24 September 2026
Meraas, part of Dubai Holding Real Estate, has awarded GCC Contracting a contract valued at almost AED 1 billion to build 272 homes in Phase 7 of Nad Al Sheba Gardens. The award was announced on 24 September 2026 and covers 130 villas of four to seven bedrooms and 142 three-bedroom townhouses, together with pool houses, essential utilities and infrastructure works. Construction is already under way and the phase is expected to be completed by June 2028. The gated community sits about 10 minutes from Downtown Dubai, with road access to Meydan racecourse and Dubai International Airport.
What the contract covers
The package is main construction work, not a design or enabling contract. GCC Contracting takes the full scope for the phase: the 272 units themselves, the pool houses attached to the plots, the utility connections and the infrastructure that ties the new plots into the existing community. No breakdown between the villa and townhouse elements has been published, and Meraas has given the contract value as almost AED 1 billion rather than an exact figure.
The unit mix is the part worth reading closely. Of the 272 homes, 130 are villas in a four to seven bedroom range, which is a larger format than most of what has been launched in Dubai over the past two years. The remaining 142 are three-bedroom townhouses. That split puts roughly half the phase in the family townhouse segment and half in a villa segment that includes seven-bedroom plots, a size that rarely appears in volume within a master-planned community.
Khalid Al Malik, chief executive of Dubai Holding Real Estate, said the award of the Phase 7 contract, valued at almost AED 1 billion, reflects the continued demand for premium master-planned residential communities in Dubai, and that the expansion reinforces growing market confidence in the emirate’s real estate sector.
Nad Al Sheba Gardens Phase 7 in figures
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Contract value | almost AED 1 billion |
| Main contractor | GCC Contracting |
| Developer | Meraas, part of Dubai Holding Real Estate |
| Phase | Phase 7 |
| Total homes | 272 |
| Villas | 130, four to seven bedrooms |
| Townhouses | 142, three bedrooms |
| Additional scope | pool houses, utilities, infrastructure works |
| Construction status | already under way |
| Expected completion | June 2028 |
| Location | Nad Al Sheba, about 10 minutes from Downtown Dubai |
The population number behind the spending
Meraas has tied the expansion to a single figure: Dubai’s population reached 4.74 million by the end of June 2026, rebounding after a dip at the height of the Iran war. Investment in completed real estate projects in the emirate rose by more than half in the first half of 2026 despite the disruption of that conflict.
Phase 7 is not an isolated award. In April 2026 Nakheel signed contracts worth more than AED 3.5 billion for 544 villas at Palm Jebel Ali, with Ginco General Contracting building 354 villas across Fronds A to D and United Engineering Construction building 190 on Fronds E and F. In August Nakheel began handing over 892 villas and townhouses at the redeveloped Jebel Ali Village near Ibn Battuta Mall. Our report on the AED 800 million Bay Grove contract on Dubai Islands covers another award in the same cycle. Read together, these are the delivery end of a development pipeline that has been selling off plan for three years.
The district around the project
Nad Al Sheba has been building the services a family community needs before the homes are handed over, which is the sequence buyers usually complain is reversed. Rugby School, founded in the United Kingdom in 1567, opened a campus in the district for the current academic year in partnership with Aldar Education, with more than 90 classrooms and learning spaces covering nursery, primary and secondary, and laboratories for physics, biology, electronics, information technology design and food science. In August 2026 a two-floor mall called The Grand opened to serve the neighbourhood.
Within Nad Al Sheba Gardens itself, the published amenities are walking, cycling and running tracks, children’s play areas, multi-sport facilities, swimming pools and yoga lawns. The community is gated, which in Dubai practice means a managed access point and a separate service charge for the community areas.
What the announcement does not say
- The handover date for buyers, as distinct from the June 2028 construction completion date.
- Whether Phase 7 units are released for sale, already sold, or held for a later launch.
- Prices or plot sizes for the villa and townhouse formats.
- The split of the contract value between the villas, the townhouses and the infrastructure scope.
June 2028 is a construction milestone. Handover normally follows after testing, commissioning and authority approvals, and that gap has not been quantified for this phase. Anyone treating June 2028 as a move-in date is reading further into the announcement than it supports.
What it means for companies working in Dubai
A contract of this size is a procurement event before it is a property event. Two hundred and seventy two units entering construction at once creates a demand line for concrete, blockwork, facade and joinery packages, MEP, pools, landscaping and the labour supply behind all of them. Suppliers and subcontractors who want to sit in that chain deal with GCC Contracting as the main contractor, not with Meraas.
For a company that is not yet established here, the practical entry points are a licence carrying the right activity, a corporate account able to receive progress payments and retentions, and residency for the people who have to be on site or in front of the client. Our overview of company setup in the UAE covers the licence, bank account opening covers the payment side, and work visas and residency covers the people. Buyers looking at the finished product rather than the construction chain will find the financing rules set out in our guide to mortgages in the UAE for residents and non-residents, including the deposit thresholds that apply to off plan and to properties above AED 5 million.
How Atlant Capital can help
- Choosing the licence and activity list for a contracting, supply or fit out business that intends to work with main contractors in Dubai.
- Registering the company in the jurisdiction that matches the work: mainland for on site contracting, free zone for supply, trading and services.
- Opening a corporate bank account able to handle progress payments, retentions and supplier settlements.
- Residency and work visas for owners, engineers and site staff who need to be in the country.
- Structuring a property purchase through a company, and checking that the entity holding the licence, the entity invoicing and the entity holding the account still match the work being done.
Conclusion
Meraas has placed almost AED 1 billion of construction work with GCC Contracting for 272 homes in Phase 7 of Nad Al Sheba Gardens: 130 villas of four to seven bedrooms and 142 three-bedroom townhouses, plus pool houses, utilities and infrastructure. Work is already on site and the target is June 2028. The developer has framed the expansion against a Dubai population of 4.74 million at the end of June 2026. For buyers, the number still missing is the handover date. For contractors and suppliers, the number that matters is 272 units entering construction at once, and the counterparty is GCC Contracting rather than the developer.
Source: The National.
FAQ
How much is the Nad Al Sheba Gardens Phase 7 contract worth?
Meraas, part of Dubai Holding Real Estate, awarded GCC Contracting a contract valued at almost AED 1 billion on 24 September 2026. It covers 272 homes in Phase 7 of Nad Al Sheba Gardens, along with pool houses, essential utilities and infrastructure works. The developer has not published a breakdown of the value between the villa, townhouse and infrastructure elements.
How many villas and townhouses are in Phase 7?
Phase 7 comprises 272 homes in total: 130 villas ranging from four to seven bedrooms and 142 three-bedroom townhouses. Pool houses are included in the contract scope alongside the utility connections and infrastructure works. Seven-bedroom villas rarely appear in volume within a Dubai master-planned community, which is what makes this unit mix unusual.
When will Nad Al Sheba Gardens Phase 7 be completed?
Construction is already under way and completion is expected by June 2028. That date is a construction milestone rather than a published handover date for buyers. In Dubai practice, handover follows testing, commissioning and authority approvals, and Meraas has not stated how long that period will take for this phase.
Where is Nad Al Sheba Gardens and what is around it?
Nad Al Sheba Gardens is a gated community about 10 minutes from Downtown Dubai, with road access to Meydan racecourse and Dubai International Airport. A Rugby School campus opened in the district for the current academic year in partnership with Aldar Education, and a two-floor mall called The Grand opened in August 2026. Community amenities include walking, cycling and running tracks, children’s play areas, multi-sport facilities, swimming pools and yoga lawns.
