Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

This Privacy Policy explains how BLD Academy (“BLD Academy”, “we”, “us” or “our”) collects, uses, stores and shares your personal data when you visit bld.academy, register for a course or workshop, submit an enquiry form, subscribe to our updates, or otherwise interact with our services.

BLD Academy is a KHDA-approved training provider based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. For the purposes of UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data (the “UAE PDPL”), the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the UK GDPR (where applicable), BLD Academy is the data controller of your personal data.

2. The personal data we collect

We collect the following categories of personal data:

• Contact and identification data you submit through our registration and enquiry forms: full name, email address, phone number, WhatsApp number, city or area of residence.
• Professional and educational data where relevant to the programme you apply for: trade or profession, years of experience, current or previous employer, qualifications, nationality, visa/residency status.
• Participant data for course attendees, including age (for family workshops), emergency contact, and any accessibility or dietary requirements you disclose.
• Technical data automatically collected when you visit our site: IP address, device type, browser, pages visited, referring URL and approximate location (derived from IP).
• Communications data when you contact us by email, WhatsApp or a form: the content of your message and any attachments.

3. How we use your personal data

We process your personal data for the following purposes:

• To respond to your enquiries and provide information about our courses.
• To register you for, and deliver, the course, workshop, certification programme or service you have requested.
• To assess eligibility for certification, accelerator, or employer placement pathways.
• To send you service-related communications (confirmations, scheduling, reminders, policy changes).
• To send you marketing communications where you have consented to receive them. You can withdraw consent at any time using the unsubscribe link in any marketing email or by contacting us (see Section 10).
• To operate, secure and improve our website, including analytics and fraud prevention.
• To comply with our legal, regulatory and contractual obligations (including KHDA reporting, tax, and accounting).

4. Legal basis for processing

We rely on the following legal bases under the UAE PDPL and GDPR:

• Consent — for optional marketing communications and non-essential cookies.
• Performance of a contract — to register you for a course you have booked and to deliver the service.
• Legitimate interest — to respond to enquiries, operate and improve our website, and protect against fraud and misuse. Our legitimate interest is balanced against your rights and freedoms.
• Legal obligation — where we must retain records to comply with KHDA, tax, or other UAE regulatory requirements.

5. Cookies and similar technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to make the site work, to measure how it is used, and to improve your experience. Specifically:

• Strictly necessary cookies — required for the site to function (security, session, form submission).
• Analytics cookies — we use Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager to understand how visitors use the site. These cookies are only set where you have consented.
• Third-party services — our registration forms use Google reCAPTCHA for bot protection, which is subject to Google’s own Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Our website is also served via Vercel Analytics for performance monitoring.

You can accept, reject, or customise your cookie preferences through our cookie consent tool. You can also manage or delete cookies at any time via your browser settings.

6. Who we share your personal data with

We share personal data only with:

• Service providers that support our operations under written agreements: cloud hosting (Netlify, Vercel), form and CRM platforms (GoHighLevel), email delivery, analytics providers (Google), and payment processors.
• BLD Market, our sister platform, only where you expressly ask to be connected or where relevant to the accelerator service you have engaged.
• Regulators and authorities such as KHDA where required by law or by our accreditation obligations.
• Employers, only where you apply for or consent to a placement opportunity through our Employer Programme.

We do not sell personal data to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

7. International data transfers

Some of our service providers are located outside the UAE. Where your personal data is transferred outside the UAE, we rely on appropriate safeguards permitted under the UAE PDPL — such as transfers to jurisdictions with an adequate level of protection, or contractual safeguards — to protect your personal data.

8. How long we keep your personal data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this policy, including to comply with legal, accounting, tax or reporting requirements. Typical retention periods are:

• Enquiry data: up to 24 months after last contact.
• Course registration and participation records: up to 7 years (to meet KHDA and UAE record-keeping requirements).
• Marketing preferences: until you unsubscribe or withdraw consent, plus a short suppression record to respect that preference.

9. How we protect your personal data

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data, including encrypted data transmission (HTTPS), restricted access on a need-to-know basis, vetted service providers, and secure hosting environments. No system is perfectly secure; if we become aware of a personal data breach that is likely to affect your rights, we will notify you and the relevant authority as required by law.

10. Your rights

Subject to the UAE PDPL and, where applicable, the GDPR / UK GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Ask us to delete your personal data (subject to legal retention obligations).
• Object to or restrict certain processing.
• Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent.
• Receive a copy of your data in a portable format.
• Lodge a complaint with the UAE Data Office or your local data protection authority.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details in Section 12. We may need to verify your identity before we can act on your request.

11. Children

Our family workshops are open to children (typically ages 8+) accompanied by an adult. Where personal data relating to a child is provided, it is provided by the accompanying parent, guardian or responsible adult, who confirms they have the authority to do so. We only use children’s personal data for the purpose of running the workshop (registration, safety, and emergency contact) and not for marketing.

12. Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise any of your rights, please contact us at:

BLD Academy
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Email: privacy@bld.academy

13. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by updating the “Last updated” date above and, where appropriate, by email or a prominent notice on the site.