Meraas’ Bluewaters Island in Dubai moves into the ‘building-finishes’ stage

The developer of the Dh6 billion Bluewaters Island off the coast of the Jumeirah Beach Residence island in Dubai said work is nearing completion.

Meraas Holding said construction work on the island is now 75 per cent complete, with the project moving on from its structural phase to building finishes.

It said work has already started on 90 per cent of external facades of the buildings on site, including the 10 apartment blocks and 17 town houses. There are five major projects under way, including the construction of the 210-metre high Ain Dubai Ferris wheel, infrastructure links to the mainland, the mid-rise towers and town houses, the boulevard area with retail and dining units, plus the construction of two hotels. Work is set to complete by the end of the first quarter of next year.

“In bringing the entire Bluewaters experience to life, we’ve engaged five main contractors and over 40 of the world’s leading consultant firms,” said Brian Schofield, the vice president of projects at Meraas. “At its peak, 16,500 employees and 25 cranes a day have worked on Bluewaters, with 64 million man hours recorded and 12,000 direct jobs sustained over the last 12 months.”

Last week, the joint venture that created the personal rapid transport system running underneath Abu Dhabi's Masdar City, 2getthere Middle East, announced that it had secured a contract to supply an automated system of driverless vehicles to the island from the nearby Nakheel Harbour and Tower metro station.

The 25 vehicles each have a capacity to carry 24 passengers per trip on a 2.5-kilometre journey. The system is capable of ferrying 2,500 passengers per hour in each direction.

Contractors working on the Bluewaters Island project have included Kier, Al Shafar General Contracting and HLG Contracting.

mfahy@thenational.ae

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