If you want to build the world’s first sustainable sports hub, it is a smart idea to turn to a sportsman with a glittering career behind him – especially if he lives close by.
A new facility in Dubai, designed to boost sport tourism to the emirate, has the international footballer Ebbe Sand at its heart. The Green Sports Hub by Ebbe Sand will be developed at Dubai’s Jumeirah Golf Estates, complete with a zipline, skateboard park, research centre, a hotel, F&B outlets and more.
As well as increasing tourism, the sports facility is meant to encourage local participation in sport across all age groups and is due for completion in late 2018. It will aim to be the premier destination for sports training and leisure in the emirate.
Sand, the Hub project founder who lives in Dubai, is a Danish former professional footballer who played for Denmark’s national football team at the 1998 and 2002 Fifa World Cup, as well as the 2000 and 2004 European Championships. At the 1998 World Cup, he scored the fastest-ever World Cup goal by a substitute – 16 seconds aftercoming on.
At club level he played as a striker for Brøndby in Denmark and FC Schalke 04 in Germany. He was the German Bundesliga top scorer in 2001, and he won the DFB-Pokal, or German Cup, in 2001 and 2002 with Schalke.
Part of Jumeirah Golf Estates’ Phase A, the 500,000 sq ft Hub development was officially launched last night. Hosted by the Jumeirah Golf Estates executive team, Sand was joined by Troels Lund Poulsen, the Danish minister for business and growth.
Expected to open in 2018, the Hub will include a state-of-the-art sports academy, climate lab, swimming pool, indoor and outdoor climbing walls, zip line, skateboard park, martial arts training centre, sports research facility, music & sports play area, sports physio & spa, as well as accessible sports medical facilities. It will be located adjacent to the entry of Jumeirah Golf Estates’ state-of-the-art Clubhouse.
The eco-friendly Hub is modelled on sustainability and is complete with solar power, waste management and water preservation and re-use systems, with its skateboard park designed to act as a reservoir to collect and direct any rainwater to the surrounding greens.
Designed to accommodate local and international sports fans, plans for the Hub also include a sustainable boutique hotel concept, meeting facilities and F&B outlets – with Sand now in talks with local and global operators and anchor tenants eager to lease the space.
“Jumeirah Golf Estates is already a thriving community of families and international visitors, and the launch of Green Sports Hub is a milestone development that cements Jumeirah Golf Estates’ status as the region’s leading residential golf community committed sustainability,” said Yousuf Kazim, the chief executive of Jumeirah Golf Estates. “Through the development of Green Sports Hub by Ebbe Sand, we are committed to supporting the UAE’s sporting stars and aspiring athletes, by providing them with a platform to excel at all levels.”
Sand, the project founder, said: “As a resident of Jumeirah Golf Estates, it is an honour to contribute towards the high-quality facilities that the community has become known for, whilst also providing a first-class framework for training and exercise. Through the Green Sports Hub, I look forward to bringing extensive and varied sporting facilities to Dubai, as well as to creating a vibrant and multi-functional sustainable attraction that is used as a social and educational resource among local and international visitors. The Green Sports Hub will be a community that inspires a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle.”
Mr Poulsen pointed to the positive connection between healthy living and sustainability.
“It is a great pleasure to witness in person the incredibly fruitful collaboration between the Ebbe Sand Sports Academy and Jumeirah Golf Estates, which greatly emphasises the enormous potential that exists in creating a link between sustainability, healthy living and high-quality design. I believe this collaboration on designing and building the most sustainable sports complex to date is a great example of how Denmark – with knowledge and experience – and the UAE, with vision, ambitions and capacities, can profit from each other for the benefit of both business and society as a whole. I hope for similar collaborations to appear in the future and for Denmark help reach the strategic goals for the strategies and visions that Dubai has for a greener and more sustainable environment.”
And with a former football star of Sand’s quality onboard, realsing those goals is likely to be more than wishful thinking.
chnelson@thenational.ae
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