Yas Creative Hub will further support Abu Dhabi’s burgeoning reputation as the premier place for the media, gaming and entertainment sector in the Middle East, according to Katrina Anderson, director of commercial services at twofour54.
Built over three phases, the first of which is due to open in Q4 this year, the venue will ultimately deliver more than one million gross floor area (GFA), including 838,400 sqft of net leasable area.
Once all three are complete, Yas Creative Hub will be home to some 16,000 creative professionals – three times as many as twofour54’s existing campus at Khalifa Park.
Yas Creative Hub will be home to some 16,000 creative professionals – three times as many as twofour54’s existing campus at Khalifa Park.
Anderson told Arabian Business: “I think it has so much potential. It’s got grand visions of what it wants to do and we’re a successful proof of concept.
“If you want an area that is really interested and truly believes in the opportunity to create an industry, Abu Dhabi is at the heart of where that’s happening, because they are looking for these opportunities and they wholeheartedly believe in this industry.”
In what is the first industry-specific build for the creative sector in the GCC, Yas Creative Hub is designed by MZ Architects, the creators of Aldar’s HQ. Construction work is 95 percent complete and on track for the opening of phase one in Q4 2021, when twofour54’s existing community of over 600 companies and 5,000+ professionals will relocate to the new campus.
Anderson said the new development will be up to 93 percent occupied once current and new tenants move in – CNN and Unity Technologies are among the companies already confirmed to join Yas Creative Hub.
“This is incredible given the current state of play economically and the global environment,” she said. “It just shows that the region has been waiting for something that’s a purpose built environment for this industry.”
Katrina Anderson, director of commercial services at twofour54.
The new site, which is the size of 40 football pitches, creates a gathering place where industries such as content creation, broadcast media and advertising will sit side-by-side with innovation sectors including visual effects and video game development.
And while it will accelerate the UAE capital’s strategy to promote the creation of original content and incentivise international productions, who increasingly choose to shoot films and TV shows in the emirate, Anderson maintained that there would always remain a strong focus on developing home-grown talent – currently 26 percent of companies on campus are Emirati-owned and operated.
“Some of them actually were born out of the creative lab program, which is our youth development program, which has been around for 14 years because the media industry wasn’t a typical career and so we developed up an audience development program where we started quite young with people outreaching at schools and universities and getting them into the media and entertainment careers,” she said.
“And then they chose to actually stay within that environment, to create and set-up their companies and now it’s growing rapidly. It’s incredible. It’s so great to see these Emirati success stories.”
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