Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) received bids from contractors on 19 February for the contract to build its headquarters at the Masdar City development in Abu Dhabi.

The building will have a built-up area of about 30,000 square metres and is about one third of the size of the original building first tendered in 2008.

Chicago-based Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill Architecture designed the original 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.

In January 2011, the local/Lebanese Arabian Construction Company (ACC) was awarded a AED750m ($204m) contract to carry out expansion works on the Masdar Institute of Science & Technology (Mist).

The work will involve adding 82,000 sq m 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.