Prestige skyscrapers (page 1 of 2)

Add up the prestige residential towers announced in the UAE and their project value runs to around a hundred billion dollars. But there is a big difference between announcing a project and actually building it. So what then are the most prestigious residential buildings actually now under construction in the UAE and how soon will they be finished?

When the Dubai boom started a little over five years ago this was a simple exercise. Now there are so many projects underway across the UAE it is impossible to be fully comprehensive and relying on completion dates offered by the developers has been demonstrated not to be entirely advisable.

So any completion dates suggested in this article are for guidance only and AME Info can in no way offer completion guarantees on the projects mentioned.

This is also a slightly subjective process, and for prestige to mean anything then we at the very least have to apply the criteria 'above average' which in the UAE will rule out a whole swathe of perfectly pleasant apartments that in other cities might rank in the prestige category.

Dubai Marina

Let us start in New Dubai, the district centred on the Dubai Marina - a 1.8km-long artificial harbour fronted by a series of five-star beach hotels. The 6,500 apartments in the 40 beachfront towers of the Jumeirah Beach Residence include some magnificent penthouses and duplexes on the upper floors.

But then the same can be said of the numerous Emaar Properties' towers in the marina, at least a dozen individual prestige towers and Damac's first completed project.

If you look back on New Dubai from the Montgomerie Golf Course you can count more than 100 towers under construction - if you include the Jumeirah Lake Towers on the other side of the Sheikh Zayed Highway as well as the Dubai Marina, and many are now topped out.

Hircon International, a joint venture between the Hiranandani group and ETA Star has started the construction work on the 90-storey 23 Marina, which will be one of the world's tallest residential buildings and boast an extremely high internal specification.

On the other hand, Dubai's iconic Palm Island should not be overlooked. Many of its shoreline apartments are in the process of being handed over now, and ground works have started on the 940 apartments of the Marina Residences at the tip of the Palm Jumeirah with completion promised for the end of 2008. Other prestige apartment blocks on the Palm to consider are developments such as the Fairmont and Tiara residences.

Height and prestige do go hand in hand, so for arguably the most prestigious address in the UAE the Burj Dubai, already the tallest building in the world and still rising, is clearly unbeatable. Or for more down-to-earth prices, check out the surrounding Downtown Dubai, marketed as the 'most prestigious square kilometer on the planet', with its epicenter the huge Dubai Mall.

D1, Palazzo Versace

Still in Dubai go down to the Old Creek where the D1 Tower and Palazzo Versace Residences is being built in the Culture City; both the super-tall tower and luxury hotel and apartment complex are based on superb projects on Australia's Gold Coast by the same developer and were visited by this correspondent in July; for a UAE prestige apartment this would be this writer's personal choice..