Siemens opens LEED Platinum HQ at Masdar City
Inauguration stamps Siemens’ presence in UAE’s largest sustainable community, Masdar City.
Electronics giant Siemens inaugurated its “showcase” Middle East headquarters, Abu Dhabi’s first LEED Platinum building.
A large crowd of stakeholders, VIPs and media attended the opening ceremony at the site in Masdar City, the capital’s low-carbon, sustainable community.
Designed by Sheppard Robson, the 18,000m2 building reduces energy consumption by almost 50% compared to conventional buildings of the same size.
A highly insulated inner façade is designed to reduce thermal conductivity and a lightweight aluminum external shading system minimises solar gain.
Speaking before the event, David Ardill, partner and design director at Sheppard Robson, commented: “We decided that the common ground between sustainability and good commercial office design is efficiency.
“If you can build more with less it means you are getting better value for money and you are using less material which means less carbon. [Efficiency was] underlying every choice we made.”
The building is fitted with Siemens’ latest energy saving and monitoring technologies, and acts as a “showcase building”, according to Joerg Scheifler CEO, Infrastructure & Cities Sector, Middle East, Siemens. “We packed into it as many technologies in Siemens’ offering as possible,” he added.
“All of the technologies are state-of-the-art. For instance we used the latest Siemens building automation system which is on the market. We will happily bring customers here and let them look behind the scenes to see how the technology works.”
A full site visit feature on the building will appear in the launch edition of Middle East Consultant, a new magazine for construction consultants by CPI Media.
