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

“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 containing 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 (pictured), 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.

DWTC has completed the existing One Central district in phases.

The local/UK Al-Futtaim Carillion was the contractor for the first three phases of the 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, awarded a year later in 2015, involved the construction of two office buildings of eight and 12 storeys and a built-up area of about 178,000 sq m.

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

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 sq m.

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

Previous scheme

A previous attempt to develop the area 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, which involved the construction of seven towers with 242,000 sq m of offices, a 35,000 sq m four-star hotel, a 22,000 sq m three-star hotel, 20,000 sq m of retail space and a four-level, 110,000 sq m basement. The total built-up area was about 1 million sq m.

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