Work is now well underway on Abu Dhabi’s AED 6.4bn Sphere, the second venue of its kind anywhere in the world after the original opened in Las Vegas in 2023. The venue is targeting completion in 2029.
ALEC Holdings won the build contract in May 2026 from the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, and the job now stands as the single biggest item in the contractor’s Dhs32.5bn order book. According to ALEC chief executive Barry Lewis, the project has moved quickly since award: Atkins has come on board as lead designer, permit submissions have been lodged, the major procurement packages covering structural steel and technology partners have been locked in, and enabling works and piling are already in progress on site.
The finished structure will measure roughly 150 metres across and is built around two separate skins. The outer shell — the Exosphere — will carry around 580,000 sq ft of programmable LED, billed as the largest display of its kind globally. Inside, a 160,000 sq ft wraparound screen paired with immersive audio will surround the audience, assembled from 933 facets made up of 62,872 tiles, each one individually calibrated.
That level of precision is what makes the build unusual. Lewis explained that design, procurement and construction all have to run alongside one another rather than in sequence, and that assembly tolerances are tight enough for a swing of just four or five degrees to throw off specification — meaning parts of the installation have to happen under controlled temperature and dust conditions.
Although the Abu Dhabi venue keeps the instantly recognisable Sphere form, a considerable amount of re-engineering has gone into adapting it for the region — Gulf climate loads, local building codes, power demand and supply chain realities all differ from Nevada. As Lewis put it, delivering an identical experience for the public does not translate into an identical construction solution behind the scenes.
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Source: Gulf Business, “Abu Dhabi Sphere: ALEC construction update”
