Bahrain World Trade Center (BWTC) recently played host to a delegation of Malaysian government officials led by Lim Guan Eng, the Chief Minister of the State of Penang.

The visit was co-ordinated by Vijay Joshi, CEO of Gulf Markets International and Fahad Al Hamad, managing director of Gulf Markets International. The delegation was at the BWTC to learn more about the technical and commercial aspects of this landmark building, in particular its commitment to sustainability.

During their visit, the delegation was hosted by BWTC’s architects and engineers Atkins, and were given an overview of how the BWTC has successfully incorporated three horizontal-axis wind turbines each 29 meters in diameter. These will provide 11-15 per cent of the towers’ energy requirements.

The visiting members were shown how BWTC’s elliptical shaped towers act as aerofoils, funneling and accelerating the wind velocity between them, and exploiting the unobstructed prevailing onshore breeze from the adjacent Gulf coast to provide a renewable source of energy for the building.

Bob Addison, country manager and director of DTZ, BWTC’s Managing and Leasing Agents, said, 'BWTC is a testament to Bahrain’s commitment  to sustainable design and architecture, and the fact that such high profile delegations are interested in learning from it shows how the building has placed Bahrain on the international map.'

This is further exemplified by our receiving several high profile awards judgedon a global scale, the most recent of which was the 2009 NOVA Award for Innovation.

'These prestigious awards recognise projects that are proven to display significant technological advances and have had positive, important effects on construction to improve quality and reduce cost,' Addison added.

Situated on the Manama waterfront and in the heart of the region’s leading financial and business hub, the BWTC project comprises two 50-storey sail shaped twin office towers, the five-star Sheraton Hotel as well as MODA Mall, Bahrain’s only ultra high-end shopping destination, featuring some 160 luxury retail outlets as well as a host of modern cafes and exciting fine dining eateries.-TradeArabia News Service