Contractors submitted bids on 14 February for the deal to build Abu Dhabi’s $1bn Reem Mall development.

Construction work is scheduled to start this year, with opening planned for 2018. Once completed, the scheme will deliver more than 2 million square feet of retail, leisure, and entertainment facilities, including 450 stores and 85 food and beverage outlets.

Local firm Dewan Architects & Engineers is the architect.

The UK’s Faithful+Gould is providing a range of core services, including cost management, development advisory, project controls and specialised commercial management.

Kuwait’s National Real Estate Company (NREC) is developing the project in partnership with fellow Kuwaiti developer United Projects for Aviation Services Company (UPAC), which will invest up to $224m in the scheme through its real estate subsidiary, Al-Arfaj Real Estate Company.

Last year, Brookfield Multiplex was 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.