A joint venture between Al Habtoor Leighton Group and Murray & Roberts has won the contract to build the St Regis Hotel and Residences on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi for the Tourism Development and Investment Company.

The project, which will include a 380-room hotel, 259 apartments and 33 villas, was retendered shortly after the downturn hit the property sector at the end of last year to benefit from cheaper building costs.

Although the value of the contract has not been disclosed, a person close to the deal said it was worth about Dh1.8bn (US$491m) compared with Dh2bn originally.

The National