Dubai Municipality has formally given the green light for a new AED 1.8bn ($490mn) conference centre and hotel complex in Jaddaf overlooking the creek opposite Festival City.
The announcement was made by Hussain Nasser Lootah, director general of Dubai Municipality, who said the new Dubai Conference Centre (Arena) would be central to expanding Dubai’s tourist offering as it approaches the Expo 2020.
Exact details of the contractor awarded the project or the timeline for the project were not revealed during the press conference.
Spread over an area of 55,000 square meters, the Arena will include two hotels and an office building as well as the huge state of the art conference hall.
Sheikh Rashid Hall for conferences will have a capacity to hold 10,000 people over three levels with seating designed like a theatre.
The main hall will be fitted out with the latest audio technologies. It will have five sub-halls each able to accommodate up to 1,000 persons.
The main hall and the sub-hall have been linked to the hotel buildings and offices through a glass corridor containing shops and restaurants. It will be 25 meters high, 150 meters long, and have an area of 50,000 square feet.
There will be a three-star hotel on thirty three floors with an area of 250,000 square feet, and a four-star hotel comprising forty-eight floors, with an area of 410,000 square feet while the office building will be 36 storeys high.