HSBC is constructing an headquarters in Dubai’s Downtown area costing around $250 million. The bank’s Middle East business will now be moved to this bulding from the Channel Island of Jersey. The 20-storey building will be sited on Emaar Square, next to the headquarters of Standard Chartered. It will be significantly taller than those of its rivals. Work will begin soon on the 320,000-square-foot premises, and HSBC hopes to take up occupancy in 2018. When it does, it will mean the bank vacating its existing HQ in the historic Bur Dubai building by Dubai Creek, which has been a center of banking in the Arabian Gulf for six decades. Two other existing premises – in Emaar Square and the Lufthansa building on Sheikh Zayed Road – will also be vacated. The new Middle East regional HQ will be in Dubai International Financial Centre. The new building is being developed by the Irish firm Gulf Resources Development and Investment, and HSBC will buy the freehold of the premises on completion.
