PETER THOMSON INVOLVED IN
NEW UAE CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE
Thomson Perrett & Lobb, the international golf course architecture practice founded by five times Open champion Peter Thomson with partners Ross Perrett and Tim Lobb, has been appointed by HOK, global leaders in innovation for the built environment, to create a championship golf course, Ain Al Emarat, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The 18-hole golf course will be part of a new community in the desert on the outskirts of Al Ain, the UAE’s largest inland city and the second city of
the Abu Dhabi Emirate, designed by the pioneering sustainable architectural practice HOK.
The settlement will be home to 120,000 people with facilities including a 40,000-seat sports stadium, leisure complex, business district and housing.
It will be a major suburb for the oasis city of Al Ain, known as The Garden City of the Gulf, and will feature an innovative 7km canal system integrated into both the residential community and golf course.
Announcing the news at GolfEx Dubai, golf course designer and TPL partner
Tim Lobb said: “The golf course at Ain Al Emarat, like the new community itself, will be extraordinary. This is an outstanding desert site, overlooked by mountains, with rolling sand dunes that will be incorporated naturally into the golf course, also combining HOK’s innovative canal system.
"TPL shares HOK's vision for sustainable design and so there has been a natural synergy in our plans for this project. Both practices believe Ain Al Emarat will be a very special place."
Design work on the course is already underway with construction likely to start in later this year.
Barry Lowe of HOK said: "Ain Al Emarat is a major new community with sport
playing at the heart of the city, one that will stand apart because of our unique approach, also by the creating of towns using sustainable architecture.
"The golf course is an essential element of the new community, which is why we wanted to work with a golf course design company that shared our values and vision, and could create an outstanding, traditional style course of international standard. Thomson Perrett & Lobb has proved to be the perfect partner in this regard, and I believe our creation in the "Garden City of
the Gulf" will be a greatly admired new golf community."
Thomson Perrett & Lobb's origins date back to 1965 when Peter Thomson (pictured above), the five-times Open champion, formed the founding design practice based in Melbourne.
Since then the company has expanded and opened a further office in Beijing and, in 2004, Tim Lobb joined Peter Thomson and Ross Perrett to head up TPL in London, giving the business a truly globalreach.
Together, Thomson Perrett & Lobb have more than 75 years' experience in
creating internationally recognised, integrated golfing facilities in more
than 30 countries worldwide.