DWTC partners with Candy for Dubai towers project

Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) and UK-based Candy Capital have formed a joint venture to develop three towers in the One Central commercial district in Dubai.

“Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) and Candy Capital have formed a partnership and are collaborating on a new super-prime real estate development. This will be announced in more detail later this year,” said a representative of the joint venture in a statement given to MEED.

The mixed-use towers are expected to have two branded residences, two hotels, and office space. The construction work involves building three towers. The two taller towers will be connected by a sky bridge that will contain one of the hotels.

Dubai-based Killa Design has been appointed as the architect for the project.

London projects

Candy Capital is a privately held family office established by British entrepreneur and businessman Nick Candy. His best-known property development is One Hyde Park in London, which he developed with his brother Christian. It consists of 86 apartments and three retail units and is considered one of the wealthiest residences in the world.

The existing One Central district has been completed by DWTC in phases.

The local/UK Al-Futtaim Carillion was the contractor for the first three phases of building work. The first phase was awarded in 2014. It involved building a 146,000-square-metre development, with an eight-storey office building and a 588-room hotel. The second phase, which was awarded a year later in 2015, involved the construction of two office buildings of eight and twelve storeys and a built-up area of about 178,000 square metres.

The third phase, awarded in late 2016, involved building two Grade A office buildings of 12 and 8 storeys with a built-up area of 182,500 square metres.

In 2017, local contractor ASGC was awarded the contract to build the 25hours hotel. It is an eight-storey hotel building with 434 rooms, food and beverage outlets, and a swimming pool. The gross internal area is 38,800 square metres.

The UK’s export credit agency, UK Export Finance (UKEF), provided financial support for the earlier phases of the project.

Previous scheme

A previous attempt to develop the area, which is next to the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre, was put on hold during the 2008-09 global financial crisis. In May 2008, the local Alec was awarded a contract to build the first phase of that project in May 2008, which involved the construction of seven towers with 242,000 square metres of offices, a 35,000 square-metre four-star hotel, a 22,000 square metre three-star hotel, 20,000 square metres of retail space and a four-level, and a 110,000 square-metre basement. The total built-up area was about 1 million square metres.

The plans for that development also included a five-star hotel tower, which was to be tendered separately.