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SEED Engineering Consultants: Sustainable MEP Solutions for Wasl Tower

Shaping landmark skylines, the company stands for building energy-efficient projects

SEED is a global engineering services firm in operation for almost two decades. It is a boutique MEP (Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing) consultancy company providing sustainable design solutions and supervision of landmark projects in the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

Wasl Tower, a mixed-use 302 metres tall building consisting of two basements, a ground level and 64 floors of offices, a Mandarin Hotel and high-end residential apartments on Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai, is a significant addition to the project portfolio of SEED, which has provided the complete MEP design and supervision for it.

“We have been involved in the MEP design and supervision from Day 1 of the Wasl Tower project with 7 engineers engaged in constant supervision. We were first appointed for this by Werner Sobek the lead engineering consultant and UN Studio, the lead architectural design consultant of the Wasl Tower. They chose SEED after coming to know of us through a couple of high-rise building projects that we had done especially a super high-rise 89 storied building in India. We are now doing a couple of other projects also with Werner Sobek and UN Studio. We have all worked to make the top-notch Wasl Tower the most energy-efficient building of its magnitude,” informs Sanu Mathew, Director of SEED.

Even at the pre-concept stage of the Wasl Tower, design modelling for optimum energy efficiency was stringently done before being followed in the construction. The energy efficiency measures incorporated in the tower include the ceramic fins façade, solar photo-integrated panels, solar thermal panels, lighting controls, District Cooling (DC)system etc

Solar thermal panels in levels 15, 39 and the roof, facilitate hot water access, while bronze-coated reflective glazing offers extremely effective thermal performance, which together with the ceramic fins lowers cooling loads thereby reducing overall energy consumption. Passive facade design and lighting controls combine to reduce perimeter zone lighting energy. An integrating heat pump system further contributes to largely reducing power consumption and the carbon footprint of the tower.

The area in which the tower stands did not have District Cooling and SEED had to work along with the DC Utility provider to route that system from the nearest DC plant to cool the tower in the most energy-efficient way. SEED ensured the best sustainable solutions for the project, including sophisticated lighting controls, energy-efficient solutions for HVAC systems, scalable solutions for plumbing layout design, piping and allied services with a focus on efficiency and longevity.

“SEED stands for Sustainable Energy

Efficient Design and is built on designing for sustainability and energy efficiency; lending management and advisory services to all our projects, in more than 18 countries around the world. In Wasl Tower, which is the most prestigious and challenging project we have carried out to date, we faced enormous challenges on site, especially in narrow spaces for installing cables, ducts, pipes, and other elements necessary for our work and its smooth functioning. Indeed, the Wasl Tower project has enhanced our reputation immensely,”

affirms Mathew.

For any project in Dubai, there is a one-year defect liability period wherein the MEP consultant needs to be involved. SEED will certainly be involved post-handover of the tower for a year and then later on if Wasl wants to extend it. During the one-year period if any problem with MEP arises, it will be corrected in liaison with the supplier, contractor and SEED. All solutions will naturally continue to be sustainable in keeping with SEED’s philosophy of Design, integration and Sustaining and the Wasl promise of renewable, sustainable energy efficient building.

“Sustainable buildings and towers like the Wasl Tower are set to become the norm in the future. UAE is committed to COP 28 and the world is moving in the right direction towards energy efficiency and conservation of the environment. When we as SEED began operations 20 years ago, we had to strive hard to convince people about sustainable measures, equipment and methods of building especially because the cost of alternative energy sources was high. But now attitudes towards the same have drastically changed. It is cheaper and the awareness about energy efficiency is widespread. Moreover, the end users are informed buyers,” remarks Mathew.

Wasl is one of the largest developers in the region and has positively added value to SEED enabling the company to work with leading developers around the world. The MEP design and sustainable solutions for Wasl have resulted in SEED doing more than Seven towers, all of which are above 65 floors high, around the Business Bay, Downtown and other areas in Dubai. SEED is active in other regions of the world and has running projects, in India, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Uganda, Ethiopia and Georgia, including highly optimised engineering solutions of different scales across sectors such as Hospitality, Residential, Commercial, Education, Healthcare & Retail sectors.

— Latha Krishnan is a freelancer content writer.