Dubai Islands: what the first handovers tell us

For three years the question about Dubai Islands was whether it would move from drawings to streets. In 2026 it did, and the way it moved tells you more about how to buy there than any brochure.

Three events matter. In March a private developer handed over the first completed residential building. In April Nakheel let the primary infrastructure contract for Island B. In October it let the contract that will reshape that island's western beach. Read together, they describe a district being delivered in the order island districts are always delivered: buildings on the first served plots, then the roads and utilities that unlock the next ones, then the coastline that makes the whole thing worth living on.

The first handover

On 5 March 2026 Imtiaz Developments reported that it had completed and handed over Beach Walk by Imtiaz, which it describes as the first residential project delivered on Dubai Islands. Coverage in Gulf News, published as partner content, gives the building 80 homes across studios, one and two bedroom apartments, with a rooftop pool, clubhouse and gym, and places the developer's Dubai Islands portfolio at over AED 6 billion across more than fifteen projects.

Two cautions. The "first" claim is the developer's own, and we have not seen Nakheel confirm it. And the coverage we rely on is promotional. Neither changes the central fact, which is that residents can now live on the islands, and that a private developer with a large pipeline there chose to deliver its first building before the district's own infrastructure was finished. That is a statement of confidence, and it is also a reminder that early buildings sit ahead of the services around them.

The infrastructure that follows

On 20 April 2026 Nakheel announced a AED 527 million contract with Al Nasr Contracting Company for Island B. The scope is primary infrastructure: roads and paving, potable water, electrical and telecom networks, drainage and sewage, and integration with the district cooling network, with technical coordination to Island A. Nakheel's release describes this as the enabling work for the island's residential, hospitality and mixed use plots.

The same release restates the master plan in its current form: five islands across 18.6 square kilometres, about 57 kilometres of coastline including 21 kilometres of beach, 49,000 homes, more than 231,000 residents, and three bridges to the mainland tied into the Al Shindagha Corridor. Those are planning figures, not delivery dates. Nakheel's 2022 master plan described 17 square kilometres; the figure has since been restated as 18.6, and we have not seen the difference explained.

Island B is also where Nakheel's own Bay Villas community sits. The Dubai Media Office reported in August 2025 that Nakheel had awarded Fibrex Contracting a AED 2.6 billion contract to build its 636 homes. No completion date was published.

The coastline

On 8 October 2026 Nakheel appointed Mar Marine and Building Contracting to upgrade about 3 kilometres of Island B's western shoreline. The works add 320 metres of beach frontage near Bay Villas, build new breakwaters, remove existing rock revetments, form a new beach and refurbish several existing beach areas. Nakheel gave a completion date of the fourth quarter of 2027.

This is the contract to watch if you are buying anything on the western side of Island B. Until it finishes, the shoreline a buyer sees on a site visit is not the shoreline they will own.

The bridge

Access is the open question. The Roads and Transport Authority completed the Bur Dubai side of the Al Shindagha Corridor in May 2025 and said at the time that work had begun on a 1,425 metre bridge from Bur Dubai to Dubai Islands, with four lanes each way, capacity for 16,000 vehicles an hour and a pedestrian and cycling path. Announcements going back to 2023 targeted 2026. As of early November 2026 we have not seen an official opening date, so we treat the bridge as pending until the RTA says otherwise. The existing Infinity Bridge connection remains the route today.

What this means for a buyer

Buildings and neighbourhoods complete at different times. Beach Walk is handed over. The roads, utilities and beaches around much of Island B are contracted but not finished. A buyer of a completed unit today is buying a home in a district still under construction, and should price the next two years of that accordingly.

Judge the plot, not the plan. Ask which infrastructure package serves the specific plot: is it on land already served, or does it depend on the April 2026 works, the 2027 shoreline works, or a bridge with no published date? The answer changes both the delivery risk and the resale timing.

Weight developer delivery records. The first building on the islands came from a private developer, not the master developer. On a district like this, a developer's track record of completing on its own announced dates matters as much as the master plan.

Hold the master developer to its own numbers. Nakheel's restated figures, the contract values and the Q4 2027 shoreline date are now on the record. They are the benchmarks to check against, and the questions to put to any sales office.

We will update this article when the RTA publishes a bridge opening date or Nakheel publishes a completion date for Bay Villas.