Dubai: Zabeel Properties yesterday unveiled details of a new hotel and leisure development for Dubai – with plans for the five-star hotel and resort.

The Dubai-based luxury developer also confirmed the appointment of innovative Los Angeles-based architecture firm Graft, whose team of design consultants will include Hollywood actor Brad Pitt.

At the heart of the project will be an 800-room five-star hotel, which will eventually play host to most gla-morous events and award ceremonies. Its precise location in Dubai is to be confirmed in the near future.

“Pitt’s involvement in the design for the resort demonstrates his deep-seated interest in the project. It is set to become a flagship hotel complex for Dubai and a world-leader in environmental sustainability,” Zabeel said in a statement.

The project will also be socially conscious, something that Zabeel Properties, the boutique developer, has quickly become renowned for in its commitment to create new working environments that enhance the communities within which they are situated.

“Through this long term partnership with our friends, there are plans to launch similar such developments across other major global cities, but we are proud that Dubai will be the first,” said Mohammad Ali Al Hashemi, executive chairman of Zabeel Investments.

Pitt is currently building 150 new affordable and sustainable homes in New Orleans for residents of its’ Lower 9th Ward, an area of the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Pitt, together with film producer Steve Bing, have pledged $5 million each to the ‘Make it Right’ rebuilding project.