An Indian worker, one of 1.6 million foreign workers in the Emirates

HH Sheikh Maktoum owns Dubai Holdings, which owns Jumeria Beach Residences

On the bus from Sonapour camp to the building site, 5am

Shrine to Ganesh in an Indian dormitory in Sonapour

A Pakistani Carpenter who works for one of the 6 Jumeirah Beach contractors

Model of Jumeria Beach Residences at Emitrates Towers mall. Prices start from a quarter of a million dollars

The property boom has been fuelled by the opening of the housing markets to foreign buyers, mostly Europeans

Building site graffiti. Workers are paid Eastern wages

To build buildings which sell for Western prices

Someone must be making a lot of money somewhere

HH Sheikh Maktoum is also Prime Minister

And ruler of Dubai, as was his father

Outside Fairouz supermarket, Sonapour labour camp

The food queue, worker's compound, Sonapour

Steelworker. In summer temperatures can reach 50 degrees

A model of Jumeria Beach in Dubai Properties' office. Dubai Properties is a subsidiary of Dubai Holdings

The view from floor 22. The penthouses here will sell for 2.7 million dollars

Sonapour, waiting for the bus at about 4.30am

A Pakistani painter who couldn't find a job back home in computing

Pakistani workers enjoy Iftar in the dorm. This compound has no dining rooms

A present for family back home in Pakistan

This section of the compound is due for demolition. The new buildings will be nicer

The development features 36 residential and 4 hotel towers, providing 6500 housing units, luxury apartments, penthouses and beach clubs

Waiting for the bus back to the camp after work, about 2.30pm

There are traffic jams at 6am from Sonapour to Dubai. The camp is way out in the desert

The airport, where 8 workers died when a wall collapsed in 2004

Foreign workers make up about three quarters of the Emirates population. Like everyone else, they have no vote