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Sky Tower is part of Al Reem Island, a 6.5 million m² island project off Abu Dhabi. The first buildings will be finished next year.

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EVERYONE IS INTERESTED: Cityscape Abu Dhabi recently attracted developers and contractors from as far as Moscow.

Attention and big construction dollars are shifting from brazen Dubai, as the UAE capital Abu Dhabi strives to claim its rightful place as the emirate's premier city.

And the current construction boom is backed by a serious plan for the next quarter century that considers the environment as well as the populace. Jamie Stewart reports.

Last September the Government of Abu Dhabi published Plan Abu Dhabi 2030: Urban Structure Framework Plan, a document intended to guide planning decisions in the UAE capital for the next 25 years.

The document spells out five principles for the development of the city, including plans to ensure the city respects, is scaled to, and shaped by its natural environment of sensitive coastal and desert ecologies, and plans to ensure the city will manifest its role and stature as a national capital.

Today, less than a year on from the publication of the report, Abu Dhabi is moving towards its stated goals. Major projects are sprouting from the sands as the city positions itself in hot pursuit of the title - "fasting growing city in the world," currently held by neighbouring Dubai.

In the plan, the government states that it expects the population of the city to grow from around 1 million at present to more than 3 million by 2030. These numbers represent growth in the city on an unprecedented scale, though planners intend to heed consideration for the natural environment, as the guiding principles pronounce.

Last month, the Urban Planning Council (UPC) of Abu Dhabi, alongside the Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi Municipality and Masdar, released the Estidama initiative - a program to devise guidelines and regulations for sustainable design, operation and maintenance of all types of buildings and communities within the Emirate.

The program includes Estidama New Building (ENB) design guidelines, written to provide all concerned parties, such as developers, contractors, consultants and the public with information to encourage a joint approach to sustainable building design, whereby the principles of green design and construction are followed throughout the entire process.

The ENB design guidelines are intended to provide a full scale approach which pays consideration to the local and built environment following the principles of minimising resource use without harming performance.

Such is the scale of some of the developments in Abu Dhabi, with projects underway across the city, it is difficult to imagine just how the city will look in 2030. Al Reem Island, Yas Island, Hydra Village, Masdar and Abu Dhabi Airport are five such projects.

Each is being managed by a different master developer, though there is one thing they do have in common. Each is going to affect the future of the UAE capital in a big way.

Al Reem Island

A sprawling residential, commercial and business project. Al Reem Island is an off- shore development built on a natural island.

As is the case across much of the rest of the GCC, there was no need to build the island first. Al Reem Island lies 500 metres from the shores of Abu Dhabi.

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