Sowwah Island

Work is proceeding on several jobs, including the Rosewood Hotel and the stock exchange.
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Abu Dhabi is in the process of building itself a brand new central business district. The district is billed as an integral part of the Urban Planning Council’s vision for the city in 2030 and as been located on Sowwah Island.

Connected to the city’s existing urban grid by a growing array of bridges, the concept is to create a pedestrian-friendly business zone, blending residential and commercial properties into a business-focused development.

Officially it is classified as an investment zone, enabling UAE and GCC nationals to make freehold purchases, while international investors can get long-term musataha rights and usufruct rights over the land on the island.

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Developers Mubadala Real Estate & Hospitality (MREH) is predicting a future working population of 75,000 and roughly 30,000 residents, but right now the island’s population is comprised of the thousands of construction workers who are tackling a combination of the infrastructure and some of the early building projects.

The most advanced of these initial building efforts is the island’s flagship development, Sowwah Square. This has rocketed up since work by Oger Abu Dhabi, the local arm of construction giant Saudi Oger, started in 2008.

Three of the four commercial office towers have reached their final heights, and large portions of the façade are now installed.

Ranging between 30 and 37 storeys high the four towers, which will provide 180,000m² of commercial space, are focused around the emerging new headquarters of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. There the steel installation is complete and the distinctive shape of the building has become clear.

Meanwhile, construction work on the 260,000m² Cleveland Clinic hospital has begun. Main contractor Sixco-Samsung has workers laying the foundations of the building after enabling works were completed earlier this year. Final completion on the hospital project is expected in 2012.

The core of the Rosewood Hotel – the third site on the island with work underway – currently juts out in the site on the other side of Sowwah Square.

ACC is working as the main contractor in what will be the first completed hotel on the site. Doka formwork is a prominent feature of the site as the structural work proceeds. MEP works for the project were awarded to Drake and Scull in February.

Four other developments have been confirmed for phase one of the three phase development of Sowwah, although construction work has not yet started.

These include two more hotels, the Four Seasons and the Viceroy and two commercial towers planned by the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Al Hilal Bank. The tender for the enabling works on the Four Seasons is expected to be released during Q3 2010 and is likely to be the next contract awarded too.

As for phase two and three, they are still very much in the planning stage. Phase two will eventually feature residential and commercial buildings as well as community facilities and parks while phase three, in the north of the island, will be home to Sowwah’s transit centre.