The Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council (UPC), along with the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD), Abu Dhabi Municipality, and Masdar, has announced Estidama, a programme for sustainable buildings and communities for Abu Dhabi.

Estidama, which means ‘sustainability’ in Arabic, is an integrated programme to devise guidelines and regulations for sustainable (green) design, operation and maintenance of all types of buildings and communities within Abu Dhabi.
The programme has been initiated by a group of government agencies and developers (UPC, EAD, ADM, Masdar, Aldar and Sorouh) in alignment with the leadership’s vision to transform Abu Dhabi into a sustainable Arab capital. It will also help in implementing the overarching principles of Plan 2030 and its recommendations for the future of Abu Dhabi City’s urban development.
The first phase of the Estidama programme includes the identification of a set of design guidelines for residential and commercial new buildings.
Estidama New Building (ENB) design guidelines have been written to provide all concerned parties and stakeholders with information for an integrated approach to sustainable building design.
ENB guidelines identified 10 major sustainability elements that need to be addressed through a variety of design criteria. These are: water; energy use; indoor environmental quality; ecology; management; transport; pollution; materials; waste management; and land use.