A four-bedroom Garden Home on Palm Jumeirah.
Dh11.5 million (including all fixtures and most furniture), exclusively through Engel & Völkers Dubai Al Marsa office.
Villa with extensively upgraded interior and grounds. Four bedrooms, seven bathrooms, living room, dining room, majlis (currently a media room), swimming pool, direct access to private beach, double garage, 465 square metres on a plot of 6,572 square-metres, in a gated community.
"The Palm offers beachfront ocean-view properties, unlike any other property in the world, with state-of-the-art amenities and facilities. A once-in-a-lifetime investment opportunity. This four-bedroom villa ... offers the dream of life."
The attractively planted front garden is the first sign that the present owner/vendor has put a good deal of time, cash and care into the house - an impression confirmed the moment you step into the atrium-style hallway, where a feature wall has been clad in honey-coloured stone mosaic. The other walls (including the upstairs landing) have a subtle hand-painted finish and wooden mashrabiya have been added to the windows to filter the sunlight.
The floor plan is standard for a Garden Home, and the removal of the wall that, in some of these villas, separates living and dining rooms is a major plus, resulting in a large and light-filled open-plan space. The view of the sea to the front and the swimming pool on the side seems to extend the space even farther. And what a pool - the standard little hole-in-the-ground has been replaced by a proper swimming pool that almost fills the side garden (leaving space for a gazebo at the end) and is shaded by a vast canopy. Almost-white limestone paving has been laid around the pool and across the front of the house, where a neat square of trimmed lawn is punctuated by a row of large limestone slabs. It's very simple, serene and elegant.
The kitchen - usually a major drawback of these houses due to poor natural light and being completely cut off from the dining/living areas - has been made warm and welcoming, with the use of stone cladding for a feature wall, glossy white cabinets and a large island unit-cum-breakfast bar.
The bathrooms - several guest bathrooms and the ensuite bathrooms attached to each of the upstairs bedrooms - score on glamour, with high quality tiling, new floors and Philippe Starck-designed fixtures.
The bedrooms, too, have been upgraded with new flooring and wall coverings. Joy of joys, unlike some "improvements", everything done in this house shows good taste and an eye for quality - meaning that the buyer could move in immediately if he chooses.
The upgrades to the house are all of high quality - especially some of the bathrooms. The real X-factor, though, is the outdoor space, with the unusually large pool and very simple, graphic patch of green - all surrounded by very pale limestone paving that's almost zen in its simplicity. The villa is on a slightly larger plot than usual and, being more than halfway down its frond, is far enough away from the opposite frond to feel nicely private.
The ugly concrete block steps and retaining wall leading to the beach - but it's standard issue on the Palm and cannot be changed as they have a structural function. As with much of the Palm, a few of the nearby houses are unoccupied, meaning dead plants and dust-covered facades - although the houses opposite and one immediate neighbour are owner-occupied and the other neighbour is in the throes of an upgrade (with no discernible noise or dust when we visited).
A shade more than US$3 million or £2m will buy a lot of house in Europe or North America but if you want to live in Dubai, this house seems well priced in the present market. Without question, the high-quality upgrades make it much more attractive than a standard Garden Home and, as Palm Jumeirah matures, it is becoming an increasingly attractive place to live - all the more so in the absence of the other Palms that had been planned for Dubai.
Engel & Völkers, Dubai Al Marsa, 04 325 9411, 050 291 1405, www.engelvoelkers.com/dubaialmarsa
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The specs
Engine: 0.8-litre four cylinder
Power: 70bhp
Torque: 66Nm
Transmission: four-speed manual
Price: $1,075 new in 1967, now valued at $40,000
On sale: Models from 1966 to 1970
Scoreline
Al Wasl 1 (Caio Canedo 90 1')
Al Ain 2 (Ismail Ahmed 3', Marcus Berg 50')
Red cards: Ismail Ahmed (Al Ain) 77'
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Best Academy: Ajax and Benfica
Best Agent: Jorge Mendes
Best Club : Liverpool
Best Coach: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Best Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker
Best Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Best Partnership of the Year Award by SportBusiness: Manchester City and SAP
Best Referee: Stephanie Frappart
Best Revelation Player: Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid and Portugal)
Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)
Best Women's Player: Lucy Bronze
Best Young Arab Player: Achraf Hakimi
Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
Kooora – Best Arab Player: Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Nassr FC, Saudi Arabia)
Player Career Award: Miralem Pjanic and Ryan Giggs
Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE fixtures:
Men
Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final
Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
Monday, September 18 – 5.30pm, v England
Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final
Copa del Rey
Semi-final, first leg
Barcelona 1 (Malcom 57')
Real Madrid (Vazquez 6')
Second leg, February 27
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
ALL THE RESULTS
Bantamweight
Siyovush Gulmomdov (TJK) bt Rey Nacionales (PHI) by decision.
Lightweight
Alexandru Chitoran (ROU) bt Hussein Fakhir Abed (SYR) by submission.
Catch 74kg
Omar Hussein (JOR) bt Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) by decision.
Strawweight (Female)
Seo Ye-dam (KOR) bt Weronika Zygmunt (POL) by decision.
Featherweight
Kaan Ofli (TUR) bt Walid Laidi (ALG) by TKO.
Lightweight
Abdulla Al Bousheiri (KUW) bt Leandro Martins (BRA) by TKO.
Welterweight
Ahmad Labban (LEB) bt Sofiane Benchohra (ALG) by TKO.
Bantamweight
Jaures Dea (CAM) v Nawras Abzakh (JOR) no contest.
Lightweight
Mohammed Yahya (UAE) bt Glen Ranillo (PHI) by TKO round 1.
Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) bt Aidan Aguilera (AUS) by TKO round 1.
Welterweight
Mounir Lazzez (TUN) bt Sasha Palatkinov (HKG) by TKO round 1.
Featherweight title bout
Romando Dy (PHI) v Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) by KO round 1.
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
England World Cup squad
Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wkt), Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
