The Heart of Europe - Sweden Island

Sweden Island sits within The World Islands archipelago, roughly four kilometres off the Dubai coastline. Developed by The Heart of Europe (THOE), the project comprises ten beachfront palaces across the man-made island, each a seven-bedroom, fully furnished private estate. The single residence listed here is priced at AED 125 million and completed as of Q4 2024.

# The island, its architecture and how it fits the World Islands project

The World Islands is a man-made archipelago shaped to resemble a global map when seen from the air. Sweden Island is one parcel within that geography, positioned in the Arabian Gulf with open water on all sides. The scale is deliberately constrained: ten palaces on one island, no more.

The architectural reference point is the inverted hull of a Viking longship. Each palace rises seven floors, and the glass roof on the uppermost level follows the curved profile of an upturned vessel. It is an unusual structural choice for a Gulf address, and it reads as a genuine design position rather than ornamental branding.

# Seven bedrooms, 21,560 sq ft and the specification behind the number

At 21,560 square feet, each palace distributes its programme across six residential floors plus a rooftop terrace described in the project materials as a sky terrace. Seven bedrooms sit within that footprint, alongside a grand reception room on the top floor enclosed in a full-height window wall facing the seascape.

The interiors are furnished by Bentley Home, the furniture line that draws on the craft vocabulary of Bentley's automotive work: hand-selected materials, close-tolerance joinery, a preference for natural surfaces over synthetic ones. The furnishing is included in the purchase price.

Every palace has its own private beach, a coral reef garden and an exotic garden. These are not shared amenities accessed through a lobby. They belong to the individual estate.

# Amenities within the residence

Because each palace is a standalone estate, the amenity list reads differently from a tower project. There is no common pool deck or shared residents' club.

# Within each palace

• Private gym and spa
• Sauna room
• Snow room
• Top-floor party room with a glass roof
• Private beach and ocean frontage
• Coral reef garden and exotic garden

The snow room in particular reflects a Nordic design sensibility that runs through the broader Sweden Island concept. It is an unusual fixture in a Gulf residence, and one that underlines the project's positioning as a cultural statement as much as a property investment.

# Getting to and from an island four kilometres offshore

The World Islands has no road connection to the mainland. Access is by boat or helicopter. For buyers evaluating this residence, that is not a footnote; it is a defining condition of daily life. The seclusion is the product, and the distance from Dubai's road network is what produces it.

The proximity to central Dubai, roughly a fifteen-minute boat transfer to Dubai Marina or the coast near Jumeirah, means the island is genuinely usable as a primary or secondary residence rather than a remote retreat accessible only on holiday schedules. Exact transfer times depend on the point of departure and the vessel.

# Who this residence is for and where it sits in the Dubai ultra-prime market

At AED 125 million for a single estate, this is among the highest-ticket residential offerings currently on the market in Dubai. The comparison set is thin: Palm Jumeirah's most significant villa transactions, a handful of Jumeirah Bay Island residences, the occasional off-market compound sale.

The buyer here is unlikely to be purchasing Dubai property for the first time. The profile is closer to someone consolidating a global property portfolio, adding an asset that has no direct equivalent elsewhere. No tower in Dubai, however tall or well-specified, replicates ownership of a private island palace with its own beach and reef.

The service charge of AED 25 per square foot annually reflects the operational complexity of a marine-access island. Buyers should factor that into total cost of ownership alongside the acquisition price.