Dubai Islands

Dubai Islands sits off the Deira shore at the northern end of the city, on the old side of the creek rather than the new side of the coast. Five islands of reclaimed land, connected back to the mainland by bridge and causeway, with beaches on the seaward edges and the working city a short drive behind you.

It is early here. Some beaches are open and in use, some plots are hoarded, and a good deal of the land is still sand waiting on its project. What is different from the inland districts is the scale: this is being built low and spread out, to the water rather than away from it.

The scheme was announced as Deira Islands, a reclamation off the Deira waterfront intended to add beach and marina frontage to the oldest part of the city. Work started, then the market turned and much of it paused. It was relaunched and renamed Dubai Islands under Nakheel, with a revised master plan.

We are not going to put a single founding year on this page. The announcement date, the reclamation date and the relaunch date are three different things, and they are quoted inconsistently. The dates worth trusting here are the ones on individual projects.

Low-rise and coastal. The master plan leans on beachfront, marinas, hotels and resort uses rather than towers, so the skyline stays down and the water stays visible from more of the land than is usual in Dubai.

Public beaches are open and running. Around them, construction. Buying here now means buying into a district that will be finished around you rather than one you move into complete, and the honest version of that is: expect hoardings, expect cranes, and expect the view from a given plot to change.

The islands connect back to Deira by bridge, which puts you into the older city quickly: the gold and spice souks, the creek, Deira City Centre, and the corniche. Dubai International is close by road. Sheikh Zayed Road and the newer business districts are a longer run down the coast than they are from the central communities.

There is no metro station on the islands. The Green Line runs through Deira on the mainland and is reached by car or taxi. What the islands give you instead is walkability at the local scale, which is rare in this city: our own Breeze material puts the marina, the mall and the beach at five minutes on foot.

Floareá Breeze is our project on Dubai Islands, and it is the smallest thing we have built: 48 apartments and 4 park-facing townhouses, on a plot of 26,978 sq ft, in a G+P+6+R form. That is deliberate. It is a boutique project on a low-rise island, not a tower moved to the coast.

It is sold on a 30/70 payment plan. Units remain available. Every image of it is a render; nothing is standing yet.