Arabian Construction Company (ACC) has been awarded a Dh750 million ($204.2 million) construction contract to expand the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) campus in Abu Dhabi.

The project – which makes up the second phase of construction and is being managed by Abu Dhabi developer Aldar Properties – will add another 82,000 sqm to the campus and will include student lodgings, seven open laboratories, a conference facility, a swimming pool and a gym. It is to be completed in 18 months and will be approximately 35 per cent larger than the current facility.

“We look forward to building one of the world’s leading scientific and technological institutes. As an experienced sustainability contractor, we are taking sustainable building practises and the reduction of embodied carbon into account and look forward to being a part of the future of green construction,” said Hamed Mikati, director at ACC.

MIST’s new building complex will sit adjacent to its existing campus and will incorporate energy-efficient design including natural ventilation and heat reflecting facades.

Developed by the Abu Dhabi clean energy company Masdar, the state-of-the-art education facility sits at the heart of Masdar City, an emerging global clean-technology cluster that Masdar hopes will be the biggest carbon-neutral development in the world. 

MIST was established in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to focus on clean-energy research and technological development.-TradeArabia News Service