The joint venture of Emaar Properties and Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) has invited contractors to submit bids for work on its Project Star development at the Expo 2020 site.

Work on the fast track project is being procured using a two stage tender process to ensure that it opens in time for the 2020 Expo.

Initial offers with unit rates and margins are to be submitted by contractors by 20 October as part of the first stage. The second stage will involve selecting a contractor and working towards a target price, which will then be converted into a lump sum contract once the design is complete and expected costs can be fully determined.

Project Star is a mixed use development with a retail mall and two hotels and a gross floor area of 216,340 square metres.

The phasing for the project has not been finalised. It could be delivered in two phases, with the first including a retail mall and one of two Rove branded hotels. The second phase would be an expansion to the mall and the second Rove branded hotel. There will also be a large car park, which is expected to have nearly 8,000 spaces.

For construction, the retail mall, car parking and site wide infrastructure is expected to be awarded to a contractor as one package. The hotels will be tendered and delivered as separate construction packages.

JLL is providing project and cost management services for the Emaar/DWTC joint venture. Singapore’s DP Architects is the concept architect. The local Brewer Smith Brewer Gulf is the lead design consultant for the retail mall. Mott MacDonald is the engineer for the parking and the infrastructure. The local Archgroup is the consultant for the first Rove hotel. Aurecon is the consultant for the traffic impact study.

Contractors are also preparing to submit bids in late October for the contract to build DWTC’s Expo Village development at the Expo site.

The two sections that are being tendered are for parcels 10 and 11 of the Expo Village development. When completed the village will be a residential community for staff from the participating countries working on the Expo. In 2014 the Expo committee said that the target completion date for the Expo village was 2018 – ahead of work starting on the Expo pavilions.

Contractors over the summer submitted bids for the Expo Village infrastructure.

The consultant for the Expo Village is the local office of KEO International Consultants.