Qatar- AZF project wins GORD Sustainability Certification Award


(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula

DOHA: Aspire Zone Foundation's (AZF) Khalifa Stadium energy Centre and Office Building project recently obtained the 3 Star Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) certification from the Gulf Organization for Research and Development (GORD). Galfar Al Misnad, the EPIC contractor of this prestigious project, received the award at a special ceremony at the GORD Headquarters in Doha.

GORD's Founding Chairman, Dr. Yousef Al Horr, who presented the certificate and plaque to the Galfar Al Misnad team, acknowledged the GSAS Service Provider for partnering with GORD in promoting sustainability and crafting a green legacy for Qatar. GSAS is the first performance-based system developed for rating green buildings and infrastructures in the GCC.

'We are really happy to be associated with such unique and innovative projects of this magnitude, which also comply with the GSAS rating system to achieve Qatar's National Vision for sustainable development, remarked Satish G. Pillai, Executive Director, Galfar Al Misnad, on accepting the award.

The Khalifa Stadium Energy Centre uses the district cooling system to sustainably provide stable cooling in the open air Khalifa International Stadium. This is also the first Energy Center in Qatar to achieve the SEER certification with the SEER value of 4.28. The construction of the new Aspire Zone Headquarters, a high end G +3 office building with a large underground water storage tanks, was an additional responsibility assigned to Galfar Al Misnad, to utilize the surplus land that was available due to re-engineering and reduction in footprint from Energy Centre. An Industrial theme has been used for the Office building internal finishes.

The initial designs proposed for the District Cooling system at the Energy Centre was with ice storage tanks that used glycol chillers for forming ice, which required a lot of space to accommodate all the associated equipment and machinery, and would have consumed a lot of energy. Galfar Al Misnad, along with their specialist consultants to the project, proposed an alternate and more sustainable design that replaced the glycol chillers and the ice storage tanks with a combination of 52,200 Ton water cooled chillers and a 100000 Ton hour stratified chilled water thermal energy storage(TES) tank.

The TES tank at the Khalifa Energy Centre is one of the largest of it's kind in the World and can provide chilled water for the stadium for up to four hours in case of a power outage and chillers not functioning. With a 41 m diameter and 28.5 m height, the tank is constructed in steel and insulated all around to keep the temperature at 5 degrees Celsius for the stored chilled water. The chilled water is pumped to the Khalifa International Stadium through insulated underground pipes from the Energy Centre, that is located around 1.3 kilometers away.

Through this redesigned district cooling concept, the originally envisaged land footprint was reduced by 50 percent and as a consequence, the built-up area also came down to one fourth. Using the chilled water storage tank instead of ice storage tanks also resulted in a considerable saving of energy consumption. Furthermore, the simplified and optimized layout of the equipment provided ample space for operation and maintenance services.

As one of the largest Energy Centres in the Middle East, with an installed capacity of approx. 80,000 Tons, though with a much smaller footprint than plants of similar capacities; the Khalifa Energy Centre was commissioned within a record time of 25 months to serve the chilled water for the Emiri Cup Final on 19th May 2017 at Khalifa International Stadium.

Visitors at sporting events held at the Khalifa International Stadium since its reopening, including two Emiri Cup Finals and the FIFA 2018 World Cup qualification match between Qatar and China, have been impressed by the cooling technology that maintains the temperatures inside the arena below 230C, for the players as well as the spectators.

The uniqueness of the design concept adopted by this leading construction firm in Qatar, as well as its advantages, prompted SC/ Aspire Zone Foundation to make it the unilateral standard for the Energy Centres for other stadiums being constructed for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar.

Based on the success of the Khalifa Stadium Energy Centre, Galfar Al Misnad was selected for the design and construction of the Energy Centre at the Al Bayt Stadium Al Khor City. The company is also the lead partner of the Joint Venture that is responsible for the construction of the Al Bayt Stadium Al Khor City, a proposed 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar™ semi-final venue, which is currently in the advanced stages of construction in Al Khor.

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The Peninsula

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