Expo 2020 Dubai now home to 121 LEED-certified buildings

More than 120 permanent buildings across Expo 2020 Dubai have been certified by the United States Green Building Council.

This comes as a major sustainability milestone, not only for Expo 2020 but for its legacy project District 2020, the human-centric sustainable smart city that will repurpose 80 per cent of the Expo site, the Dubai Media Office said Saturday.

Seven buildings across the 4.38 sq km 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).

Of the 121 LEED-certified buildings, 103 are also LEED Gold, nine are LEED Silver and two are ‘Certified’.

The LEED certification system certifies buildings that typically reduce energy and water consumption over their lifetimes; have lower operational costs and carbon footprints; are constructed from environmentally-sensitive materials; have fewer impacts during construction; have better indoor air quality; and are better connected to the community, contributing to a more sustainable urban environment.

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Ahmed AlKhatib, Chief Development and Delivery Officer, Expo 2020 Dubai, said, “Moulding the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the places we live, sustainability at Expo represents our commitment to making a tangible, positive impact at a local, regional and global level throughout our 182-day run and beyond.”

“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.”

After Expo ends on March 31, 2022, its LEED-certified buildings will live on within District 2020, the sustainable human-centric smart city that will repurpose 80 per cent of the mega-events permanent built environment.

Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan, managing director, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), said, “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.”

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.

CEEQUAL – the internationally recognised sustainability assessment, rating and certification scheme for best practice in infrastructure projects – assesses a range of sustainability criteria, including land use, ecology, transport, resilience and pollution.

News of the LEED certificates comes as the Expo wraps up Urban and Rural Development Week, which united leaders, experts and citizens between October 31 and November 6, to explore how we must transform the way we move, build, consume and live in the habitats of the future.

Urban and Rural Development Week is the third of ten theme weeks taking place throughout the Expo.