The International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) headquarters, located at Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, has been named the Green Commercial Building of the Year by the Emirates Green Building Council (EGBC).

Irena is an intergovernmental organisation that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future. Every year, the EGBC award is given to a building in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region whose construction and completion has surpassed the highest sustainability standards and includes innovation in design and processes.

Owned and developed by Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, the Irena building is the first in the UAE to receive the four-pearl rating for design and construction from Estidama, the Abu Dhabi certification system which measures and evaluates the energy, water and carbon efficiency of buildings. The building architect and lead consultant is Woods Bagot, and design-and-build contractor is Brookfield Multiplex.

The focus of the design was to create a highly sustainable four-pearl Estidama-rated commercial building.

The new Irena building offers a total floor area of 32,000 sq m and has approximately 1,000 sq m of rooftop solar photovoltaic panels supplying electricity to the building. The building demands over 40 per cent less energy than global energy-efficiency standards.