Arada brings its Australian contractor Roberts Co to the UAE; its first job is Phase 2 of the Arada Central Business District at Aljada, Sharjah
Arada announced on Tuesday 6 October 2026 that Roberts Co, the Australian tier-one contractor whose New South Wales business it acquired in May 2025, has opened in the UAE with a head office team as part of Arada Industries, the group's in-house construction arm. Its first UAE project will be Phase 2 of the Arada Central Business District inside Aljada, the AED 35 billion mixed-use community in Sharjah, and it is already providing preconstruction services on Arada projects in Dubai and Sharjah. Arada says it has AED 171 billion of projects under development across the UAE, the UK and Australia and has delivered more than 17,500 homes.
What Arada announced on Tuesday
In a release dated 6 October 2026, also carried by Trade Arabia the same day, Arada said that Roberts Co, a tier-one Australian contractor with experience in the health, education, commercial, residential, hospitality, industrial, life sciences and defence sectors, has established a head office team in the UAE as part of Arada Industries. The release describes Arada Industries as the group's vertical-integration arm, through which it has brought construction, cranes, MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) and smart-technology capabilities in-house. Roberts Co's first UAE project will be Phase 2 of the Arada Central Business District, and it is already providing preconstruction services on several Arada projects in Dubai and Sharjah.
What the two chief executives said
Ahmed Alkhoshaibi, Group CEO of Arada: "By bringing a tier-one contractor of Roberts Co's calibre directly into our development process, we are able to embed exceptional delivery expertise from the earliest stages of design, reducing costs, improving efficiencies and raising the bar on quality across our portfolio." George Kostas, CEO of Roberts Co: "Roberts Co was built on a simple belief, that we build a better way. Bringing that belief to the UAE, and to a pipeline of projects of the scale and quality that Arada has assembled here, is an extraordinary opportunity."
The Arada Central Business District: what came before Phase 2
Arada launched the Central Business District at Aljada on 26 September 2022 as a commercial hub of 40 smart office blocks with 4.3 million square feet of leasable space and room for 20,000 workers, within 20 minutes' drive of Sharjah International Airport and Dubai International Airport. On 6 March 2025 it awarded an AED 604 million contract to Modern Building Contracting Company to build the first phase: eight blocks with 812,000 square feet of leasable space, 1,666 parking spaces and Arada's own nine-floor headquarters, for completion in the first quarter of 2027. Phase 2, the job Roberts Co will now build, is the next stage of the same office district. The same March 2025 release described Aljada as a 24 million square foot community of 25,000 homes, about 30% of them completed at that date, with a total investment of AED 35 billion.
From Sydney to Sharjah in 17 months
Arada completed the acquisition of the New South Wales business of Roberts Co on 7 May 2025. Its release at the time said the deal secured the jobs of 120 direct employees and gave stability to 600 people across 200 subcontractors and suppliers, kept four Sydney projects running (two public schools, the Children's Hospital at Westmead and a build-to-rent development in Parramatta), and that Roberts Co's expansion beyond Australia would start with the UAE. Tuesday's announcement is that step. According to the 6 October release, Arada now has AED 171 billion of projects under development across the UAE, the United Kingdom and Australia and has delivered more than 17,500 homes.
What Al Mithaq adds
We represent Arada's homes in Sharjah and Dubai and its London developments. Our Aljada page shows the one- to four-bedroom apartments at Jenna, Safa and The Gate inside this community, three minutes from University City and twenty from Dubai International Airport, with Madar, the entertainment hub designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, at its centre. Our UAE residency page explains which residency a purchase in Sharjah or Dubai can open and at what price. If you are weighing an off-plan apartment at Aljada, ask our team for the current construction stage of the building you are considering and the handover date in the contract; we answer from Kuwait the same day.
Sources
- Arada press release, 6 October 2026: Arada builds in-house construction capability with the expansion of Australian contractor Roberts Co into the UAE
- Trade Arabia, 6 October 2026: Arada boosts in-house construction capability with Roberts Co's UAE launch
- Medianet (Arada release, Australia), 6 October 2026: Australian tier-one contractor Roberts Co expands into the UAE
- Arada press release, 7 May 2025: Arada completes acquisition of the NSW business of construction firm Roberts Co
- Arada press release, 6 March 2025: Arada awards AED 604m contract to build the first phase of Arada Central Business District
- Arada press release, 26 September 2022: Arada Central Business District launches at Aljada
- Al Mithaq: Aljada by Arada, Sharjah
