Abu Dhabi: World Future Energy Summit, Solar Power, E-Villa and Estimada, Al Reem Island, Qatar’s Space City, Petra Plan

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Big event of the week was the World Future Energy Summit at ADNEC, I couldn’t attend due to school but United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon emphasized supporting renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gases to slow down climate change (The National).

Capt. Jaber Al Shehhi on top of the MS Turanor PlanetSolar inspecting the solar panels. / Image via ADPC.

As part of the summit, the world’s largest solar-powered ship docked at the Marina (Abu Dhabi Ports Co.). Despite the UAE building a handful of nuclear power plants, solar energy was the big focus this week, as the carbon-neutral Masdar City has new high-power solar panels from TVP Solar (AME Info) and are partnering with Spain’s Sener to build $5 billion in solar power plants (Green Building Magazine: Middle East).

Back in the city proper, the Municipality and Urban Planning Council (UPC) are quickly modernizing the city’s building infrastructure. Abu Dhabi is slated to get a building code soon (The National), and the UPC is setting up the Estimada sustainability ratings for existing buildings (not a small task) and launching an e-villa configurator for villa owners and developers to design their plans online, showing how different aspects affect the sustainability rating (Khaleej Times). Meanwhile the city is making it easier for developers to submit plans online (Emirates News Agency).

Dubai’s The Palm is still a far cry from the vision of its original master plan for 30 five-star hotels with 14,000 rooms. / Image via The National and Reuters.

Meanwhile, Reem Investments is going to make Al Reem Island a new South Korean hub, including a Korean Cultural Center (Reem Investments). Sorbonne-Abu Dhabi students participated in the recent International Renewable ENergy Association (IRENA) Assembly (Emirates News Agency), plus a new Abu Dhabi film club is launching on January 25th (Aflam).

Elsewhere in the emirate, Mubadala won $1 billion in Airbus contracts for a plant in Al Ain (The National), and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is looking to invest in India’s urban infrastructure (Zee News). In Dubai, more luxury hotels are slowly opening on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah (The National) and a billion-dollar Las Vegas-style development is slated to replace Dubai’s oldest hotel, The Metropolitan (The National).

Elsewhere in the region…

Design Workshop’s new master plan for Petra, Jordan includes almost 95 percent conservation zones or open space, and watershed management. / Image via American Planning Association.

Qatar continues its building boom, with a $3 billion Space City, including a NASA-sponsored university (Hotelier Middle East), the $130 million Sidra Village by China’s Sinohydro (Zawya) and the Gulf’s largest labor camp holding 50,000 people. (Construction Week) Their soon-to-launch Green Building Council should improve sustainability. (Zawya)

In Saudi Arabia, its high-speed rail line continues to expand, signing an $8 billion contract with a Spanish rail group to connect Mecca and Medina. (WSJ) And urban design firm KEO is going to manage a mixed-use development in Jeddah (MEED).

In the Levant, there’s an upcoming conference on a greener Beirut (Beirut Green Project), and Design Workshop’s new master plan for Petra, Jordan won the APA’s Pierre l’Enfant International Planning Award (Jordan Times). Finally, who knew the oldest standing mosque in the United States is in Iowa and dates only to the 1930’s? (The National)

Abu Dhabi: New Recycling Plants, Food Imports to Spike, New Urbanist Capital District

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Slow news week with Eid Al-Adha, but the biggest event was trade magazine Construction Week’s annual conference, this year’s topic was “Building Sustainability in the Middle East.” (Construction Week)

Raw material at Plastic recycling plant at Al Ain Compost plant. / Image via The National.

