Josef Kleindienst, chairman of Kleindienst Group, reveals every detail on the iconic AED 18.3 billion project, set to be completed by the end of 2022.
Tell us a bit more about The Heart of Europe project.
The Heart of Europe is an iconic hospitality and second-home destination project, being developed in line with the Vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to attract international visitors and investors to Dubai. It’s an innovative and sustainable tourism project being built on a cluster of six islands, with a total development value exceeding $5 billion (AED 18.3 billion).
Once complete by the end of 2022, The Heart of Europe will have 15 hotels and 4,000 units including with 3,500 hotel keys – waterfront villas, hotel suites and Floating Seahorse Villas – the world’s first three-level floating villa, which will appeal to local, regional and international visitors.
Once completed, the project will be one of the most sought-after leisure holiday destinations in the Gulf and the world over, competing against leading island and resort destinations such as the Maldives, Portofino and the French Riviera.
The atmospheric destination is likely to become a popular filming location for European interior and exterior scenes.
Ultimately, the destination will help boost the UAE’s sustainable tourism sector. Thanks to the Coral Institute, its residential CRS programme, it plans to grow 100,000 coral reefs annually and plant them in the waters of the masterplan to attract marine life. The plan is to enrich 500,000 square metres of coral reefs over the next few years.
Coral reefs cover less than 1% of the ocean floor, but support 25% of all marine life. The Heart of Europe was designed with a zero-discharge and micro-plastics policy. This contributes to the protection of the Arabian Gulf ecosystem, which is home to 514 species of marine life.
Phase I, which involves the delivery of around 600 units, will be delivered progressively in the fourth quarter of 2020. This includes Portofino family hotel, Sweden Beach Palace, Honeymoon Island, Germany and the Côte d’Azur resort.
How was the concept of the project conceived?
The Heart of Europe is the brainchild of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, and Ruler of the Emirate of Dubai.
The World Islands was initially planned to bring the best of the world’s culture, tourism, heritage and festivities to Dubai – in each of the islands that were planned to represent a particular country, region or culture.
The project is my vision, and I conceived the idea to recreate the European culture and heritage in a cluster of islands within the World islands – developed by Nakheel.
I wanted to create an island destination where leisure tourists would stay and enjoy the best of European hospitality, culture, cuisine and entertainment in extraordinary sustainable settings. The project will also offer breath-taking views of the emerald lush landscape, shimmering turquoise seascape, etched Dubai skyline, as well as underwater treasures, such as the multi-coloured coral reefs teeming with marine life.
My passion for experiential destinations has driven me to travel and study underwater projects and ecosystems globally. I then purchased seven islands to develop tourism assets that will offer the best of Europe – all in Dubai – so that people could avail the taste of Europe in the emirate itself.
The project was originally conceived in 2008 and relentlessly progressed to the final leg of execution amid two economic crises and slowdowns that underscore the developer’s long-term vision, unfailing determination and capabilities to overcome challenging circumstances and deliver promises.
What does each of the experiences on the island represent and draw inspiration from?
I travelled to many European cities during my childhood and, in the course of my career, carried sweet memories. So, when I was planning to bring the best of the European experiences to Dubai, I remembered my own sweet memories of certain places, foods and festivals, and decided to bring the best of the best to Dubai.
For example, when I planned the Portofino and Côte d’Azur hotels, I thought of those two distinct places in Italy and France – and planned two resorts to reflect and recreate a similar ambience and environment for tourists.
So, a family won’t have to travel to Italy to experience the charm and lifestyle of Portofino. They will experience the ultimate Italian escape at Portofino at The Heart of Europe where the staff will speak Italian, authentic cuisine is served, the Euro currency is accepted and even the time zone is that of Italy.
What sort of intricacies have you found to be of utmost importance in this market?
The most important aspect of a tourism project in a city like Dubai – which is the largest tourism market in the Middle East – is to bring and deliver iconic and innovative projects so that tourists keep coming back to the city.
At The Heart of Europe, tourists will find a number of innovations that will motivate them to come back to the emirate a few more times.
The other aspect is in the details of the project’s design and construction. In terms of the project’s positioning, we went into detailed research on European culture, heritage and festivities – which will create the perfect European destination in the otherwise hot and humid Gulf climate. We had to overcome this and invested in over five years of feasibility studies.
How have you been marketing the project? Have you digitised opportunities now given the circumstances?
The project has been in the market for a while – that’s how we sold nearly 1,500 units and completion will start by the end of 2020. Yes, we have been using a combination of push and pull marketing to raise the awareness, appeal and investors’ demand for the destination.
However, we will market the project extensively again, once the tourism market opens. We also expanded our sales, brokers and customer service operations online to adjust to the “new normal” and have developed new brand assets to service them.
What sort of hospitality projects can we expect on the island?
The project is an upscale boutique hospitality and second-home destination with a European flavour. It will be full of fun-filled activities with 51 European festivals running throughout the year.
The destination will comprise 15 highly differentiated hotels, each offering a distinctive experience and ambience. There will be Portofino family hotel and its unique kids club, Kingdom of Portofino, and La Donna, the ladies-only social lounge and spa, but also 15 spas with a snow room.
Plus, the Rainy Street, rainforest, record-size swimming pool, snorkelling, water sports, pearl diving, marine life edutainment, in addition to indoor fitness and recreational activities.
What’s something that many people don’t know about the project?
