The Dubai Islands (), also known as Deira Islands (), are four

artificial island An artificial island or man-made island is an island that has been Construction, constructed by humans rather than formed through natural processes. Other definitions may suggest that artificial islands are lands with the characteristics of hum ...

s off the coast of

Deira Deira ( ; Old Welsh/ or ; or ) was an area of Post-Roman Britain, and a later Anglian kingdom. Etymology The name of the kingdom is of Brythonic origin, and is derived from the Proto-Celtic , meaning 'oak' ( in modern Welsh), in which case ...

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. The project was initially called Palm Deira and was planned to be part of the

Palm Islands The Palm Islands consist of three artificial island, artificial archipelagos: Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Islands (formerly known as Palm Deira or Deira Islands), and Palm Jebel Ali, off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Palm Islands were ...

History

Palm Deira

In 2004, Dubai developer Nakheel Properties launched the Palm Deira project as an 11 billion dirham property development off the coast of

in Dubai that was due to contain up to 8,000 villas. Dutch dredging contractor

Van Oord Royal Van Oord is a Dutch maritime contracting company that specializes in dredging, land reclamation and constructing man made islands. Royal Van Oord has undertaken many projects throughout the world, including land reclamation, dredging and bea ...

was recruited to start the project in 2005. Malaysian design firm, Teo A. Khing Design Consultants (TAK), was appointed by Nakheel to redesign Palm Deira in 2007 with a focus on the island’s infrastructure and land plot configuration. By early October 2007, 20% of the initial palm island's reclamation was complete, with a total of of sand already used. Then in early April 2008, Nakheel announced that more than a quarter of the total area of the Palm Deira had been reclaimed. During the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, Nakheel had put projects like the

Palm Jebel Ali Palm Jebel Ali () is an artificial archipelago in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It began construction in October 2002 and was originally planned to be completed by mid-2008 but has been on hold since. It was relaunched in 2024. The project, which ...

, The World and Palm Deira on hold.

Renaming to Deira Islands

In October 2013, Nakheel re-branded and scaled down the project as Deira Islands. Deira Islands were developed to include the Deira Night Souk, Deira Mall, and Deira Island Towers and Boulevard on the islands to develop it into a shopping, retail, and housing waterfront. The project added of coastline and of beach to Dubai. In December 2016 a bridge linking the mainland to the islands were opened.

Renaming to Dubai Islands

In 2022, Nakheel rebranded itself and the project. It was renamed Dubai Islands and it is expected to house 80 hotels. The project has been restarted and no official opening date has been announced. In August 2022, Nakheel released the master plan for the islands.

Hotels and resorts

The Dubai Islands currently have three hotels in operation, which represent the most significant development on the islands so far. The 800-key Hotel RIU Dubai opened on December 10, 2020, followed by the 607-key Centara Mirage Beach Resort Dubai on October 14, 2021 and the 159-key Park Regis by

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

Dubai Islands on March 2, 2024.

Planned features

Deira Night Souk

The Deira Night Souk is planned to be a market place that stretch along the coast of the Deira Islands opposite the mainland. According to the developers, Deira Night Souk will be the biggest night market in the world, but construction of the souk has yet to take place. Nakhlat Deira Mall interior

Deira Mall

Deira Mall is planned to be a mall with 1,100 retail spaces that is being developed on the islands. The design contract of the mall was awarded in June 2014, though it has yet to begin construction.

References

External links

*
www.dubai-islands.org
{{Developments in Dubai Nakheel Properties Resorts in Dubai Artificial islands of Dubai Waterfronts Proposed buildings and structures in Dubai