The local Wasl Asset Management Group has invited companies to bid by 10 April for the contract to complete the Tiara United Towers project which has been on hold since late 2008.

Located on Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road in the Business Bay area, the project involves the construction of two 50-storey steel frame towers with a height of about 212 metres each.

The residential towers consist of 846 apartments and eight penthouses, as well as recreational facilities including a gym and a pool.

The construction work includes piling, dewatering and the reinstatement of the sub-structure waterproofing, as well as the demolition of the existing partially-built structure.

The consultant is France’s ADPI.

The project had previously been developed by local developer Zabeel Properties. Construction work on the scheme stopped in 2008. The local Arabtec Construction was the contractor.

Wasl is developing another tower development on Sheikh Zayed Road. Contractors are waiting for the firm to issue tender documents.

Wasl informed contractors during workshops in September last year that the construction deal would be tendered in early 2016.

The firms involved in talks with the developer were understood to be:

• Alec (local)
• Arabian Construction Company (ACC; Lebanon)
• Arabtec Construction (local)
• Bel Hasa Six Construct (local/Belgium)
• Brookfield Multiplex (Canada)
• Samsung C+T (South Korea)

The completion date is set for 2019, ahead of the Dubai Expo in 2020.

The scheme was approved by UAE Vice-President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum in February 2015.

The 60-storey tower will be about 300 metres tall and will feature the world’s tallest ceramic facade. It has been designed by sustainability expert Werner Sobek and architect Ben van Berkel.

Wasl is developing other major schemes in Dubai as government clients continue to plan new projects despite the slowdown in the emirate’s property sector. In February, it awarded the local Al-Basti & Muktha an estimated AED700m ($190m) deal for the construction of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Dubai. The project is owned by Dubai Real Estate Corporation (DREC) and the local Wasl Hospitality is the development manager.

Preparatory works have started for Wasl’s Dubai Gate development in the Jebel Ali area. The local Port Saeed Transport & Building Contracting Company is working on a package covering bulk earthworks and the demolition of workers camps in the area.

The project is located on a 1.5 million-square-metre site next to the Energy metro station in Jebel Ali across Sheikh Zayed Road from the Dubai Aluminium complex. It involves the construction of villas and mid-rise buildings with a total built-up area of more than 2 million sq m. If construction costs are AED4,000 a sq m, the development could cost AED8bn to complete.

The centrepiece of the development will be a tower named ’Ibdaa’, which means ’innovation’ in Arabic. As well as buildings, the development will include a park.

It recently invited contractors to express interest in working on an estimated AED2.5bn low-income housing development in Dubai.

The proposed low-income residential development is located in the Al-Qusais industrial area and involves the construction of 81 four-storey buildings along with other community facilities.