17 September 2026
Nakheel has awarded a main construction contract worth more than AED 800 million to Metac General Contracting Co for 537 homes at Bay Grove Residences on Dubai Islands. The award was announced on 17 September 2026 and covers Phases 1 and 3 of the waterfront development: 296 homes across four residential buildings in Phase 1 and 241 homes across three buildings in Phase 3, seven buildings in total. Every one of the 537 units is already sold. The main construction works are expected to be completed in late 2028. The full development is planned at 1,154 homes across 15 residential buildings, with a further 617 homes in Phases 2 and 4 for which contractor appointments have not yet been announced.
What the contract covers
The scope is the main construction package for seven buildings, not a design or enabling works contract. It includes the basement construction, the associated infrastructure and the resident amenities: swimming pools, play courts and a fitness centre. The homes range from one to four bedrooms.
Metac General Contracting Co has been appointed to carry out the works across all seven buildings covered by the award, which keeps Phases 1 and 3 with a single main contractor rather than splitting them between two. The value published by Nakheel is more than AED 800 million for the combined package, and no breakdown between the two phases has been released.
Khalid Al Malik, CEO of Dubai Holding Real Estate, framed the award as a delivery milestone rather than a launch: the sell out of Bay Grove Residences, in his words, demonstrates the depth of demand for high quality waterfront homes in Dubai, and the contract moves the community into its next stage of delivery.
Bay Grove Residences in figures
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Contract value | more than AED 800 million |
| Main contractor | Metac General Contracting Co |
| Developer | Nakheel, part of Dubai Holding Real Estate |
| Phases covered | Phase 1 and Phase 3 |
| Homes under this contract | 537 across seven buildings |
| Phase 1 | 296 homes, four residential buildings |
| Phase 3 | 241 homes, three residential buildings |
| Unit mix | one to four bedrooms |
| Sales status | sold out |
| Main works completion | late 2028 |
| Full development | 1,154 homes across 15 residential buildings |
| Remaining phases | 617 homes in Phases 2 and 4, contractors to be announced |
| Location | Dubai Islands, off the coast of Deira |
The arithmetic is worth reading slowly. The 537 homes now under contract are 47% of the 1,154 planned for the completed community. Seven of the 15 residential buildings are therefore moving into main construction at once, and the other eight remain at the stage where Nakheel says plans are progressing and additional construction appointments will follow.
Sold out before the main contract was signed
The sequence here is the part that carries information. In an off plan market the usual order is launch, sales, then a main construction contract sized against the money that has come in. Bay Grove Residences reached full sell out on Phases 1 and 3 before the AED 800 million package was awarded, which means the contractor is being appointed against a book of buyers that is already closed rather than against a sales forecast.
That has a practical consequence for the buyers in those seven buildings: the delivery risk they now carry is construction risk, not sales risk. The date that matters to them is late 2028 for the main works, and Nakheel has not published a separate handover date for the units.
Bay Grove Residences itself was unveiled in October 2024 and its later phase was launched in December 2024, so the run from first launch to a main contract on more than a third of the community has taken under two years.
Where Dubai Islands sits
Bay Grove forms part of the wider Dubai Islands development off the coast of Deira. The master planned destination comprises five islands and more than 20 kilometres of beaches, alongside planned parks, open spaces, golf courses, hotels, cultural hubs and waterfront residential communities facing the Arabian Gulf. Nakheel places it within 20 minutes of Downtown Dubai, Dubai International Airport and the marine ports, with the Infinity Bridge providing the link to the mainland.
Bay Grove Residences is planned as a waterfront community with landscaped communal areas, walking and cycling routes and access to Crystal Beach. The residential amenity set published for the project includes a podium garden, a raised ocean pool, children’s play areas, a clubhouse, a residents’ lounge and a fitness centre.
This is not the first nine figure or ten figure award on the islands. In August 2025 Nakheel appointed Fibrex Contracting to build the Bay Villas community on Dubai Islands under a contract worth AED 2.6 billion covering 636 residential units across five property types. Read together, the two awards put well over AED 3.4 billion of main construction work on the islands with named contractors.
