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Construction

Construction news, real estate, property, and infrastructure news from the Middle East. All the important stories, exclusive interviews, plus authoritative opinion and analysis on the construction market.

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fractional property ownership Dubai Video length: 06:12

Dubai fractional ownership is promising, but untested

Fractional ownership of property in Dubai promises to widen access to real estate investment in the emirate’s surging market. But the lack of a proven secondary market raises questions about just how much liquidity this asset class can count on in a potential crisis, experts say. Buying even small portions of one or more units […]

PIF space unit

PIF launches space unit, despite Saudi funding constraints

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has launched a space unit to develop off-planet commercial activities, despite challenges the sovereign wealth fund faces funding Saudi Arabia’s giga-projects.  The PIF-owned Neo Space Group will invest in satellite navigation and communications, Earth observation and remote sensing. It will also include a venture capital fund to help Saudi startups […]

DSI's project include the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Its backlog is reported to be worth AED638 million

DSI claims bumper revenues to come before it resumes trading

Dubai’s Drake & Scull International is forecasting a more than tenfold increase in revenues between this year and the end of 2029 as the troubled contractor prepares to return to trading on Dubai Financial Market. Trading in the utilities and infrastructure engineering company’s shares came to a halt in November 2018 when DSI disclosed losses […]

Workers at a Riyadh construction site. The Tonomus competition aims to find innovation in the sector

Saudi Arabia races to find technologies for futuristic cities

Saudi Arabia is urgently seeking new technologies for its construction and real estate sectors as it races to make good on its pledge to build futuristic multi-billion-dollar cities. Tonomus, a subsidiary of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s $500 billion signature Neom development, has joined forces with the Public Investment Fund to launch a competition offering […]

A rendering of DP World's logistics park in Jeddah Islamic Port

$250m logistics park breaks ground in Jeddah

Dubai logistics company DP World has commenced work on a SAR900 million ($250 million) logistics park in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Islamic Port. The new storage and distribution facilities, being developed along with state-backed Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani), will boost trade in the kingdom and the wider region. The 415,000 sq m “greenfield” facility will provide […]

Offices need to offer flexibility, with a variety of spaces to allow for both collaboration and private conversations

Flexibility and amenities key to UAE office sector’s future

As workers globally grow resistant to spending all week at their desks, even the UAE’s strong-performing office sector must rethink its offering to meet shifting demand, industry professionals have told AGBI. “Since the pandemic, people have realised that the workplace has changed for ever. We are not going back to working in the office 80 […]

Dubai's Palm Jebel Ali will eventually be home to 35,000 families

Infrastructure work to start on relaunched Palm Jebel Ali

Work has commenced on Dubai’s Palm Jebel Ali mega project with the award of new infrastructure contracts. Among the contracts is one to build a 6km-long public access road from Sheikh Zayed Road to the palm-shaped master development, Nakheel, the developer of the man-made palm-shaped island, said in a statement. DBB Contracting, a local contractor, […]

The UAE has bucked the trend of working-from-home that emerged in the pandemic

UAE offices in demand – in contrast to the West

Offices in the UAE are outperforming Western equivalents, with a steady influx of foreign businesses and local developers’ preference for residential projects. “The need for more Grade A office space is becoming increasingly urgent,” Behnam Bargh, managing director at real estate agency CRC, told AGBI. “Addressing this issue will be crucial for maintaining the country’s […]

Visitors admire the House of the Blackheads in Riga, which Eagle Properties hope will be 'the new centre of Europe'

Abu Dhabi developer spots opportunity in Latvia

Abu Dhabi developer Eagle Hills Properties announced a €3 billion ($3.25 billion) investment in the Latvian capital city of Riga, as the UAE continues its investment drive into Europe. Eagle Hills’ Riga Waterfront, which was unveiled on Thursday, will ultimately encompass 8,000 luxury homes for 30,000 residents on a redeveloped site along 5 kilometres at […]

A private house, on Palm Jumeirah, which was bought to rent as a holiday apartment. Demand is outstripping supply in the area

Dubai’s rich switch from home buyers to investors

Wealthy foreigners are increasingly eyeing luxury Dubai homes as investments, driven by a dearth of available real estate at the high end of the market. This is a shift from last year, when affluent buyers primarily saw purchases of homes in the emirate as main residences, or vacation or retirement homes, Knight Frank said in […]

Dhahran is home to the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture. Retal will build almost 2,000 homes in the city

Retal wins $770m contract to build in Dhahran

The Saudi builder Retal has signed a SAR2.9 billion ($770 million) contract to design and build nearly 2,000 residential units in Dhahran, Eastern Province, for the giga-project developer Roshn.  Retal “will develop and design the detailed master plan, design and execute the infrastructure, landscape, construct 1,962 residential units and public amenities building in Aldanah project,” […]

