The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) and the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC), the emirate’s leading tourism asset developer, have broken ground on their new waterfront joint headquarters in Abu Dhabi.

Being built adjacent to Maqta Bridge, the main gateway to Abu Dhabi city, the new headquarters has been designed by Singapore’s Surbana Consultants. The headquarters is being positioned to secure the Gold Award based on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) ‘Green Building’ standard, said a spokesman for the developer.
Scheduled for completion in 2009, the nine-storey, beachfront building – which will also house a number of serviced offices for third-party tenants and have three levels of underground car parking – will be built around a central courtyard.
The building has been designed to benefit from several eco-friendly energy conservation features. There is a building integrated photovoltaic roof to harness solar energy to power some of the development’s operations, as well as ample green decks at the rooftop level of adjoining blocks to actively reduce heat transfer into the building.