Contractors have submitted bids for the contract to build the UAE Pavilion for the 2020 Expo in Dubai.

The companies that have submitted offers are understood to include:

• Al-Shafar General Contracting (local)
• Arabtec Construction (local)
• HLG Contracting (local/Australia)
• Strabag / Ed Zuebin (local/European)

The pavilion is expected to cover up to 15,000 square metres and will include numerous exhibition areas, an auditorium, food and beverage outlets, and VIP lounges. It will be located facing Al-Wasl Plaza, which lies at the centre of the 2 million-sq-m exhibition zone.

The UAE’s National Media Council (NMC) selected Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava’s falcon-inspired design for the scheme in May last year.

The design was approved by a jury including representatives from the NMC, the Expo 2020 Dubai team, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) and one of the Expo’s leading developers, Dubai-based Emaar Properties.

Masdar is the development manager for the project.

There will be other pavilions built by UAE clients at the Expo site. In March 2016, organisers announced that the UK’s Foster+Partners and Grimshaw Architects, and Denmark’s Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) had won a competition to design three of the Expo 2020 Dubai pavilions. Further details of the Sustainability Pavilion were announced at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week in January.

The Expo site is one of Dubai’s most high-profile projects. Dubai says it will award 47 construction contracts worth AED11bn ($3bn) in 2017.

The contracts to be awarded this year cover major works such as the construction of the three Thematic Districts that will host the majority of the pavilions, and infrastructure work on the site.

Contractors submitted bids in mid-January for the contract to complete the Thematic District.