AL AIN // The country’s first medical school is to get a new extension that will allow it to accept 500 more students.
The College of Medicine and Health Sciences, part of UAE University, opened in Al Ain in 1984.
The new 12,500 square metre extension, which will house auditoriums, laboratories, tutorial rooms and clinical examination rooms, has just been approved by the Urban Planning Council.
The design of the extension is a modern take on the original architecture and includes a shaded pedestrian bridge that connects the new area to the existing campus, said the college.
“While the extension has been designed to blend with the existing buildings, sustainability has been kept in mind,” a spokesman said.
Mohamed Al Khadar, executive director of Urban Development and Estidama Sector at Urban Planning Council, said: “The College of Medicine and Health Sciences is an important and historical facility. We are delighted that the expansion will fit in so seamlessly with the existing facility, and that many more students will now be able to further raise the standard of health care in our country.”
The project is one of 21 major real estate projects and master plans given detailed approval by the UPC in the third quarter of the year. In total, 18 projects in the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area received approval, along with three in Al Ain and Al Gharbia. They add up to a combined gross floor area of 1.6 million square metres.
The total number of projects given detailed approval to date in 2015 is 69.
Among the most notable projects approved by the UPC in the third quarter across the emirate is the Al Salama Hospital on Old Airport Road, a residential community in Masdar City, the New York University precinct on Saadiyat Island and a mixed-use development in Al Gharbia.
Al Salama Hospital near Zayed Sports City is a 120-bed inpatient facility that will be operated by Health Authority — Abu Dhabi.
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