Masdar residential complex wins top honours in International competition

The Neighbourhood One Residences in Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City, the first such development in the UAE designed to meet extremely demanding LEED Gold and 3 Pearl Estidama sustainability criteria, beat off challenges from 85 other projects across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa to win first place in the Innovation and Sustainability category of the prestigious Saint-Gobain Gyproc International Trophy competition, held in Lisbon during March.

With every element of the building required to meet very exacting environmental credentials, fast and efficient Gyproc lightweight systems were chosen to optimise acoustic performance throughout the complex’s 5 upper storeys and three basement levels.

With almost AED 5 million of GypWall CLASSIC partitions and GypWall QUIET and AUDIO twin frame separating walls involved, Plafond and Ishtar Décor had to work fast and to very high standards of workmanship and detailing to meet the performance requirements within the clients very tight project completion window.

Gyproc’s technical support and training specialists provided on and off-site support and training alongside both sub-contractors and Abu-Dhabi based Main Contractor, Brookfield Multiplex Constructions LLC, throughout the project, to help ensure the standards and finish achieved were world class.

In addition, the environment-friendly plasterboard linings offered a fully recyclable integrated solution with minimum waste. Being manufactured and supplied locally, they offered improved logistics with minimum transport-related CO2 emissions, whilst the dry construction technique was fast and efficient and provided a clean and safe workplace – all of which helped to achieve valuable additional marks towards the building’s final environmental rating.

Success in the competition, which is open to all new and refurbishment projects utilising Saint-Gobain Gyproc plastering and dry-lining systems, which have been commenced and completed in the last two years, brings international acclaim for the project, and underlines the outstanding quality of workmanship and design currently being achieved by leading drywall contractors across the Middle East.