The Qatar National Convention Centre and Exhibition Hall, located on the Education City campus in Doha, is the first building of its kind to earn LEED certification

Vertegy, which has had a strong presence in Qatar since the firm was tapped in 2007 to assist with the sustainable design of several buildings on the 2,500-acre Education City campus in Doha, recently received word that the Qatar National Convention Centre Extension/Exhibition Hall earned LEED Gold certification under the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for New Construction (LEED-NCv2.2) rating system. The project is the first of its kind to earn LEED certification and is the first LEED certified project on the Qatar Foundation (QF) campus.

The QF campus is the flagship project of the Qatar Foundation, which was established in 1995 by His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar. The organization's mission revolves around three key elements – education, science and community development – and is dedicated to building a sustainable society where the sharing and creation of knowledge will enhance the quality of life for all. QF's campus is home to many renowned universities and technology research organizations from all over the world. The Qatar National Convention Centre is located between the academic center and Technology Park, and serves as a link between academic study and research on the campus.

The 1,157,500-square-foot Qatar National Convention Centre Extension/Exhibition Hall is an unparalleled convention facility that consists of large exhibition spaces, conference spaces and offices, along with circulation, arrival concourse and "back of house" support areas. There is also an external link bridge that connects the new exhibition hall with the existing Qatar Science and Technology Park, and it will also serve as the mass transit system (People Mover) station for these two buildings. This system, coupled with multiple campus bus service lines, can be found throughout the QF site to support a pedestrian-friendly campus.

Kansas City, Mo.-based Burns and McDonnell, which served as the executive architect on the Convention Centre Extension and provided the civil, mechanical and electrical engineering, recruited Vertegy to assist with the sustainable design of the project. The pair has been working together on several projects on the QF campus since 2007.

The energy efficiency of the Qatar National Convention Centre Extension was a primary concern for the project team. Located in the Middle East, Doha experiences temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, so tackling the cooling load requirements was a challenge. However, the design achieved significant energy cost savings. The team also sought innovative ways to demonstrate the Foundation's commitment to the environment by incorporating onsite-renewable energy sources that produce a considerable percentage of the building's energy needs.

Additional sustainable features that were incorporated into the building include:

Bicycle storage racks that were placed within 200 feet of a primary entrance
Roof surfaces that either support a photovoltaic array or are covered with a high-albedo roofing material to reduce the heat island effect
A greywater capture system that is fed from all of the low-flow showers, fixtures and sinks used for the sewage conveyance from the building
Elements to provide a high standard of indoor environmental quality, including a non-smoking policy indoors and within 25 feet of the building and an HVAC system that utilizes ASHRAE 62-2004 as the basis of design.
Additionally, the building is comprised of a combination of cast-in-place and precast concrete and a steel super-structure. The concrete floors, supporting members and other selected finish materials added to the amount of recycled content. The team also used locally extracted and manufactured materials.

"The magnitude of this project, combined with the shared experience and talent possessed by the project team, encouraged innovations throughout the design," said Thomas Taylor, general manager of Vertegy and Doha-based Vertegy International, which was established in the fall of 2011 to help better serve the rising demand for sustainable project management in the Middle East. "The Qatar Foundation should be commended for its commitment to building a LEED certified exhibition hall and in creating a world-class university and research campus that supports sustainable initiatives."

For more information about the Qatar National Convention Centre Extension/ Exhibition Hall, visit www.vertegyconsultants.com or call 314.733.2666.

Founded in February 2005, Vertegy provides clients with design, procurement and construction consulting services for green and sustainable facilities. One of the key ways Vertegy serves clients is by helping them gain certification for their projects from various nationally and internationally recognized certification bodies, such as the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), which provides LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification. Vertegy — which is derived from combining the Latin root for green and strategy — is based in St. Louis at the LEED Platinum Alberici Corporate Headquarters.