Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company Masdar’s key development, Etihad Eco-Residence, has won the Green Residential Building award at the Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC) Middle East and North Africa Green Building Awards 2018.

Designed by project partners Woods Bagot and Brewer Smith Brewer Group (BSBG) and built by Multiplex Constructions, the Etihad Eco-Residence is Platinum-certified according to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (Leed) building rating system.

It is also rated Three Pearls under the Estidama Pearl Building Rating System (PBRS), introduced for new buildings by the Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities, Abu Dhabi.

Inaugurated in March, Etihad Eco-Residence features 500 one- and two-bedroom apartments in 11 buildings, accommodating more than 900 Etihad Airways cabin crew.

A team from Multiplex Constructions received the award for the Masdar-developed project at the recent awards ceremony held in Dubai.

The complex features an airtight building ‘envelope’ comprising high-performance insulation, as well as solar thermal water heaters, a low window-to-wall ratio, and high albedo or solar-reflective index (SRI) coatings, which reflect light away from the surface of a building with minimal absorption.

All of these features result in an estimated 63 per cent reduction in total energy consumption compared with the Estidama PBRS baseline, said Yousef Baselaib, the executive director of Sustainable Real Estate at Masdar.

Meanwhile, the potable water consumption is expected to be 40 per cent lower than the Estidama PBRS baseline, thanks to highly efficient water fixtures and the low water demand of the project’s landscaping, he stated.