Abu Dhabi’s population is expected to triple in 20 years — “from 977,000 residents in 2008 to 1.2 million in 2013, 1.73 million in 2020 and 2.58 million in 2030.” That’s going to put an enormous strain on resources, especially water. One of the emirate’s largest developers, Aldar Properties, said that it’s trying to find ways to re-use greywater (domestic wastewater) and blackwater (sewage and industrial water). (Construction Week) The emirate’s first plastics and tires recycling plant recently opened, too. (The National)

Food is another challenge — the GCC imports an incredibly high 90 percent of its food, with the UAE having only 0.8 percent of its land for agriculture. The country’s food imports are predicted to increase 133 percent by 2020. (Abu Dhabi Week)

Substantial growth in food industry highlighted at SIAL Middle East as research shows UAE food imports rising 133 percent to $8.4 billion by 2020. / Image via ADW.

Construction projects are moving along — the city’s Capital District should lead the way in sustainable and new urbanist neighborhoods. (Construction Week) And Saadiyat Island’s luxury JZMK-designed gated community villas (are those necessary in crime-free Abu Dhabi?) are slated to be handed over from TDIC by the end of 2012. (Construction Week) Meanwhile, Eshraq and Khatib and Alami are turning a profit on Al Reem island projects. (Construction Week)

Elsewhere in the region…

Populous’ John Barrow wants to use wind towers to create fan-like air inside the stadium. / Image via Stadia Magazine.

Frost and Sullivan predicts construction boom in Qatar over next 20 years. (Construction Week) Populous, who’s slated to build air conditioned stadia for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup, now wonders if they be cooled with traditional wind towers? (Stadia Magazine)

Mecca, Saudi Arabia, is hosting a tent city of 3 million pilgrims for Hajj. (Atlantic Cities) … One writer loves Tehran, the “complicated” capital of Iran. (Atlantic Cities) … Match your skyscraper with its window washers. (Atlantic Cities)

Abu Dhabi: Guggenheim concrete bids recalled, Etihad Rail awards contracts, UAE pavilion arrives.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Rough week for construction in Abu Dhabi — TDIC recalled the concrete bids for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, likely pushing the opening date past 2013. (The National)

A computer rendering of the Guggenheim Museum on Saadiyat Island. Its 2013 opening is likely delayed. / Image via The National.

The emirate was also named the worst construction market in the GCC, according to investment bank Arqaam Capital. (Construction Week) I don’t understand how, since all over the city there’s new construction of houses, hotels and malls.

Maybe the slow sales Sorouh’s mini-city on Al Reem Island — capable of housing an astounding 200,000 people — are indicative of the downtrend. (Construction Week) Rents are finally dropping in Abu Dhabi — or at least in the suburbs? — as 50,000 more homes are slated to be built by 2013. (The National) More developers like Emaar in Dubai seem to be focusing on affordable housing. (Construction Week).

The UAE Pavilion, at its new location on Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi. / Image via Construction Week.

Still, it’s not all bad news. Abu Dhabi’s Urban Planning Council won an international award for excellence. (Zawya), the UAE’s golden dune-like Shanghai Expo pavilion by Foster and Partners is now on Saadiyat Island (Construction Week), Siemens broke ground on its Masdar City headquarters, slated to be completed by 2013 (Construction Week) and Sharjah hopes to turn its Souq Al Arsa into a UNESCO World Heritage Site (The National).

Transportation news is strong too — Etihad Rail awarded the $3 billion contracts to Dodsal Engineering and Construction, and Italian firms Saipem and Technimont and their northern freight rail network is slated to be done by 2014. (Construction Week)

Elsewhere in the region…
Qatar is spending $150 billion on infrastructure over the next 5 years, in the build up to the 2020 World Cup. They’ve started construction on Doha’s Festival City. And now they’re investing in Egyptian luxury accommodations. (Construction Week)

Oman is heavily investing in infrastructure and luxury tourism to sextuple its tourism from 1.6 million visitors in 2010 to 12 million visitors in 2020. (Construction Week)

In the Levant, could public space with more parks and room for pedestrians improve life in Amman, Jordan? (Tareeq) In Lebanon, Beirut could use more mass transit to relieve traffic. (Mashallah News)