BRITAIN sent the decommissioned QE2 to the Gulf as a floating hotel. Now Dubai is to return the favour, building the world’s biggest yacht to be anchored beside the Thames as a floating hotel.

The Aquiva is expected to be the world’s largest pleasure boat. It will enable hotel guests to obtain a flavour of the mega-yacht lifestyle when it is moored amid what today is a semi-derelict London landscape of warehouses and building sites.

The project follows the removal last year of Britain’s most famous cruise ship, the decommissioned QE2, to be refitted as a luxury hotel off the coast of one of Dubai’s popular artificial palm-shaped islands.

The contrast could hardly be greater between the azure waters where the QE2 is moored and the grey South Dock, future home of the Aquiva.

Accommodating 300 guests and due to open in 2012, the yacht will offer views of the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf in addition to the distinctive spikes of the O2 Millennium Dome.

The boat, whose design is said to be inspired by the sail-shaped Burj Dubai hotel, will dwarf other giant craft such as the 531ft Dubai, owned by the emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

Unlike normal yachts, the Aquiva will have no engine, relying on tugs to tow it into place. It will have to squeeze through locks connecting the Thames to South Dock where it will be permanently moored in time for the 2012 Olympics.

Where most mega-yachts would feature the captain’s bridge, the Aquiva will instead boast a presidential suite. The vessel will have seven decks and sit 75ft above the waterline.

Every suite will have its own Jacuzzi and – for days when the wind is not howling in off the North Sea – a private barbecue with a chef is available as well as sun decks.

A fleet of Venetian-style water taxis will be on hand to whisk guests to and from the office blocks at nearby Canary Wharf, some of the Olympic locations and other Thames-side destinations.

Rupert Mann, the interior designer responsible for decorating the yacht, said: “Obviously you haven’t got the Dubai climate but it’s an amazing location and we think it will become a real attraction.

“We’re aiming for six stars but with the economic climate we might have to settle for five. Either way the rooms will be spectacular. It’s going to be the height of luxury.”

The main backer of the project is the Dubai-based property developer Khalid Al-Ghurair. It plans a chain of yacht hotels around the Gulf in addition to the one in London.

The idea is that the yacht will be the centrepiece of a luxury development that rejuvenates its rundown location with a Dubai-style archipelago of artificial islands containing moorings for yachts, waterfront cafes, beaches, nature reserves and parkland.

Wood Wharf, which is being designed by Lord Rogers, architect of the dome, will roughly double the size of the existing Canary Wharf development.

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