Crédit Agricole Egypt New Head Office

Project Description

The new head office complex of Crédit Agricole Egypt (CAE) was planned to accommodate headquarters staff from different locations in Central Cairo; provide CAE with a high-quality head office building that enjoys a clear identity and prestigious image; and fulfill banking requirements in terms of features, modularity, and flexibility.

The complex is located in the 5^th Settlement of New Cairo over a land area of 20,385 m². It comprises a stateof-the-art two-wing building implemented on a footprint area of 5,100 m², along with services and landscaped areas serving up to 1,500 employees.

With a gross floor area of 24,655 m², the building consists of two basements, garden level, ground floor, and three typical floors arranged as follows:

basement: building management room & security room; central document center; archiving area; storage rooms; maintenance rooms; drivers’ room; gymnasium; two prayer rooms & ablution area; main IT communications and data center; staff restaurant & associated facilities; loading bay and post room; and training center comprising four training rooms and an auditorium; lobby dedicated to guests and breaks; and parking areas
garden level: the garden is situated on a natural grade, revealing an additional usable floor (garden level) located beneath the main ground floor; the garden and garden level both organize the building into a “U” shape focused around an oasis of palm trees and large boulders
ground floor: open working spaces; retail branch with separate entrance & self-contained facilities; safe room for cash storage; central reception and waiting area; and reception and employee meeting area
3 typical floors: open spaces comprising groups of four to six workstations separated by filing cabinets; cellular spaces around the internal core for fire protection and confidentiality; individual offices; board room; internal meeting rooms equipped with videoconferencing facilities; breakout spaces and pantry facilities; and multifunctional photocopying/printing room

The complex was designed to meet the qualifications required for LEED Platinum certification. In the process, full LEED documentation was prepared, including feasibility studies, daylight simulation, and others. The LEED Platinum rating already attained entails that the bank’s head office complex has achieved 80+ out of 100 points in the different categories relating to green building design: water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials, resources, and indoor environmental quality.

ECG’s LEED coordination also involved the development of an energy simulation model to evaluate the building’s form and orientation in relation to its overall energy efficiency. Meanwhile, to satisfy the needs of this particular project in terms of accurate modeling and coordination among different disciplines, ECG used the Revit BIM package throughout the design process, starting from schematic design all through the subsequent design stages.

ECG’s scope for this project covered value engineering, conceptual design (retail branch), schematic design (structural & MEP), design development (all disciplines), detailed design (all disciplines), LEED coordination, LEED documentation, tender documents, tender action, and construction supervision, as well as Architect of Record services.