responds to human wellbeing. When people spend around 90% of their time indoors, we are shaping the environment where much of daily life happens. That means looking beyond aesthetics to the invisible conditions created by the building itself. Sleep and recovery are a key part of that, which is why EMFIS® provides an important benchmark for how we address electromagnetic exposure. At EYWA Way of Water, we are designing for people who take a long-term view of both capital and personal wellbeing, while creating healthier, more considered living environments in an increasingly connected world.”
Shailesh Bhandari, Director, John R Harris commented “At John R Harris & Partners, sustainability is embedded in our thinking from the first line of a project. EYWA Way of Water extends that principle into territory the industry is only beginning to navigate seriously: the electromagnetic environment that residents live within every day. Partnering with EMFIS® reflects our belief that truly well-crafted spaces actively support the health and longevity of those who inhabit them.”
EMFIS® has certified projects across eight countries in Europe and the Middle East and operates a GCC showroom in the UAE. Founded on research conducted at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and recognised by Switzerland’s national standardisation body, a member of ISO, it is currently the only organisation in the world dedicated specifically to measuring, certifying, and managing electromagnetic exposure within the built environment. The appointment of EMFIS® to EYWA Way of Water is part of a growing pipeline of UAE and GCC projects in which electromagnetic environment certification is being integrated from the earliest stages of design, rather than treated as a post-occupancy consideration.