Economic recovery well under way, Jenny Southan reports on the emirate’s raft of ambitious new mega-projects for 2020
If Dubai was a gambling nation, placing a single very large bet on a roulette wheel, it would put all its chips on 20. And with the luck it believes it has, it should scoop a very big win indeed.
Why so auspicious? It all comes down to the year 2020 – by this time the government of Dubai is aiming to have doubled the number of visitors coming to the emirate to 20 million, and tripled the amount contributed to its economy by tourism (at the moment this is valued at Dhs 100 billion/£18 billion). It is also banking on being awarded host city status for the 2020 World Expo, which would mean doubling the number of hotel rooms it has from 80,000 (across 600 properties) to 160,000 rooms.
Critics might argue that Dubai should have learnt its lesson after the financial crash that left workers downing tools and expats abandoning cars outside the airport, but it would seem that following its multibillion-dollar bailout from Abu Dhabi in 2009, it is back on its feet and more ambitious than ever.
Ian Scott, director of Dubai Tourism, says: “A lot of people are going to say it’s too bold but if you look back at the history of Dubai, between five years ago and today, the number of visitors has doubled so to say we are going to double it again in the next seven years is not that unrealistic.” He adds: “In order to deliver that there is going to be a huge amount of change to create a city that is going to appeal to an extra ten million people. And if we get the Expo, a lot of projects will be accelerated because the government will want the city in tip-top shape.”
How successfully has Dubai recovered from the economic downturn? Scott says: “It has recovered incredibly well. Tourism has picked up and trade with the UK has entered 12 per cent growth year on year. More importantly, you are seeing developers have a lot more confidence again. They couldn’t have announced Mohammed bin Rashid City or the Bluewaters project [see overleaf] two or three years ago, but now that they have been rubber-stamped, it is a good signal that Dubai has pretty much fully recovered.”
Ziad El Chaar, managing director for Damac Properties, agrees: “The future is looking much brighter for Dubai. The continuing recovery of the residential market, with growing demand for luxury homes in prime locations, alongside the region’s economic growth momentum, influx of tourists and development in infrastructure, means that it has regained its position as a regional financial centre.”
According to Her Majesty’s consul-general Edward Hobart, for the British Embassy in Dubai, “[The emirate] still has legacy of debt but it’s all being serviced and restructured”. He adds that Dubai has “emerged strongly” from the financial crisis with a growth of over 4 per cent. More than 100,000 British nationals are based in the UAE, the majority of whom are in Dubai, and the governments for the UK and UAE have committed to a bilateral trade agreement of £12 billion by 2015.
“We are well on our way to meeting this target,” says Hobart, adding: “Dubai is regarded as a very stable haven in a region of change, and this is attractive to British businesses that are considering the Middle East for the first time. The UAE is also the UK’s number-one market for export goods in the Middle East and there are ambitious new projects across a wide range of sectors that British companies would be well placed to bid for.”
As Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, writes in his book My Vision: Challenges in the Race for Excellence: “At the root of any new project is an idea. We believe the shortest way to the bright future we seek lies in a creative and pioneering approach.”
As you will see overleaf, these projects range from burgeoning Business Bay, to the 140 sq km Dubai World Central, an ambitious aerotopolis built around the new Al Maktoum International airport. David Burns, deputy chairman and chief operating officer of the British Business Group in Dubai, says: “They have a vision here of leapfrogging lots of other places. A decision can be made tomorrow and implemented the day after – if it has the right seal of approval, it happens.”
He adds: “I can certainly see the world coming to Dubai – [people in] the east are moving west and [in] the west they’re moving east, and if you look at where Dubai is located you have all of India, Africa, Eastern Europe within a three- or four-hour flight time. So we’re here, and we’re here to stay because the opportunities will only increase.”
Twenty projects under development
1. Business Bay
Although the site is a bit of a dustbowl at the moment, there is the new Oberoi hotel, the JW Marriott Marquis, which is the tallest hotel tower in the world, and the futuristic Business Bay metro station with its golden carapace roof.
