Mubarak & Brothers Property & Financial Investments (MBI) has extended the tender closing date for the estimated AED450m ($122m) contract to build the Deerfields Town Square mall in Abu Dhabi.

The extension has been granted to give bidders more time to prepare (MEED 11:1:10).

The development is in the Al-Bahia City area outside Abu Dhabi, adjacent to the Sheikh Rashid highway leading to Dubai.

The 220,000-square-metre mall will have space for more than 200 retailers, including a Carrefour supermarket and cinema.

France’s Thinet started work on the foundations in December. Thinet is putting in raft foundations for the building, which are used to spread the load of a structure over a large area.

The local National Dewatering has completed excavation work.

MBI also plans to build residential, commercial and hospitality buildings with a total built-up area of about 100,000 square metres at the site, but they will be developed at a later stage.

The lead consultant is the UK’s RMJM.

The mall will serve a number of major developments planned in the emirate, such as Al-Raha Beach, Yas Island, Khalifa City, the expanded Abu Dhabi International airport, and the Khalifa Port & Industrial Zone at Taweelah.