The local Al-Fattan Properties has invited companies to bid by 1 November for the contract to build a high-rise development at Dubai Marina.

The scheme, known as Al-Fattan Crystal Towers mixed-use project involves the construction of two high-rise towers with a total built-up area of about 150,000 square metres. The first tower will have 550 hotel rooms and the second will have 490 hotel units together with residential apartments. The operator of the hotel will be Turkey’s Rixos Hotels.

The prospective bidders include:

• Alec (local)
• Al-Futtaim Carillion (local/UK)
• Al-Habtoor Leighton Group (local/Australia)
• Arabtec Construction (local)
• Arabian Construction Company (ACC) (Lebanon)
• Murray & Roberts Contractors (South Africa)
• Samsung C&T (South Korea)
• TAV (Turkey)

The consultant is Turkey’s Tabanlioglu Architects.

The towers will be built on the site of the old Oasis Beach Hotel that was demolished in 2009.

The project is reminiscent of the high rise towers that started construction during the real estate boom that ended in late 2008. Al-Fattan Properties was preparing to build a much larger 96-storey mixed-use tower project known as Burj Al-Fattan on the Crystal Towers site at the time. It received bids from at least two contractors in early 2009, but later cancelled the scheme as projects in Dubai ground to a halt.

The Burj Al-Fattan bidders included the joint venture of the Al-Habtoor Leighton Group with Murray & Roberts, and the local Arabtec Construction. UK-based Mace Group was the project manager.

In 2006, Al-Fattan Properties opened the Al-Fattan Marine Towers at Dubai Marina opposite the Al-Fattan Crystal Towers site. Arabtec was the contractor.

Other high rise towers that were built at Dubai Marina during the boom include the 91-storey Elite tower and the 107-storey Princess tower, the 82-storey Ocean Heights, the 74 storey Torch tower and the 75-storey Infinity Tower, together with the 40 towers of Jumeirah Beach Residence.