Local developer Meraas has invited five firms to bid by late July for the contract to build Dubai’s estimated AED500m ($136m) Museum of the Future.

The contractors that have been invited to bid are:

• Alec (local)
• Bam (Netherlands)
• Bouygues (France)
• Laing O’Rourke (UK)
• Samsung C+T (South Korea)

Set to open in 2017, the museum will be used to showcase cutting-edge technologies, and with the motto ‘See the future, create the future”, it has been designed to play a leading role in developing a culture of innovation in Dubai and the rest of the UAE. It will be built close to Emirates Towers and Dubai International Financial Centre.

When launched earlier this year, it was said that part of the structure will be 3D-printed rather than conventionally built.

The consultants that have been engaged on the project include local firms Rice Perry Ellis and Killa Design as well as the UK’s Buro Happold.

Dubai is driving forward with a series of cultural projects. On 2 February, Dubai has announced plans to develop a $272m library in the Al-Jaddaf area, near the Dubai Creek.

The 92,903-square-metre scheme, which is set to be the biggest public library in the Middle East, will also include a 500-seat theatre. It is scheduled to be completed by 2017.

There are two other more advanced cultural projects currently underway in Dubai.

In late 2013, local developer Emaar Properties awarded Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) the estimated AED700m ($191m) contract to build the Dubai Modern Art Museum and Opera House District.

The 2,000 seat venue is now in the advanced stages of construction. It is being built in Emaar’s Downtown Dubai development. The consultant is the UK-based Atkins.

In March 2015, the local Al-Shafar General Contracting was awarded the AED488m ($133m) contract to build the Union Museum at Dubai’s Union House.

Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) is the project client. The design of the museum, awarded to the UK’s Halcrow, which is now part of US-based CH2M, was inspired by portraits of the UAE’s rulers signing the constitution of the UAE on 2 December 1971.