UAE super-structures to star in new TV documentary

EPIC CONSTRUCTION: The new series called 'Megastructures'will be broadcast in 164 countries, 35 languages and in 200 million homes. (Artist Impression of Palm Jumeriah)

The UAE's epic engineering and construction projects are to be the focus of a new worldwide documentary series commissioned by the National Geographic Channel, it was revealed on Sunday.

UK film production company Darlow Smithson Productions (DSP), an IMG company, will produce Megastructures, to be broadcast on the television channel soon, according to David Gilbert, executive producer for DSP.

It follows the popularity of three previous programmes by DSP on The World , Palm Jumeirah, and the Burj Al Arab developments in Dubai.

“The appetite for seeing successful stories coming out of Dubai is immense,” he said.

“No other city fits the show Megastructures better than Dubai, with its bold and daring construction developments and its ambitious vision.”

DSP had already started filming two episodes focusing on two different structures already in the development phase and was currently shortlisting other projects to feature in a further episode.

Gilbert admitted the number and scale of new developments DSP’s research team had to choose from had been dramatically cut due to a slowdown in the construction sector in the UAE in recent months.

“Clearly, when we started looking at the UAE back in the summer of last year the situation was very different,” he said.

“Six months on, there are not as many projects but the quality is still high and the ambition is still impressive and world-beating.

“The projects we are shortlisting for 2009 are already underway so we can film a tangible result.”

The identity of the three featured structures would be revealed in the next six weeks.

The programmes would be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2009 for National Geographic, which broadcast in 164 countries in 35 languages and in 200 million homes.

Gilbert said the series would focus on the people behind the structures, including engineers, architects and builders, with the documentary following the development from concept to construction phase.

“Marrying these fantastic designs with amazing feats of engineering are really what determines Megastructures in Dubai and the UAE,” he said

Adnan Dawood, a Dubai-based publicist hired by DSP to help shortlist the developments, said: “Given the situation today with all the negative press (on Dubai), the message that comes out of Megastructures is extremely positive and exactly the sort of PR Dubai needs,” he said.

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