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P.O. Box 261107 • Dubai • UAE

Midfield Terminal triumphs in international competition

midfield winners

Abu Dhabi Airport’s new terminal building has wowed a team of international judges to win top honours in Saint-Gobain’s International Trophy competition to find the best drywall project in the world.

The six-storey building, voted best non-residential building in the world at a special awards evening in Lisbon on 23 March, was one of 79 projects from across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa to reach the final of the prestigious international competition, which is open to all new and refurbished buildings completed over the past two years using Saint-Gobain Gyproc’s world-leading drylining and plastering systems.

Exceptional by any standard, the new terminal building, which has been constructed between the airport’s two runways and will handle an estimated 30 million passengers over the coming years, is the biggest and most architecturally imposing structure ever built in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, rising to a height of 52 metres and capable of accommodating 3 full-size football pitches.

To match the building’s stunning exterior aesthetic, dry lining specialists, International Décor, had to pull out all the stops, creating an outstanding interior that brought together virtually every partition and lining system in Saint-Gobain Gyproc’s product portfolio to meet the most demanding performance standards in every area, from fire and acoustics to structural strength, stability and impact resistance.

The enormity of the interior spaces, very high ceilings and the building’s iconic roof design, which required the spaces to be created using a unique floating room design, presented complex technical challenges for both International Décor and Gyproc Middle East, who supported them throughout the design and installation phases with on and off-site technical support and more than 150 man-days of training to overcome any technical issues and ensure that systems could be installed efficiently to the very high standards demanded.

Overcoming key challenges that included achieving up to 59RwdB sound insulation, Severe Duty impact resistance and providing 180 minutes fire performance to the enormous 6-storey steel frame, as well as working with partition walls as high as 52 metres in places, International Décor achieved an outstanding finish throughout, meeting the project’s every requirement and winning first place in the competition’s non-residential category.

International Décor’s success in the non-residential category was matched by interior specialists Plafond and Ishtar Décor, who walked away with top honours in the competition’s Innovation and Sustainability category, giving the Middle East top places in two of the competition’s 6 categories, and underlining the exceptional quality of work currently being undertaken across the region using Saint-Gobain Gyproc’s lightweight systems.

Gyproc Customer Service Toll free (UAE) 800 497762