Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi's oldest man-made island, Lulu, is to be developed in phases and to be kept entirely low-rise and mainly residential, a top official of Sorouh said.
Lulu Island was entrusted to Sorouh in 2008 and is being developed in partnership with Mubadala, who holds a 40 per cent stake.
"At first we were going to develop the island all at once. However, now the global financial situation calls for phasing. One can't create and expect the end-user to appear but has to work with the market," said Anthony Mallows, Sorouh's Executive Director — design and planning.
The plan is to create self-contained neighbourhoods with low-rise buildings of a maximum nine floors. The exception is one tall tower, symbolising the access from Airport Road in line with the Abu Dhabi 2030 plan, according to the developer.
The first phase is expected to be launched early next year, and the whole island will take 15 years to complete. The developer is still pondering which of the 15 zones on the island to develop first, but is most likely to start from the west.
The developer also carried out extensive research on marine life and the microclimate of the island and sought to adapt its plan to Estidama's sustainability guidelines and the Abu Dhabi 2030 plan.
Consequently, the island boasts a large, 40 per cent, area of greenery and parks. The remaining 60 per cent built-up consists of 80 per cent residential, as well as around 100,000 square metres of offices and 50,000 square metres of retail.
"We'll also have 10 hotels, around 2,500 keys in total. The island living concept is based on a relaxing and entertaining life. We're only 500 metres from the Corniche but want to maintain the original island feel," said Abu Bakr Seddiq Al Khouri, Managing Director of Sorouh.
To achieve the same, two bridges will connect Lulu Island to the Marina Mall on one end and Mina Zayed on the other. Connections to the Corniche, however, will be via tunnels.
"We finalised the master-plan in March last year and it should be fully approved by the authorities by end-year. At present we're just sharing the details with public, but aren't here [at Cityscape] to sell," Al Khouri said.
Lulu Island is one of six investment zones in Abu Dhabi where nationals as well as expatriates can buy.
"We're cautiously optimistic about the future. The biggest issue is interest rates, liquidity is slowly returning, 20 banks have approved our project. By the time we start selling rates should have come down," Al Khouri said.
Sorouh is also in various stages of planning and construction on its other projects Shams Abu Dhabi — Reem Island, Watani and Al Ghadeer and has handed over Golf Gardens. Sun and Sky Tower in Shams are due for handover this summer.
