Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Dubai Festival City, the Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate’s fully integrated mega project, switched off power from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm yesterday to mark Earth Hour, a global annual event launched to encourage individuals, communities, and businesses to turn off non-essential electric lights to showcase their commitment towards planet Earth.
This year the UAE called for urgent action to set the loss of nature on the path for recovery and create further awareness about climate change. Dubai Festival City supported one of the largest global grassroots movements for the environment by switching off all non-essential interior and exterior light at their residential projects, Deira International School, Universal America School, Al Areesh Club, Festival Tower, hotels as well as Dubai Festival City Mall for one hour.
Marsa Plaza, Al Badia residences, Al Badia Hillside, Festival Tower, Al Areesh Club at Dubai Festival City turned off non-essential lights at its public areas such as carparks while common areas will have minimal lighting. Dubai Festival City also worked closely with its residents and tower tenants to switch off their lights at homes and offices for a wider reach of this initiative and create a greater positive impact towards sustainability.
Samer Zabian, Director, Residential & Commercial Property at Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate, said: “At Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate, our aim is to support the broader goals and strategic objectives of the UAE government. We have been a part of the Earth Hour initiative since 2018 which further showcases our strong commitment towards the planet we live in. There is a strong need to create awareness about climate change and act on it urgently. All our stakeholders including businesses, individual customers and governments worldwide have contributed towards creating a positive and sustainable tomorrow in order to build a healthy planet for our coming generations.”
InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and InterContinental Residence Suites switched off all hotel façade lights, dimmed its lobby lights and shut down all unnecessary lights across its hotels. This initiative did not impact any in-house guests or visitors at the hotel during the event.
Dubai Festival City Mall also supported the event by dimming house lights. Deira International School and Universal American School, owned and operated by Al Futtaim Education Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation, joined the wider group and participated in the Earth Hour. A group of students from Universal American School shot an educational video throwing light on energy savings during Earth Hour.
About Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate:
The real estate development and operations arm of Al-Futtaim, Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate is responsible for the origination, conception, development, procurement and construction of mega projects and the leasing and operation of these projects after completion.
Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate develops and operates an extensive multi-million-dollar portfolio of individual corporate real estate and investment assets across the Middle East and North Africa region.
The current flagship mixed-use urban communities under the Festival City brand are Dubai Festival City, Cairo Festival City and Doha Festival City.
Dubai Festival City and Cairo Festival City are fully integrated communities which have been carefully master planned to offer a superior lifestyle destination with outstanding facilities, comprising residential and commercial accommodation, educational institutions and five-star hotels to fully complement the signature retail, leisure and entertainment proposition.
About Dubai Festival City:
Dubai Festival City is an established mixed-use destination developed by Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate, which has been designed to capture the cosmopolitan and rich spirit of Dubai. Featuring alongside a 3.3-kilometre creek, Dubai Festival City is a fully integrated mega project which has been carefully master planned to offer a superior lifestyle destination with outstanding facilities, comprising residential (Marsa Plaza, Al Badia Residences and Al Badia Hillside) and commercial space (Festival Tower) and educational institutions (Universal American School and Deira International School), and a family-friendly sports and social destination (Al Areesh Club).
Within Dubai Festival City sits the landmark 2.5million sq. ft urban retail destination, Dubai Festival City Mall – home to Guinness World Record holder and cutting-edge daily attraction, IMAGINE as well as IKEA and the only Hard Rock Café in the Middle East. The mall also offers almost 400 world class retailers, 75 restaurants – many of which feature waterfront dining and some of Dubai’s most photographed sunset vistas.
Additionally, Dubai Festival City also encompasses two five-star hotels – Intercontinental Dubai Festival City and Crowne Plaza Dubai Festival City and Holiday Inn Dubai Festival City to fully complement the signature retail, leisure and entertainment proposition.
A sought-after destination for residents, investors and stakeholders, Dubai Festival City delivers exceptional lifestyle experiences that have shaped the real estate landscape and continues to reinforce Dubai’s position as a global hub for business, education, tourism, leisure and entertainment.
About Al-Futtaim:
Established in the 1930s as a trading business, Al-Futtaim Group today is one of the most diversified and progressive, privately held regional businesses headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Structured into five operating divisions; automotive, financial services, real estate, retail and health; employing more than 42,000 employees in more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, we partner with over 200 of the world’s most admired and innovative brands. Al-Futtaim’s entrepreneurship and relentless customer focus enables the organization to continue to grow and expand; responding to the changing needs of our customers within the societies in which we operate. By upholding our values of respect, excellence, collaboration, integrity; Al-Futtaim continues to enrich the lives and aspirations of our customers each and every day.
