One Za'abeel

One Za’abeel did the hard thing on purpose. Rather than build two ordinary towers, developer Ithra Dubai bridged them 100 metres above a six-lane highway with The Link, a 230-metre structure whose 67.5-metre cantilever is the longest of any building on earth. The result is one of Dubai’s most recognizable mixed-use addresses, sitting on a tight site between the airport and the financial district.

Project Scope

Designed by Japanese firm Nikken Sekkei, One Za’abeel pairs a 305-metre tower with a 235-metre sibling, straddling Sheikh Zayed Road. The Link spans the gap with offices, restaurants, and a rooftop infinity pool, and large parts of it were assembled on the ground before being lifted into place, a logistics feat as much as a structural one. The development packs in the One&Only One Za’abeel hotel, branded residences, offices, and retail. General contractor ALEC Engineering & Contracting ran the build, which began in 2016 and wrapped in December 2023, with Otis handling the vertical transport across both towers.

Why It Matters

Cantilevers this long are usually bridges, not buildings, and The Link turned a Guinness World Record into usable floor area instead of a stunt. For a city that competes on superlatives, One Za’abeel is a reminder that the next landmark isn’t always the tallest. Sometimes it’s the one that solves the harder geometry. It joins a Gulf skyline still adding icons, from Jeddah Tower across the water to Six Senses Residences in Dubai Marina, and it does it on a footprint most developers would have called unbuildable.

Project Team & Details