News: the massive 6 million-square-metre Dubai Creek Harbour development launched this week will include a pair of record-breaking towers, according to the developers.
Developers Emaar Properties and Dubai Holdings have partnered to create a huge development on the Dubai waterfront, with six residential towers as well as a pair of rocket-shaped buildings they say will be the world's tallest twinned skyscrapers.
Although no architect has been officially named for the project, a masterplan design has been unveiled for the new district. This shows an area three times the size of Emaar's previous Downtown Dubai development, which houses the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower.
"Planned on an open site, Dubai Creek Harbour will combine the city with the natural contours of the creek," said a statement from Emaar. "With no legacy ties to infrastructure, this new Dubai will leapfrog many of the world's other global cities. The masterplan is an order of magnitude larger than Downtown Dubai and will support its commercial and cultural development."
The project will create 39,000 homes and 22 hotels, with the first residences being pre-sold from the beginning of November.
No start date has yet been set for construction of the centrepiece twin towers, whose height has yet to be confirmed, according to local newspaper The National.
"When planning a project like this, you can't look at 2015. It's about the fundamentals of the city," said Emaar chairman Mohamed Alabbar at a press conference.
"I think all the stakeholders in Dubai in this business learnt their lessons and they have matured. What it boils down to is supply and demand."
The scheme replaces former plans for the area in downtown Dubai, which is called The Lagoons as it includes a cluster of islands just off the coast.
The site is adjacent to the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary, home to around 450 different animal species. Emaar said that the sanctuary would "remain sacrosanct", with the Dubai Creek Harbour plans including a new visitor centre that would bring "a message of sustainable biodiversity to new generations".
Other proposals for this area have included a Zaha Hadid-designed opera house and cultural centre – part of a masterplan for the area called The Seven Pearls that was put on hold when the worldwide financial crisis reached Dubai around the start of the decade.