Egypt’s City Centre Almaza bags LEED Gold certification for its sustainable design

Egypt’s City Centre Almaza earns LEED Gold certification.

CallisonRTKL, CRTKL, a global consultancy specialised in architecture, design and technology, has announced that its project, City Centre Almaza, CCA, has received LEED-Gold certification from the US Green Building Council, USGBC. The certification was awarded to one of the biggest retail malls in Egypt commending its sustainable design, construction, and operation standards. The project comes in line with CRTKL’s commitment to performance-driven-design organisation, applying technical advancements to enhance and optimise design solutions that contribute to a more sustainable and productive environment. With the use of sustainable strategies and designs, energy savings, water efficiency and CO2 emissions reduction, the shopping centre has been classified as one of high environmental quality.

The 120,000 m² shopping centre was built by a joint venture between Consolidated Contractors Company and the Egyptian company Hassan Allam Construction. According to CCC, the energy-efficient systems implemented saves 14.6% of electricity. The development also used recycled and locally sourced materials throughout the design and construction processes.

The energy-efficient systems implemented saves 14.6% of electricity. The development also used recycled and locally sourced materials

Over the years, CRTKL has delivered the design, functional, commercial and environmental requirements needed to create highly successful retail developments owned and operated by the Emirati group Majid Al-Futtaim. Designed by CRTKL and owned by MAF is the award-winning Mirdif City Centre, which is a hit with customers and the environment after becoming the first LEED Gold mall in the region. Another project that showcases joint work between MAF and CRTKL has gained recognition by US Green Building Council is the Mall of Egypt. The mall showcases CRTKL’s expertise in delivering multi-disciplinary design services tailored to cultural and environmental context.

This sustainability first approach comes as countries in the region have embedded sustainability goals into their policy planning, and put in place the necessary building blocks that address sustainability challenges effectively.

Egypt’s City Centre Almaza earns LEED Gold certification.
Egypt’s City Centre Almaza earns LEED Gold certification.
Egypt’s City Centre Almaza earns LEED Gold certification.
Egypt’s City Centre Almaza.

CRTKL Shopping and Entertainment District’s Director, Nick Guy, said: “Throughout the first few years of a building’s lifetime, there is a lot of focus on the energy in use as shopping centres are heavy energy consumers. While designing the City Centre Almaza shopping centre, the design team operated with energy efficiency in mind as we saw significant opportunities for savings in line with region-wide efforts to tackle sustainability challenges.”

“One of our particular design focus areas was allowing the right amount of daylight into the building without creating unnecessary heat gain. As such, we adopted a predominately clerestory glazing strategy, keeping overhead roof-lights to a minimum. This gave good natural ambient light-levels with some shafts of sunlight allowed without compromising the environmental systems,” he concluded.