The 2026 run of main contract awards in Dubai
The Bay Grove award lands in a year when Dubai developers have been converting sales into signed construction packages at speed. In September 2026 Dubai Holding awarded the largest contract in its history, AED 5 billion to CSCEC Middle East for a corporate headquarters and residences at Emirates Towers, and Meraas signed an AED 590 million main construction contract for City Walk Crestlane Phase 3. Dubai Retail, from the same group, also unveiled The Yard, the first retail hub on Palm Jebel Ali.
Financing has moved in the same direction. ADCB and Dubai Holding Real Estate opened off plan home financing from 3.49% once a project reaches a defined construction stage, which changes how a buyer of a building under construction can plan the payment schedule. Anyone weighing a purchase in a development of this type can compare the mechanics in our guide to mortgages in the UAE for residents and non residents.
What has not been announced
- The handover date for buyers, as distinct from the late 2028 completion of the main works.
- The split of the AED 800 million between Phase 1 and Phase 3.
- The contractors for Phases 2 and 4 and the 617 homes in them.
- The sales value of the 537 units and the price range at which they sold.
- Whether Phases 2 and 4 will be launched for sale before or after their construction contracts are signed.
Until the handover date is published, late 2028 is a construction milestone and not a key collection date. The two are usually separated by a period of testing, commissioning and authority approvals, and that gap is not something Nakheel has quantified for this project.
What it means for companies working in Dubai
A main construction contract of this size is a procurement event before it is a real estate event. Seven buildings entering main construction at once creates a demand line for concrete, formwork, facade systems, MEP packages, lifts, joinery, landscaping, pool and gym fit out, and for the labour supply behind all of them. Subcontractors and suppliers who want to sit in that chain deal with Metac General Contracting Co as the main contractor, not with the developer.
For a supplier that is not yet established in the UAE, the practical entry points are a mainland or free zone licence with the right activity on it, a corporate bank account able to receive progress payments, 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 side, bank account opening covers the payment side, and work visas and residency covers the people.
How Atlant Capital can help
- Choosing the licence and the 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 that can take progress payments and retentions, and preparing the documents the bank asks for.
- Residency and work visas for owners, engineers and site staff who need to be in the country.
- Reviewing a structure where the entity holding the licence, the entity invoicing and the entity holding the account no longer match the work being done.
Conclusion
Nakheel has put more than AED 800 million of main construction work with Metac General Contracting Co for 537 sold out homes at Bay Grove Residences, covering seven of the 15 buildings planned on the Dubai Islands site. The homes are one to four bedrooms, the package includes basements, infrastructure and amenities, and the main works are due in late 2028. The remaining 617 homes in Phases 2 and 4 are still without a named contractor. For buyers the number to watch is the handover date, which has not been published. For contractors and suppliers the number that matters is 537 units entering main construction at once, and the counterparty is Metac rather than the developer.
Source: Gulf News.
FAQ
How much is the Nakheel Bay Grove Residences contract worth?
Nakheel awarded a main construction contract worth more than AED 800 million to Metac General Contracting Co on 17 September 2026. It covers Phases 1 and 3 of Bay Grove Residences on Dubai Islands, a total of 537 homes across seven residential buildings. No breakdown of the amount between the two phases has been published.
When will Bay Grove Residences be completed?
The main construction works under this contract are expected to be completed in late 2028. That is a construction milestone for Phases 1 and 3. Nakheel has not published a separate handover date for buyers, and the remaining Phases 2 and 4 have no announced completion date at all.
How many homes will Bay Grove Residences have in total?
The full development is planned at 1,154 homes across 15 residential buildings. The current contract covers 537 of them in seven buildings: 296 homes in four buildings in Phase 1 and 241 homes in three buildings in Phase 3. A further 617 homes are planned across Phases 2 and 4, with contractor appointments still to be announced.
Are Bay Grove Residences apartments still available to buy?
The 537 homes covered by this contract are sold out, and Nakheel described the sell out as the reason the project has moved into its next delivery stage. Units in Phases 2 and 4, which account for 617 homes, have not been confirmed as released for sale. Resale on the secondary market is the remaining route into the sold phases.
