Meydan and Mir Hashem Khoory (MHK) have announced an agreement to boost Meydan’s facilities by introducing strategic education projects, including a new Kent College Canterbury campus.
The partnership comes as Meydan and MHK work in tandem to fulfil a strategic directive by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum to offer UAE citizens and residents the highest standards of education.
UK-based Kent College Canterbury’s facilities in Meydan will be designated as an official Kent College campus and not a franchise, and will be managed and operated directly by Kent College.
The project has an estimated total budget AED150m, will be built on 400,000 sq ft of land, with construction expected to start in the third quarter of 2013.
The education project is slated to finish by June 2015 and is expected to start enrolling students in February 2015 for the 2015-2016 academic year.
The school will offer a high quality British education to over 2,000 students from the UAE, GCC and all over the world, a statement said.
The announcement comes as Meydan looks to round off its hospitality and horse-racing offerings with healthcare and education facilities to become an integrated community offering multi-purpose amenities.
Mohammad A Nasser Al Khayat, head of Commercial and Freezone at Meydan, said: “Meydan is master planned to deliver an integrated cityscape offering upscale residential communities mixed with amenities, business spaces and commercial opportunities that complement its world class thoroughbred racing and its five-star hospitality.
“By partnering with MHK, Meydan is delivering on its promise to create a variety of excellent offerings in education and other sectors. We aim to extend Meydan’s rigorous standards to a number of premium offerings across a number of sectors,” he said.
Shoaib Mir Hashem Khoory, managing director, MHK, added: “We are very proud to have partnered with Meydan to create exciting new projects in education that will serve a new generation and help turn Meydan into an integrated community.”
The Kent College Canterbury’s Meydan campus will offer classes from KG 1 to 12th Grade, with pupils in grade 6 and above benefiting from finishing classes and a strong emphasis on equestrian training due to the close proximity to Meydan.
Other facilities will include football and rugby fields, tennis courts, cricket grounds, and infrastructure for track and race events.
Dr David Lamper, headmaster, Kent College, said: “Kent College in Dubai will maintain a very close relationship with the one in the UK. Any Dubai student, at any point in time, may request a transfer to Kent College in the UK, provided that seats are available there.”
Meydan and MHK have recently announced the joint development of a new healthcare institution – the Korean Hospital, a Meydan based facility estimated at AED600m.
The announcements come at a key time in Meydan’s commercial development as it prepares a raft of major announcements over the next few weeks with partners across significant residential, logistics and facilities projects on its territory, which stretches for over 3.7 million sq m.
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