Arabian Construction to build three-tower Emaar Residences project at Jeddah Gate

The high-rise towers will contain a total of 283 apartments, including a number of penthouses.

Emaar Middle East, the Saudi Arabian development arm of Emaar Properties, has appointed Arabian Construction Company (ACC) to build three residential towers at its Jeddah Gate project.

TheEmaar Residences towers will contain a total of 283 apartments, including a number of penthouses. The one to four-bedroom units range in size from 70 to 300 square metres, and each tower will have dedicated drop-off zones, lobbies, a 24-hour reception and concierge service. There are also pool areas, fitness centres, a ladies’ spa, children’s day care area and a multipurpose hall.

Emaar Residences is the third residential project the developer has launched at Jeddah Gate – a 413,000 sq m master-planned community that also contains retail and leisure space around a central development known as Emaar Square. Sales for Emaar Residences began last November, and drilling work at the site is already under way. ACC has worked on a number of Emaar projects, and the contractor has recently been awarded a deal to build the 63-storey Boulevard Point project by the developer in Downtown Dubai.

It has also just received an International Safety Award from the British Safety Council for its work on Emaar’s Fountain Views and Sky Views projects, where it has achieved 10 million man hours on both projects without a serious accident.

ACC is a pan-Arabian contractor whose GCC headquarters are in Abu Dhabi. It is already working on Jeddah Gate, where it is building Emaar Square commercial district under a Dh174 million contract that began two years ago. It is expected to be handed over later this year.

A spokesman for Emaar Middle East said: “We are bringing the same world-class standards that Emaar is renowned for with ‘Emaar Residences’. ACC has strong competencies in developing large-scale projects as per schedule.”

This month, JLL reported that Jeddah’s residential market underwent a slowdown during the first three months of this year, with sale prices dropping by 5.4 per cent and rents by 2.5 per cent.

The drop in sales was blamed on weak demand following rules introduced by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency in November 2014, which stated that banks could only lend buyers a maximum of 70 per cent of a home’s value. This was relaxed at the end of January to 85 per cent, meaning the amount homebuyers need for a deposit has effectively halved to 15 per cent of a property’s value, from 30 per cent.

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