EC Harris joins Tiger Woods in the sand

EC Harris is set to win work on the first golf course designed by world number one golfer Tiger Woods.

It is understood that EC Harris will be appointed as commercial manager on the scheme, to be built in Dubai. The project will include a 197-unit residential complex known as the “Tiger Woods Dubai”, comprising a golf academy and hotel.

The golf course itself, a 7,800 yard, par-72 course called Al Ruwaya, is scheduled to open in 2009. The course is the first project by Tiger Woods Design, the Florida-based company headed by 31-year-old Woods, who has won 13 major championships.

Woods’ initiative follows announcements by fellow golfers Colin Montgomerie, Sergio Garcia and Greg Norman that they are working on courses in Dubai.

Woods’ scheme will be housed in Dubailand, a $7.5bn (£3.7bn) attraction that will include a dinosaur theme park and rainforest. It is understood that Tatweer, Dubai’s state-owned property developer, plans to build a series of “palaces” overlooking the course, priced at $15m (£7.4m) each.

EC Harris is already well established in Dubai. Earlier this year, the consultant landed a contract to project manage £19bn of developments in the Middle East after forming a joint venture with Sama Dubai, the international property and investment arm of Dubai Holding.

The alliance – one of the biggest project management deals in the world – is responsible for nine investment programmes in the Middle East. It is expected that the business, headed by Steve Jessup, a partner at EC Harris, will build up a staff of 400 in the next five years. Its flagship project will be the Lagoons, a property development spread over 70 million ft2 in Dubai.

EC Harris declined to comment.