Located on Baghdad's River Tigris, the 37-storey, 170m tall Central Bank of Iraq headquarters continues our long-standing relationship with Zaha Hadid Architects.

Working alongside an international team, we provided M&E Engineering, Building Physics, Architectural Lighting, Acoustics, Sustainability and Vertical Transport consultancy to tender stage.

The 90,000m² building's structural form and sophisticated double facade are designed to minimise solar gains while maintaining excellent daylight levels and views to the outside. Critical to the building's success are highly resilient electrical and HVAC systems, the design of security and life safety systems, and the location of plant equipment and ventilation intakes. The building has a large photovoltaic array on the landscaped podium roof, uses grey water recycling, and groundwater for cooling, irrigation and WC flushing. 

As part of our Sustainability Advisor role, we undertook a high-level assessment of the embodied carbon impacts of the two main materials options; concrete and steel. The report sought to establish the relative carbon impacts of different sourcing/procurement routes of the two materials.

Local, regional and worldwide material sourcing options were sought out and the most direct transport methods were selected. Nine procurement routes were analysed. The report was discussed during the early design stages of the project, and recommendations were made for considerations and reviews at later stages of the project.

Central Bank of Iraq, and Max Fordham as BREEAM Assessor, received a BRE 'Country First' Award in 2015, when the project was first assessed during the design stages. On completion, the building is targetting a BREEAM 'Very Good' rating.

The building is currently under construction, following the main contract being awarded in 2017.