When complete in 2015, the area will become a central business district with more than 200 buildings set among verdant gardens, cycling tracks, pedestrian zones and waterways. These will be created as part of the Dhs 1.5 billion (£266 million) Business Bay Canal project that will be complete in two years, and involves the extension of Dubai Creek to the Arabian Gulf.
2. Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International airport
The masterplan for the 140 sq km Dubai World Central envisions Al Maktoum airport at the centre of an “aerotropolis” comprised of seven districts for aviation, logistics, commercial, leisure and exhibition purposes, with a population of almost 950,000 people. The first phase of the new 24-hour Al Maktoum airport, in Jebel Ali, was up and running for cargo three years ago.
When complete in 2027, it will be able to handle 160 million travellers a year and have five runways. Currently it has one 4.5km, A380-compatible runway, and the first passenger flights will start next month (October 27) via Wizzair and Nas Air.
3 Falconcity of Wonders
The audacious Falconcity blueprint envisions the reproduction of some of the world’s most famous sites – from Taj Arabia, a replica of the Taj Mahal yet four times bigger, to copies of the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Great Pyramids.
Taj Arabia will house a 400-room hotel managed by Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, with plans to open in phases by 2015. The entire project should take about a decade to complete.
4. Mohammed bin Rashid City
Named after the ruler of Dubai, this new £1.7 billion “city within a city” was announced at the end of last year, and will feature more than 100 hotels, the Mall of the World (even bigger than the world’s largest existing shopping centre in Dubai), an area of green space 30 per cent larger than London’s Hyde Park, 7km of lagoons and beaches, golf courses, art galleries and a Universal Studios International entertainment complex. Work is set to begin next year, on a site just outside Downtown by Meydan Racecourse.
emaar.com, meraas.com, dubaiholding.com
5. Bluewaters Island
An area of reclaimed land has been set aside for the Bluewaters Island project just off the Jumeirah Beach coast, and work began on bringing it to life earlier this year.
Costing Dhs 6 billion (£1.7 billion), the ambitious development will see the unveiling of the 210-metre-tall Dubai Eye (bigger than London’s, of course), along with a five-star hotel, a souk and a promenade. The venture is expected to be complete in three years.
6 Jumeirah Lakes Towers
Jumeirah Lakes Towers is one of the largest free zones in the UAE, with about 7,000 registered businesses. Set on the shores of four artificial lakes will be a cluster of 79 towers, the tallest of which (Almas Tower) will have 66 floors and reside on its own island.
The first building was finished in 2006 and the Dhs 450 million (£80 million) project is now 75 per cent complete, but there are also plans to fill in at least one of the lakes and turn it into a park or a gold souk, and erect a new record-breaking world’s tallest commercial skyscraper.
7. Sports City
A 4.6 sq km site just off Emirates Road, in Dubailand, construction began in 2003 but initial plans to open a 60,000-seat stadium, among other projects, are still waiting to be fulfilled.
So far, a golf course and a 25,000-seat cricket ground have been completed, but developers have vowed to get things moving again. Two more stadiums are being redesigned and when work draws to a close over the next five years or so, there should also be a 15,000-seat indoor arena and a 5,000-capacity field hockey stadium.
8. The World
Things haven’t been looking good for the 300 islands that make up the World archipelago. Although developer Nakheel finished creating the atolls, which are made from reclaimed sand and rock, in 2008, the financial crisis meant progress was suspended. This was then followed by rumours that the islands were sinking.
Now, two are inhabited – there is a villa on “Greenland” owned by Sheikh Mohammed and “Lebanon” has the Royal Island Beach Club. Nakheel reports that 70 per cent of the land has now been sold and work on “Germany”, which is owned by Kleindienst Properties, was set to begin this year as part of its six-island “Heart of Europe” endeavour.
9. Damac Towers by Paramount
Hollywood movie studio Paramount Pictures is partnering with Damac Properties to construct a US$1 billion tower complex made up of a 540-room five-star hotel and 1,400 serviced apartments. It is due to be opened by the end of 2015 and will offer views of the Burj Khalifa and easy access to Dubai Mall.
10. Habtoor Palace
Sheikh Zayed Road will welcome this collection of three Starwood-managed hotels in 2017, on the site of the demolished Metropolitan hotel.