The destination is highly sustainable and innovative. For example, there will be a climate-controlled street where it will rain on demand while maintaining the temperature to 27°C (or 80.6°F) to mimic the European summer climate.
The Heart of Europe will also deploy sustainable landscaping which will be pesticide and fungicide-free and showered with recycled water from micro-jungles to giant hanging gardens. The island is also committed to be totally car-free and use clean energy, and will eventually offer sustainable water transportation to guests.
Organic food will be served across the destination’s restaurants and cafés
and the 24/7 room service offerings, adding health and wellness to the incredible beauty of the islands.
Lastly, to complete the empathetic hospitality and meaningful ‘island time’ experiences, the destination hotels will be touchless. The fully integrated hospitality app will enable guests to manage entertainment and dining reservations across the destination directly from their mobiles or to monitor and customise their preferred lighting or temperature settings in their suites on the spot, without having to place a call or any waiting time.
We were happy to see zero COVID-19 cases reported, but how has the pandemic impacted the island?
While the COVID-19 outbreak has halted business activities onshore, the Heart of Europe islands are currently abuzz with activities where engineers, consultants and workers are speeding up construction works – thanks to the offshore location and stringent prevention standards that have kept the island safe, dynamic and healthy.
During the lockdown, all the 1,200 people who resided on the island, worked over-time thanks to an incentive scheme. It actually greatly contributed to accelerate construction activities during the lockdown.
Due to its location more than four kilometres offshore from Dubai’s famous Jumeirah coastline, The Heart of Europe has remained completely free from the coronavirus threat. Management also moved its operations to speed up construction even further and work more closely with the construction teams who have been working from the islands for over five years.
Kleindienst Group supplied fresh food to them while a residential chef ensured freshly processed and cooked food was served to all who are living and working on the island. A medical team is also on site to monitor the health, safety and well-being of the workers and so far has found no symptoms of coronavirus among them.
Many are worried about sustainability, given the nature of the development, what can you tell them about that matter?
Sustainability and the protection of marine life have been pivotal in the development of The Heart of Europe. The project is home to the Coral Institute, which spearheads a pioneering coral reef ‘seahabilitation’ programme that aims to develop marine life in the surrounding waters.
With sustainability at its core, The Heart of Europe will see the development of more than 500,000 square metres of coral reefs and feature Spanish olive trees between 100 and 1,500 years old, which were sourced from Andalusia, a region in Spain’s southern coast. Moreover, the world’s first climate-controlled rainy street and snow plaza.
The island will host magnificent hanging gardens on the façade of the Portofino-inspired hotel with an astonishing 100,000 plants. It will also offer sustainable entertainment with zero emissions and no harm to nature such as the hologram circus and synchronized swimming shows.
Through a long-term approach to the management of surrounding ecosystems, the Heart of Europe aims to capture growing demand from consumers for more environmentally friendly travel and accommodation options, leading to benefits for both the environment and the economy, while potentially earning healthier returns for investors.
What sort of F&B concepts are you bringing to this massive development?
There will be over 50 restaurants and cafés offering a wide range of organic and authentic cuisines from Europe, in line with the positioning of the destination to bring the best of Europe to Dubai.
What do you foresee in terms of The Heart of Europe’s success and what’s it going to change in the industry landscape?
The Heart of Europe is a game-changing tourism project which will create additional attractions for tourists to come to Dubai again and again. It brings a new geography to the UAE and is the new frontier in real estate and hospitality.
Anything else you’d like to add?
The Heart of Europe will host 142 Floating Seahorse villas in four different locations, the main colony will be at Honeymoon Island, a Maldivian-like island with floating piers and coral reef gardens.
The Floating Seahorse villas are delightful and innovative three-storied real estate units that float on the water, while their lower floor is completely submerged underwater. A homegrown innovation, its three levels have a built-up area of 4,004 square feet which can accommodate up to eight people.
The underwater level is spacious with two rooms and en-suite bathrooms, and is equipped with two panoramic floor-to-ceiling glass windows that offer captivating views of the colourful coral reefs teeming with marine life from the Arabian Gulf – including the bright-striped clown fish, stylish deep blue angel fish, majestic purple Tang, shy toad fish, tranquil seahorses, graceful pink anemones and ink black sea urchins.
The sea level deck offers a large living room with privacy windows, allowing for natural light to flow in, panoramic sliding doors opening up to the lounge deck, a ladder to access the sea water, and a clever and sustainable recreational area – a mesh hammock that doubles up as a trampoline and is skylit to ensure the corals reef gardens underneath can thrive.
The sky deck boasts panoramic views of the Dubai skyline and seascape, an outdoor dining area with privacy shades, a jacuzzi and a sun lounge area. The deck is wrapped with a transparent fence, allowing for unobstructed views of the outdoors.
Kleindienst Group has started developing a 1-kilometre long innovative and sustainable Rainy Street, where it will rain on command to refresh the street and mimic the European summer climate. The street is located at the Main Europe island and will be set along a boulevard filled with cafés and retailers, making it a major UAE attraction when Phase I of the project opens later this year.
An engineering marvel, the Rainy Street will reduce the temperature to 27 degree Celsius (or 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit), during the summer season providing enough cooling to enjoy the outdoors.
A homegrown innovation backed by Fraunhofer Institute, Europe’s largest application-oriented research organisation, the Rainy Street will be a game-changer in attracting tourists to The Heart of Europe and UAE.
