Dubai Properties has awarded a contract for work on the first phase of its Marasi Business Bay project on Dubai Canal. The company has appointed Finnish company Admares to build 10 “floating” water homes, two restaurants and a yacht club at the site, which will also contain 12 kilometres worth of boardwalk on the banks of the canal in Business Bay. The water homes give the appearance of floating, but they are anchored to the canal base. Admares will be responsible for designing and building the homes at a specialist facility in Finland before they are transported to the UAE. The firm is a specialist in floating construction and built the new Terrace at the front of Burj Al Arab. It started work on the first units for Marasi Business Bay last October and will transport the units to Dubai by sea by the end of this year. “Our objective is to create unique, innovative and environmentally friendly real estate products, utilising ground breaking, multi-disciplinary off-site construction technology,” said Mikael Hedberg, the chief executive of Admares. “We started at the top with our first project in the Emirates, working with Jumeirah and Dubai Holding for the Burj Al Arab Terrace. Having successfully delivered the new resort extension – the biggest-ever undertaking of its kind in the world – we now have another project where the client was looking to create a landmark development with a high degree of innovation and quality.” Dubai Properties and its parent company Dubai Holding announced the launch of the Dh1 billion Marasi Business Bay in May last year. In total, the multi-phase project is expected to take between five and seven years to complete. It will eventually house five marinas capable of berthing 700 yachts, a yacht club, up to 200 water homes, more than 100 shops, floating restaurants and a beach club. mfahy@thenational.ae Follow The National's Business section on <a href="https://twitter.com/Ind_Insights">Twitter</a>