Thomson Perrett & Lobb, the international golf course architecture practice founded by five-time Open Champion Peter Thomson with partners Ross Perrett and Tim Lobb, has been appointed by HOK, global leaders in innovation for the built environment, to create a championship golf course at Al Ain Emarat in the UAE.
The 18-hole golf course will be part of a new community in the desert in Al Ain, the UAE’s largest inland city and the second city of the emirates of Abu Dhabi, designed by the pioneering sustainable architectural practice HOK.
The settlement will be home to 120,000 people with facilities including a 40,000-seat sports stadium, leisure complex, business district and housing. It will be a major suburb for the oasis city of Al Ain, known as ‘The Garden City of the Gulf, and will feature an innovative 7km canal system integrated into both the residential community and golf course.
Launching the golf project at the second GolfEx Dubai, golf course designer and TPL partner Tim Lobb said, “The golf course at Al Ain Emarat, like the new community itself, will be extraordinary. This is an outstanding desert site, overlooked by mountains, with rolling sand dunes that will be incorporated naturally into the golf course, also combining HOK’s innovative canal system.
“TPL shares HOK’s vision for sustainable design and so there has been a natural synergy in our discussions for this project. Both practices believe Al Ain Emarat will be a very special place.”
Al Ain 2
Design work on the course is already underway with construction likely to start in later this year.
Barry Lowe of HOK said, “This course will bring this new community a traditional course of international standard – a course for the real golfer.”
Thomson Perrett & Lobb www.tpl.eu.com