techno park begins work on phase ii development under revised master plan
Science & Technology facilitator aims to build a technological city within a city
Techno Park, the science and technology facilitator of Economic Zones World announced today that it has started work on Phase II of development under its revised Master Plan.
Phase II is far larger in area than the completely leased out Phase I which has a total area of 2.3 million sq meters, and comprises 112 plots designated for manufacturing and light industrial sector.
Phase II is spread over 17.7 million sq meters. When fully developed, it will be a technological city within a city.
Hamad Al Hashemi, Managing Director Techno Park said: “In line with the vision and aspiration of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice-President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, the overall strategy behind the Techno Park development is to establish Dubai as a hub for cutting edge science and technology.”
“The revised plan aims at establishing a strongly identified sense of place, and build a self-contained technological city within a city, which is now defined as ‘Technopolis’, in addition to a world class centre of excellence in technology, research, education and industry,” Al Hashemi added.
“This ‘Technopolis’ will provide excellent R&D facilities, incubators and business accelerators in environment and natural resource management, as well as, be a home to high-tech industries in water desalination, and oil and gas industries.”
The new Master Plan incorporates three main clusters that complement each other: An academic campus, an R&D complex that includes laboratories and incubator facilities for emerging sectors, and an industrial area that reflects the down stream requirements of the R&D centres.
Another important element of this emerging technology corridor will be the Business Acceleration Centres to help commercialize and industrialize all new innovations.
The Technopolis will also include select light industrial units, logistics and warehousing facilities, commercial offices, business centres, banks, hotels, convention halls, retail outlets, mosques and all other civic amenities.
At the heart of Techno Park will be the “Landmark Towers”, a 50-storey structure housing the corporate headquarters of the facilitator. The tower will be flanked by three equally spaced “blades” representing renewable energy, a major Techno Park theme, as well as a wind turbine, representing one of the key elements of renewable energy research that Techno Park encourages.
The Landmark Towers will be spread over an area of 103,852 square meters and is designed to accommodate nearly 16,000 people engaged in various activities.
The central business district area, or the “Technology Core”, incorporates fully integrated land use to provide the maximum benefit to the partners, developers, tenants, employees, workers and visitors alike.
The five major components that make up the core are the Landmark Tower, the Boulevard, the Campus Core, the R & D core, and the East/West Wings.
Mr. Al Hashemi said, “With Dubai’s unprecedented growth rate, it’s no longer practical for people to commute very long distances easily. So we have redesigned Techno Park to incorporate residential zones with spacious walkways, water bodies, parks and other leisure areas. Buffer zones will separate residential and industrial zones in order to enhance the quality of living space.”
When fully evolved, Technopolis is projected to have a resident population of about 60,000 people and a combined workforce that could number up to 133,000. The plan also takes into account an overall transient population of approximately 40,000.