People on the Ain Dubai ferris wheel on Bluewaters Island admire the view of Palm Jumeirah. Both locations were popular with Russian property buyers

From buyers to sellers: Russians cool on Dubai real estate

Russian property owners in Dubai are cashing in and moving to alternative foreign enclaves, pushed out by currency issues and the rising cost of living in the emirate. Emigrants from Russia flocked to Dubai in 2022 at the start of the country’s war with Ukraine. The UAE, although condemning the invasion, proved a safe haven […]

A construction site in Cairo. Egypt received the final tranche of ADQ funding for Ras El Hekma last week

Work on ADQ-backed resort in Egypt ‘to start this year’

ADQ will begin building the infrastructure for its Ras El Hekma development on Egypt’s north coast before the end of this year, according to housing minister Assem El Gazzar. The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund had said it would break ground in early 2025, but it has yet to announce the names of contractors or […]

more than 420,000sq m of new Grade A office space is expected to become available before the end of the year 2WXWXWP Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Mar 25 2024,King Abdullah Financial District , KAFD business towers

Foreign companies push up cost of Riyadh’s scarce office space

Rental rates in Riyadh’s office sector rose by up to 36 percent in the first quarter of this year as a result of increased demand from foreign companies and occupancy rates approaching 100 percent. Three quarters of all enquiries for office space directed to the real estate company Savills in the first three months of […]

The first phase of the luxury residential tower 'DG1' in Dubai, built by Dar Al Arkan's international arm Dar Global, should be completed this year

Dar Al Arkan Q1 profit rises 31% on higher property sales

The net profit of Saudi Arabian real estate company Dar Al Arkan rose 31 percent in the first quarter of 2024 to SAR154 million ($41 million).  The earnings increase was driven by higher property sales, a fall in operating expenses, and higher non-operating income from Islamic deposits. Property sales increase drove revenue higher by 13 […]

PIF's Starbucks shareholdings were cut almost by half from 6.3 million shares to 3.8 million

PIF slashes Starbucks stake as it cuts US stocks by $15bn

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has slashed its US equity holdings by 42 percent to $20.6 billion, including its stake in Starbucks, the global coffee chain that has suffered calls for a boycott as a result of the Gaza conflict. The latest US government data highlights funding challenges facing the Saudi giga-projects.  The filing […]

One of the four restaurants in the Palazzo Versace Dubai hotel, which is listed on the Emirates Auction website

Palazzo Versace hotel sale aims to ride Dubai tourism wave

Owners of Dubai’s ultra-luxurious Palazzo Versace hotel are looking to capitalise on the emirate’s tourism boom before it peaks, offering it for sale at nearly AED1.4 billion ($380 million). A source familiar with the asset told AGBI the hotel is being “readvertised” as it has not found a buyer willing to meet its price tag […]

An extension of Diriyah's Bujairi Terrace, a popular nightspot, will open in November

Diriyah giga-project to open first hotel in November

Diriyah, one of Saudi Arabia’s leading giga-projects, will finally open its first hotel in November along with other attractions and sites, its CEO said this week.  “This November we’ll open another few kilometres of parks, we’ll open our first Bab Samhan hotel, we’ll open our first museum which is the Diriyah Art Futures Museum, we’ll […]

UAE Spain Marbella

Marbella beckons for Abu Dhabi real estate developers

A joint venture with a high-end Spanish residential developer has been launched by two Abu Dhabi real estate companies to build ten hectares of luxury homes in the Golden Mile, a premier area in Marbella. The deal with Mabel Real Estate to co-build Mabel Marbella Residences is the first luxury project in Europe for Bloom […]

Tourists visit the tombs of the Nabatean civilisation in AlUla. Saudi Arabia's goal is for tourism to make up 10 percent of GDP by 2030

Affluent tourists around the globe on Saudi Arabia’s radar

Saudi Arabia will invest more than $800 billion in its main giga-projects by the next decade as part of a tourism expansion strategy focused on affluent tourists in China, India and Europe.  The kingdom’s tourism minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb, speaking at the Qatar Investment Forum, said: “We’re building and investing in major destinations like Neom, Red […]

Saudi REITs need more exposure to 'sheds and beds' – warehousing and hospitals – says one expert

Investor interest wanes as Saudi real estate trusts underperform

Saudi Arabia’s publicly listed real estate investment trusts lag the kingdom’s main stock index as investor enthusiasm for the REIT asset class wanes. This is despite steady returns and an upbeat outlook in the property sector. REITs are often listed on bourses and invest in various property types such as offices, residential, education facilities and […]