Mace pioneers 'green' shopping malls at Mirdif City Centre
Media
02/09/2008
Mirdif City Centre is one of the first shopping centre ventures in the Dubai region to use ecologically friendly construction techniques. Mace was appointed to the project in January 2007 in a project management role for long term client Majid Al Futtaim (MAF). The city centre will adopt Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards; a rating system developed in the US and now used in the UAE by the Emirates as the methodology to measure sustainability.
Championed across the project team, Mirdif City Centre is currently on target to achieve a LEED silver rating, but the MAF project director and the Mace team is pushing the design with the aim of achieving a gold rating. This will be a first for a shopping mall in the UAE.
In order to achieve this rating, the project has to comply with LEED protocols, both in terms of design tactics - to reduce energy and water demand - and in the construction phase, for sustainable procedures of waste management, recycling and material selection. Shahram Shamsaee, senior vice-president, Majid Al Futtaim Shopping Malls said: "Mirdif City Centre is our flagship pilot scheme aiming to implement the LEED procedures and protocols therefore allowing us to witness the benefits of eco-friendly construction techniques. We have appointed the leaders in this field, Green Technologies, as specialist LEED consultants for the project and they are helping us in directing the design and building teams through the various stages."
The green concepts that are being incorporated as core values at Mirdif City Centre include the use of materials, design forms and construction processes that minimise the negative impact on the environment. This will help conserve natural resources as well as enhance and protect the environment.
Mirdif City Centre comprises 3,116,451 square foot of gross floor area spread over a service basement ground, and first floor. The mall contains 425 shops with adjacent parking for over 7,000 cars over three levels and is anchored by a Carrefour hypermarket, a Magic Planet Entertainment zone which will contain a sky diving experience as well as indoor 5-a-side football pitches. In addition, the mall will contain eight standard and two gold class cinemas and a mass of high quality brands such as Debenhams, Zara, Home Centre, Paris Gallery, Virgin Megastores and Virgin Active gyms.
In addition to the project management of the mall and car parks, the project requires the provision of a significant motorway interchange to service the development, the construction of a new 132kv substation and its own district cooling plant which Mace is also managing.
The scheme design was approved in July 2007. An innovate procurement route (similar to CM) was devised by Mace and MAFSM which allowed a rapid start on site with only part DD established. The project broke ground in August 2007. Mirdif City Centre will open to the public in November 2009.
More about MAF.
More about Mirdif City Centre.
More about LEED standards.
