For many Lego fans, the problem is no longer finding new sets to build. It is finding somewhere to put them afterwards.
Across apartments and family homes in the UAE, shelves are filling up with Technic supercars, sprawling Star Wars displays and increasingly elaborate collector editions aimed squarely at adults. The hobby has grown far beyond the toy boxes it once occupied, bringing with it a familiar issue for dedicated builders: space.
That problem is what inspired Brick Borrow UAE, a Dubai-based Lego rental service that allows subscribers to borrow sets, complete them at home at their own pace and return them afterwards.
The company was launched two months ago by Steve Carter, who turned a long-running Lego hobby into a business after leaving a 25-year career in health care.
“We got taken over by one of the big companies, and I didn’t really know what to do with myself,” Carter tells The National. “I always thought I didn’t want to go back into health care.” He was already running Dubai Lego Dads, one of the UAE’s largest Lego communities outside buying and selling groups.
While on gardening leave, he came across Brick Borrow, a UK Lego rental company that had recently started franchising.
“It was immediate,” he says. “I was on the beach sending messages to them and trying to get them to contact me straight away.”
The UAE operation is run from a shop in Dubai Investment Park. Stacks of Lego boxes line the walls and large communal tables are used for building sessions, workshops and sorting returned sets.
Originally, the plan was to simply replicate the British model, where sets are delivered directly to subscribers without a storefront. But practical considerations in the UAE soon pushed the business in another direction.
“It turned into a shop, which wasn’t really the intention,” Carter says. “Warehouse capacity in the UAE is tricky, so it was easier to get a shop and keep all the stock there.”
The business's launch has come as Lego continues to expand its range of adult-focused collector sets.
“Fifteen years ago, there were very few sets designed for adults,” Carter says. “Now there are more than 100 large-scale sets clearly marketed at adult builders.”
For many collectors, the issue is not just cost, but accumulation.
“You build the sets, put them on the shelf, and then Lego releases another 15 sets you want next year,” he says. “There’s only so much capacity financially and physically.”
Brick Borrow removes the pressure of ownership, allowing the focus to shift to the building process itself.
“There’s zero expectation from our side,” Carter says. “It’s really about how you want to enjoy the creative experience of Lego.”
That slower, more focused experience has also attracted customers looking for a break from increasingly screen-heavy routines.
“Life is busy, complicated and fast, and so much of it is spent in front of screens, whether you’re five years old or 55,” Carter says. “It gives people a chance to detach.”
“We have kids who come in with ADHD or who are on the autism spectrum, and their parents really appreciate what we’re doing,” he says.
The company’s growing customer base reflects how much broader Lego’s audience has become in recent years. Carter cites the popularity of the botanical collection, a line of flower and plant display models that has become one of the company’s fastest-growing themes.
“Most people buying botanical sets are adult women who may never have found Lego appealing before,” he says. “Then they move into art sets and other themes as well.”
Customers either collect sets from the Dubai shop or can have them delivered anywhere in the UAE for a flat fee. Once completed, the sets are dismantled, packed into zip bags and returned for cleaning, checking and redistribution.
Missing pieces, Carter admits, are inevitable. “Lego pieces go missing. It’s a fact of life,” he says with a laugh.
Brick Borrow UAE is also looking into school partnerships and additional services such as taking apart complex builds for customers who dislike doing so.
“Technic sets are by far the hardest to dismantle,” Carter says. “I completely understand the issue.”
He believes the appeal of the business comes down to something simpler than collecting rare sets or filling shelves.
“It’s really about creativity and the experience,” he says.
