Canada’s Brookfield Multiplex has been awarded the estimated AED1.5bn ($409m) contract to build Gulf Related’s Al-Maryah Central retail complex in Abu Dhabi.

The project involves building a 170,000-square-metre retail centre and two towers. The first tower will be a residential tower with serviced apartments. The second will be a hotel with 200-330 rooms. When complete, the mall will be one of the biggest in the UAE and the largest in central Abu Dhabi.

It will be built on Al-Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi next to Gulf Related’s 35,000 sq m The Galleria mall, which opened in late 2013. Al-Maryah Central is planned to open on 1 March 2018.

MEED reported in March that Brookfield Multiplex and the local Alec had been shortlisted for the contract.

The project management consultant is US-based Aecom. The cost consultant is the UK’s Faithful + Gould.

The client is GR Sowwah Retail, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) created by Gulf Related, which is a joint venture of Abu Dhabi’s Gulf Capital and US-based Related.