Spaceship-style floating homes coming to Dubai

Dutch developer expects to sell US$50m worth of homes in the Middle East in its first year, and over $100m in its second year.

The model being presented at Cityscape with 16,000 sq ft of internal space and 520 sq ft outdoors will cost about $11m to buy. Courtesy NLW

Dutch developer New Living on Water (NLW) is planning to unveil its futuristic-looking floating homes concept at Cityscape Global in Dubai next month.

The company has created a striking water home concept based on an “organic” circular design. It said that it is confident of selling US$50 million worth of homes within the first year of its Middle East launch at Cityscape, and of being able to double that within two years.

The price of units will depend on the size of homes, but the model being presented at Cityscape with 16,000 square feet of internal space and 520 sq ft outdoors will cost about $11m to buy.

Floor plans of the floating homes on the company’s website show a three-level structure with a basement level containing a garage with room for six cars, a cinema, entertainment area, fitness room and storage areas. The main ground floor level has four en suite bedrooms, a living area and kit­chen, plus outdoor space with a pool and stairs leading to a roof light garden. The first floor contains a dining room and a bal­cony area.

The company said that it believes the homes will be popular because they offer luxury, privacy, environmental sustainability and a renewable energy element.

“A lot of people nowadays live in very densely populated ­areas, and for most of them this is no problem in everyday life,” said NLW’s managing director and co-owner, Menno de Roos. “But the need for some pri­vacy and the inner need of being connected to nature has always been with us, and that’s what we’re offering.”

Mr de Roos said the units were developed for a niche market in collaboration with CIG, a Dutch aluminium and steel fabrication company that creates building kits for shipbuilders and structures for architec­tural firms. It has created a bridge structure for the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, the media centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London and a roof structure for the Munchener Freiheit station in Munich, Germany.

“Our newly-developed floating residences guarantee both the privacy and nature that people are looking for, as well as the comfort of being part of a six-star super luxury beachfront resort,” said Mr de Roos.

The floating home concept is not new to Dubai. The Dubai-based Kleindienst Group run by Josef Kleindienst is already selling Floating Seahorse villas at its Heart of Europe development, which is a group of six islands under development at The World – a complex of 300 man-made islands built 6 kilometres from Dubai’s coastline by master developer Nakheel.

Meanwhile, Dubai Properties recently announced that it would build up to 200 water homes on the Dubai Canal at its Dh1 billion Marasi Business Bay project. These will be built on stilts reaching to the bottom of the canal’s basin.

Cityscape Global runs from September 6-8 at Dubai World Trade Centre.

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