Arada has completed Nest, a premium purpose-built housing cluster based in Aljada community in Sharjah. The Dhs700 million Nest complex features 2,473 fully furnished dormitories (both individual and shared) spread over 12 apartment blocks. Situated on a 380,000-square-foot plot located next to Aljada’s business district, Nest is a smart technology-enabled cluster that sets a new standard for student housing regionally.

Ahmed Alkhoshaibi, Group CEO of Arada, said, “Nest is an impeccably designed community that allows students an engaging and inspiring environment within the surroundings of Sharjah’s most exciting lifestyle community. So much more than a place to sleep and study, Nest residents benefit not only from incredible amenities within the complex, but from the facilities in the rest of the Aljada master plan as well.”

Nest’s list of facilities includes an art studio, a music hall, a library, a state-of-the-art running track that surrounds the complex, an amphitheatre and a central dining hall, while tenants also have access to male- and female-only swimming pools, gyms and study areas.

Arada has also committed to providing Nest residents with a number of part-time employment opportunities at local retail and food and beverage outlets, both in the complex and Aljada as a whole.

Leasing for Nest starts in January and will be arranged by Arada’s onsite management teams, who will also oversee all facilities management and provide 24-hour security.

Nest benefits strongly from Aljada’s location adjacent to University City, which contains two of the region’s largest and most distinguished higher education institutions, University of Sharjah and American University of Sharjah (AUS), which between them host some 20,000 students alone, plus an additional eight other colleges and institutions.

Nest is also ideally located to serve the more than 60,000-strong student body in nearby Dubai.

The completion of Nest means that Arada has now completed 3,555 units in Aljada as a whole, following the completion of the first residential phase of the master community in April this year. Around 4,500 homes are currently under construction at Aljada, where the East Village residential phase and the second Sarab villa complex are both just weeks away from completion.

Arada has awarded two major contracts together totalling Dhs939 million to build 986 new homes across two residential districts at Masaar, Sharjah’s woodland megaproject.

Valued at Dhs8 billion and containing 4,000 homes spread over seven gated districts, Masaar features a nature-inspired master plan containing more than 50,000 trees.

Valued at Dhs401 million, the contract to build 421 villas and town-houses in Masaar’s second residential phase, Kaya, was won by Pivot Engineering & General Contracting, an Abu Dhabi-based firm with more than 44 years’ experience in the local market. Construction on Kaya will begin immediately and is scheduled to take 18 months.