Commentary
Colin Foreman
Editor

Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit took centre stage on 7 December as the 2025 Formula 1 championship came down to the wire as a three-way contest between defending champion Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Verstappen won the race, while Norris, finishing third, secured enough points to win the overall championship for the season.  

Abu Dhabi capitalised on the global attention the following day, when local real estate developer Aldar Properties and sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company launched a joint venture to expand Al-Maryah Island.

The project, which will underpin the next phase of growth for the international financial district and the Abu Dhabi Global Market, also coincided with Abu Dhabi Finance Week, which began on 8 December and reaffirmed Abu Dhabi’s positioning as 'the Capital of Capital'.

The project is a significant one for Abu Dhabi’s construction sector. A joint statement by Aldar and Mubadala says it will have a gross development value exceeding AED60bn ($16bn) and will be built on 500,000 square metres of land. Altogether, it will comprise 1.5 million square metres of new office, residential, retail and hospitality space.

The work will support a construction market in Abu Dhabi that has shown signs of levelling off over the past two years. The annual total of contract awards for real estate construction increased from $1.5bn in 2020 to $7.4bn in 2023. Then, in 2024, the total fell to $5.9bn, and the total by mid-December for 2025 is $2.4bn.

By harnessing global interest in Abu Dhabi, the Maryah Island expansion project should ensure that the annual total of construction contract awards for the coming years remains at an elevated level.