121 buildings LEED certified at EXPO 2020 Dubai site, says organisers
80% of the event’s permanent buildings will be repurposed and be part of District 2020
EXPO 2020 Dubai has announced that more than 120 permanent buildings across the site have been certified by the US Green Building Council. Of the 121 LEED-certified buildings, 103 are LEED Gold, nine are LEED Silver and two are ‘Certified’.
Billed as a major sustainability milestone for the event and its legacy (the site will become District 2020 post the six-month event), the human-centric sustainable smart city will repurpose 80% of the project site, the statement said.
Seven buildings across the 4.38sqkm location including the UAE Pavilion, Terra – The Sustainability Pavilion and ENOC’s Service Station of the Future have been certified ‘Platinum’ – the highest possible rating under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
LEED is the most widely used green building rating system globally, and a mark of excellence for highly-efficient, cost-saving sustainable architecture, the organisers explained.
“A result of the hard work and dedication of our sustainability and site-delivery teams, our LEED certifications are emblematic of our efforts not only to host one of the most sustainable World EXPOs in history but to ensure our physical legacy, District 2020, serves as a model for the sustainable smart cities of the future,” said EXPO 2020 chief development and delivery officer Ahmed Al Khatib.
After EXPO ends on March 31, next year, its LEED-certified buildings will live on within District 2020, the sustainable human-centric smart city that will repurpose 80% of the event’s permanent built environment, he added.
Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan, MD, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, Green Business Certification (GBCI) added, “Achieving LEED certification is more than just implementing sustainable practices. It represents a commitment to making the world a better place and influencing others to do better.”
The LEED certifications build on the eight Ceequal ‘Excellent’ certificates, awarded to EXPO earlier this year for numerous infrastructure projects, including Al Wasl Plaza and the steel and trellis work of the dome that encircles it, creating the largest 360-degree projection surface in the world.
“Given the extraordinary importance of climate protection in the Middle East and the central role buildings play in that effort, Expo 2020 Dubai is setting the intention for the entire region, and carving a path toward the sustainable future its citizens deserve. I am honoured that they have chosen Leed certification to commit to this worthy goal,” concluded Padmanabhan.
