Yas Acres will see 1,315 villas built on Yas Island as part of an integrated residential and lifestyle led development that will eventually be home to more than 15,000 residents.

The $1.6 billion project by Aldar PJSC is the latest phase of Abu Dhabi’s strategic Yas Island City District that includes landmark attractions including the Yas F1 circuit. Broadway Malyan has worked with Aldar on the planning and design of Yas Island for the past seven years and has delivered a number of masterplanned and architecture projects. Yas Acres will be the first part of the wider North Yas District to be delivered, five years after the North Yas District won the ‘best urban design and masterplanning project’ category at the Abu Dhabi Cityscape Awards 2011 for Aldar.

James Rayner, Head of Urbanism for Broadway Malyan, said the success of the Island was the result of a comprehensive and detailed development approach that would create a long term legacy and deliver an exemplar entertainment destination and lifestyle district that would deliver a new benchmark for the region.

He said: “Yas Acres builds on several years of earlier work and has allowed us to demonstrate a best practice approach to forming great neighbourhoods supported by high quality residential architecture, integrated transit, retail and community centres, schools, recreation facilities including a marina and golf course as well as complete and extensive public realm.

“Yas Acres is an important project and its launch is a key milestone in the development of Yas Island, adding to our growing portfolio of residential work in the UAE, the Gulf and internationally. We have worked with Aldar for many years on the development of different parts of Yas Island, and it is excellent to see the new communities like Yas Acres taking shape and moving forward.”

Broadway Malyan has designed 18 separate residential typologies for the Yas Acres development ranging from two-bedroom townhouses to six bedroom villas with teams from the practice’s London, Singapore, Mumbai and Abu Dhabi studios all involved in the project. The project was launched at Cityscape in Abu Dhabi this week where Aldar announced that work was set to start on site immediately with the settlement set for completion by 2019.