Dubai-based Engineering Contracting Company (ECC) has been awarded a contract by Emaar Properties to build the Mulberry apartments on Emaar’s Dubai Hills Site, at the junction of Al Khail Road and Umm Suqeim Road, The National reported.

The project includes the construction of 652 apartments, penthouses and a parking for 960 cars, to be built as a series of low-rise apartment blocks with a built-up area of 177,500 square metres.

The project is purported to be worth over AED 690 million. “Dubai Hills will be one of the very attractive areas for living in Dubai. The location, the concept, is beautiful,” ECC’s Chief Executive, Hatem Farah said.

“It was well studied as a complete community before launch. Emaar has come up with a complete concept and it is cleverly laid out. It’s not a replica. They created Downtown Burj Khalifa, which is a masterpiece. Now, they’re coming with a completely different approach to Dubai Hills,” Farah added.

Dubai Hills sprawls an 11 million square meter area, and will include a 1.29 million square metre championship golf course, a flagship 143,377 sq metre mall, 210,778 sq metres of community retail, 197,000 sq metres of offices, homes and hotels. It is expected that once it is fully developed, the site will have 24,000 homes.

The AED 687 first phase will be built over 204,387 square meters, to include a shopping mall with a pair of residential towers. The towers will encompass 761 flats, while the complex will have parking for 1,500 cars. The first phase is expected to be completed by 2018

ECC is a 41-year-old contracting company that is responsible for building phase two of Dubai Properties’ Remraam housing project in Dubailand and its AED 800 million Dubai Wharf shopping and residential scheme.