Dubai: The quest to create a more ecologically sound Dubai received a boost on Monday with the announcement of the emirate’s first so-called “eco-friendly mosque” by the Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation (AMAF).
The Dh20 million project is reviewing seven tenders submitted by contractors and is expected to save energy, reduce water use and negate hazardous building materials.
The foundation has also hired a UK environmental consultant to draft a construction plan that will wring maximum energy and water savings out of the project.
Tayeb Abdul Rahman Al Rais, secretary general, AMAF, said in an interview on Monday that the 45,000 square-foot mosque will be built by the end of 2013 near the Al Rowad village adjacent the Clock Tower Roundabout in Deira.
“This is the first green mosque all the way in the Middle East,” Al Rais told Gulf News. “Hopefully, this will become the standard of all the mosques in the future. It should blend in with the environment, it will be very low maintenance.”
The mosque will be one of the largest in Dubai set on a footprint of 105,000 square feet with enough space to host roughly 3,500 worshipers.
Constructed of a very basic design, the mosque will tout gardens on the roof to beat back the sun during the day and will also utilise solar panels to heat water used for ablution and the residence of the Imam.
The mosque will be extremely energy efficient, include thermal insulation and be designed to use natural light to cut down on the need for artificial lighting.
