Dubai has announced plans for a AED2bn ($545m) therapeutic wellness resort and leisure park project called Therme Dubai to be developed in Zabeel Park in collaboration with Vienna, Austria-based Therme Group, a specialist developer of spa, sauna, and indoor water park complexes.

Standing 100m tall and spanning 46,450 square metres, the project is set to be the largest facility of its kind globally and will feature numerous pools, baths and other therapeutic amenities, water park elements, an indoor botanical garden, art installations and a Michelin-star restaurant.

The project will be funded by a consortium of local and international partners, and with its integration of wellness, healthcare and recreational facilities is being positioned to strengthen Dubai’s medical tourism sector. It has an estimated completion date of 2028.

The project has been designed with sustainable engineering principles in mind by US-based architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, known for The Shed project in New York, and will recycle 90% of its bath water, and meet 80% of its cooling needs through clean energy sources.

Therme Bucharest – another project by the eponymous developer – is the world’s first LEED Platinum-certified wellbeing infrastructure.

The Therme Dubai project was presented by Mattar Al-Tayer, Director General of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority and Chairman of the Supreme Urban Planning Committee, in an event attended by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai.