Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) has received bids from at least four groups for the contract to build its headquarters at the Masdar City development in Abu Dhabi.

The bidders include the joint venture of the local/Australian Al-Habtoor Leighton Group and Murray & Roberts Contractors (Middle East), Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC), a joint venture of Japan’s Taisei Corporation and the local/Lebanese Arabian Construction Company (ACC), and Germany’s Ed Zueblin.

Chicago-based Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill Architecture has designed the building as the world’s first large-scale “positive energy” building, generating more energy than it consumes.

Louis Berger Group is the project manager, Environmental Systems Design is the mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) engineer, and the structural engineer is Thornton Tomasetti, all from the US.

The contract was first tendered in 2008 when four companies submitted bids. In January 2009 Masdar shortlisted US-based Contrack International and Germany’s Ed Zueblin for the contract, saying that an award was expected during the first quarter of that year. The tender was later cancelled and Masdar reissued tender documents in October 2010 (MEED 7:9:10).

Masdar recently awarded the contract to build the next phase, known as 1b, of its Masdar Institute of Science & Technology (Mist).

ACC won AED750m ($204m) contract to carry out expansion works on the Masdar Institute of Science & Technology (Mist) campus in Abu Dhabi at the end of last year.

The work will involve adding 82,000 square metres to the Mist campus. This will involve the construction of student accommodation buildings, seven open laboratories, a conference facility, swimming pool and a gym. The work will take 18 months to complete.

The new buildings will be located adjacent to the existing campus and will incorporate energy-efficient design features.

The expansion project is part of the second phase of construction on the campus and is being managed by local developer Aldar Properties.

That Mist 1b contract, like the headquarters, was also retendered.

The Al-Ahmadiah/Hip Hing joint venture has completed phase 1a of the Mist project.

The 6.5-square-kilometre Masdar City, designed by Foster & Partners, is set to be completed by 2016. It will eventually grow to accommodate 1,500 businesses and 50,000 residents.