For those of you who bought properties in phase one of Falcon City in Dubai, and have been wondering ever since when you’d finally move into your new home, the developer is now saying December.

Owners in phase one should have been moving in during December 2007. That was then put back to June 2008. With June around the corner and the homes showing no signs of being fully completed, developer Almoosa Enterprises has said during Cityscape in Abu Dhabi that the properties will be ready in December 2008.

So a year late, but with luck, owners will be celebrating Christmas in their new homes. But the delays don’t bode well for those who bought in phase two…

Sustainability is the buzz word for construction at the moment, so those who live in the Middle East will be heartened to know that the region is now becoming a force in the design and use of green building technology.

Among those that are touted as being particularly green are the new Bahrain World Trade Centre (WTC) – one of the subjects in AME Info’s recent iconic buildings of the Middle East report – and the planned Lighthouse (pictured) building in the financial district in Dubai.

The Bahrain WTC, designed by Atkins, includes three wind turbines which will generate 15% of the building’s energy needs. The Dubai Lighthouse is considered even more energy efficient, having attained Platinum status in the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating system.

Abu Dhabi company Mubadala today launched Arzanah, described by the company’s chief operating officer as one of its most significant projects.

Being developed by Capitala, part of its joint venture with Singapore-based Capitaland, the 1.4 million square metre development will include mixed used properties, beaches and a canal.

Set in a non-investment zone, properties can only be bought by UAE nationals. Once developed, it will include 9,000 residential units.

Waleed Al Mokkarab Al Muhairi, COO of Mudadala, said: ‘Arzanah is an integrated residential development at the gateway to Abu Dhabi. [It] will feature high rise apartment towers and townhouses, communal gardens and trails for both walking and cycling.’

The first phase, the Heights apartments and 14 townhouses, are due to be launched in a few months time (towards the bottom left of the picture).

Capitala is one of several joint ventures set up by Mubadala. It owns 51% of the company. Development costs are expected to be north of $5bn.

The Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) in Abu Dhabi today released the first 250 villas in its Saadiyat Island project at Cityscape, with prices starting from Dhs6.5m for a three bedroom property.

The Saadiayat Beach properties overlook either the coast or the Gary Player golf course, and are due to be ready by late 2009 to early 2010. The company explained away the high starting prices as being down to the location of the villas.

Although ground work has started on the golf course, work on the villas is yet to get underway.

Once the $27bn development is completed in 2018, the 27 square kilometre natural island will be home to 150,000 people, as well as landmarks such as the Guggenheim Museum, the Louvre and the Sheikh Zayed National Museum.

The island is split into seven districts and linked to Abu Dhabi city via two 10-lane bridges. The company claims it will take five minutes to drive from the island to Abu Dhabi city and 15 minutes to the airport.

The $14.7bn Al Raha Beach development is being constructed along the beach side of the main highway leading into Abu Dhabi from Dubai. The development covers 500 hectares and is made up of 11 residential and commercial precincts.

It will feature hotels, marinas, parks, restaurants and numerous leisure facilities linked together by a network of canals, bridges and water transportation. Upon completion, it will accommodate 120,000 residents with its arrangement of apartments and villas.

The Western Region Development Council, the group charged with overseeing the transformation of the emirate’s sparsely populated interior into a residential community and leisure destination, will announce the region’s new name at the Cityscape exhibition.

The new identity has been arrived at after consultations with prospective investing bodies across the GCC and market research campaigns within the UAE.

The Western Region covers 70% of the UAE and 83% of the land area of Abu Dhabi, but is home to just 10% of the emirate’s population. The move is part of a vast overhaul of the region’s residential infrastructure and business facilities.

Abu Dhabi developer Sorouh Real Estate has announced that it will display the scale model of the plans for Lulu Island to the general public at Cityscape.

This will be the first time that the architectural mock-up has been available for public viewing and shows the layout of the mixed use residential and leisure projects as well as the canals, marinas and beach.

Sorouh has a number of other projects currently under development in the UAE capital, totalling over $12.5bn.

Russian company Metropol has chosen Cityscape Abu Dhabi to unveil a $3.5bn project in the heart of Moscow, marking the first time that a Russian company has showcased a project at the exhibition.

The Metropoliya project, a 1.5 million square metre mixed use development three kilometres from the Kremlin is going to make use of ‘green’ technologies developed by Japanese firm Nikken Sekkei.

The focus of the Metropoliya project - a 364 metre tall tower with 10 smaller towers arranged around it in a lotus flower pattern - will be sustainability and energy efficiency with a low carbon footprint. Nikken Sekkei is aiming for a development that uses up to 60% less energy than equivalent projects. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2009 and will continue for up to 10 years.

Metropol has chosen to showcase the project in Abu Dhabi because of the other “iconic and truly unique projects being realised here” according to CEO Dr Mikhail Slipenchuk, who claims that this makes the venue the perfect place to raise investment capital.