Masdar City and Woods Bagot Partner for World Green Building Council’s ‘Building A Better Future’ Series

watch video

Masdar City, Abu Dhabi’s flagship sustainable urban development, has partnered with Woods Bagot, a global architectural and consulting practice, to participate in a WGBC series, produced by BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions, which will feature the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) building as part of the ‘Building A Better Future’ series. 

The series, which was produced by BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions, in collaboration with the World Green Building Council, is centered around the global green building movement, and will showcase the profound effect buildings have on the quality of people’s lives, the role buildings can play in tackling climate change and how they can promote and protect the health of occupants. The series will also present the innovative and impactful examples of the ways in which organizations around the world, such as Masdar and Woods Bagot, are successfully turning rhetoric into action and creating change at scale. 

The Grade-A IRENA office building, which was designed by Woods Bagot and developed by Masdar, embodies the Estidama methodology which abides by the four pillars of sustainability - social, environmental, economic and cultural. Its’ design is widely recognized as a world leading example of green design and construction. The building reduced energy demand by 42%, halved water requirements and was awarded the Green Commercial Building of the Year by the Emirates Green Building Council. The IRENA building is suitably homed in Masdar’s pioneering sustainable urban development project, Masdar City. Once an outlier in the real estate sector, Masdar City’s philosophy of urban development and ‘greenprint’ for sustainability, is increasingly becoming the norm for cities around the world to incorporate these approaches in alignment with their own climate and environment.  

Audiences of the series will be informed of the key trends and developments in this highly complex and continually evolving sector, showing the implications and challenges of transforming the built environment to be net zero across the whole lifecycle. By illuminating the interesting examples of best practice from across the sector, the series aims to increase awareness and understanding and drive change in the ways in which buildings are designed, built and operated.
The episode featuring the IRENA building in Masdar City, will showcase its unique design and user experience, the overall vision of Masdar City and the challenges faced throughout the project’s journey to date. The “Building A Better Future” series can be viewed here: www.buildingabetterfutureseries.com