Valued at Dhs 4.8 billion (£850 million) in total, the twin-tower Habtoor Palace will house Dubai’s first St Regis, a W hotel and a Westin, which between them will have 1,675 guestrooms. There will also be a 1,100-seat theatre, a sports academy, themed restaurants and 4,645 sqm of event space.
11. Dubai Modern Art Museum and Opera House District
Emaar Boulevard, near the Burj Khalifa, will soon see work starting on a modern art museum and opera house that will form part of a new cultural district with studios, art hotels and galleries. No date has yet been given for when it might be unveiled.
12. Dubai Design District
Next door to Business Bay, Dubai is creating D3, a cutting-edge zone for fashion, luxury goods and design. Inside there will be a “creative cluster” with offices for emerging and established talent, a waterfront esplanade with boutique hotels and eateries, a convention centre and a business park. Ten buildings are already under construction, and the first phase should be ready by 2015, at a cost of Dhs 4 billion (£700 million).
13. Culture Village
Conceptualised by Dubai Properties, Culture Village will be on the shore of Dubai Creek and combine traditional and modern Arabic architecture. There will be a harbour, as well as residential, commercial and retail zones interspersed with promenades, souks, bookshops, palm trees, old-style wind towers, luxury hotels, music and art academies, and boutiques.
The Palazzo Versace hotel and resort is to open in 2014.
14. Pointe at Palm Jumeirah
Positioned on the tip of Palm Jumeirah, the 136,000 sqm Pointe development will be accessed by boat, car or monorail, and feature a marina with floating pontoons, a promenade, dancing fountains, 120 dining outlets and 75 shops. Nakheel is investing Dhs 800 million (£142 million) in the project and work is expected to begin by 2014. Completion is in the diary for 2016.
15. Al Sufouh Tramway
Due to begin transporting passengers next year, the Al Sufouh tram system will have 14.6km of tracks that run all the way down Al Sufouh Road, with phase one linking Dubai Marina to the Police Academy. It will also connect up with Dubai Metro at three stops on Sheikh Zayed Road, and to the Palm Jumeirah monorail. By 2020 it is expected to move 66,000 people a day.
16. Meydan Tower
Continuing the trend for building upwards, Meydan Group announced earlier this year that its stalled 111-storey Meydan Tower on Sheikh Zayed Road, near the Radisson Royal hotel, would be going ahead. Inside it will have a 100-room boutique hotel, offices, shops, 256 serviced residences, a top-floor clubhouse and one of the biggest spas and fitness centres in the world.
17. Dubailand
When 278 sq km, multibillion-pound Dubailand was announced ten years ago, it was described as the most ambitious leisure development ever imagined. Unsurprisingly, work halted during the economic downturn and the masterplan has since been dramatically altered, with ideas to build the likes of the Great Dubai Wheel and various theme parks abandoned.
That said, construction on the mega-project has very recently begun again, with the unveiling of Dubai Miracle Garden – the world’s biggest flower garden with 45 million blooms – in March. Other projects to look out for include the world’s biggest butterfly garden, Dubai Lifestyle City, Sustainable City, Global Village, IMG Worlds of Adventure and Al Sahra Desert Resort.
18. Sobha City
Another mega-project, this time in Dubai’s Meydan City, multibillion-dollar Sobha will have 13 skyscrapers, 280 villas, hotels, clubhouses, shopping and retail outlets, landscaped gardens and restaurants. It will open in phases over the next ten years.
19. Water Discus hotel
It has been reported that work will start shortly on an underwater hotel off the emirate’s coast. If the Water Discus hotel does become a reality, the futuristic construction will be made up of five vertical legs with UFO-like discs hovering both above and below the sea. There will be a helipad, dive centre, restaurant, bar, spa and 21 suites with views on to a coral reef.
drydocks.gov.ae, deep-ocean-technology.com
20. World’s tallest tower (again)
At 830 metres, the Burj Khalifa is the tallest skyscraper in the world, but Saudi Arabia’s 1km Kingdom Tower, in Jeddah, is going to overtake it when it opens in 2019. Not to be outdone, there are rumours that Emaar is going to reveal plans to start work on an even taller building – standing one mile high – that may this time be known as the Burj Dubai. Watch this space.
