Artelia Italia redesigns
the Benghazi Business District

Artelia Italia redesigns the Benghazi Business District in Libya

Seven futuristic buildings designed together with Studio Boeri Architetti, intended to become an icon of the Libyan rebirth and a model of sustainability throughout the Mediterranean area.

A lot of six hectares (the equivalent of nine football stadiums), a built-up area of about 130,000 square metres (about seven times the coliseum), seven buildings, for an investment of 600 million dollars: these are the numbers of the impressive Benghazi Business District project that Artelia Italia was awarded by the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC), winning a tender procedure that involved the world's most important engineering companies.

The project calls for the construction of seven main buildings, divided into an organic executive complex that revolves around the building intended for the headquarters of the National Oil Corporation, the so-called "Diamond": a tower of 30,000 square metres in the shape of diamond. But the new large multi-purpose district will also see the birth of the new headquarters of the Central Bank of Libya, the Ministry of Oil and Gas, the offices of the Brega company and international oil companies, a convention centre, a 250-room hotel, a health centre, a mall, as well as a large covered square with restaurants, cafés and shops, car parks and outdoor spaces.

"NOC's choice to award this important engineering and project management task to Artelia Italia is not only a source of great pride for our company and for the whole Artelia group, but also represents an extraordinary confirmation of the excellence, creativity and innovation of Italian engineering in the world", says Gabriele Scicolone, CEO of Artelia Italia. "For us this contract marks a return to Libya, a country we have been active in since 2009 through a branch established by the then Intertecno, which merged into Artelia Italia in 2017”.

Resource conservation, energy efficiency, selection of materials, low-consumption lighting, a quality indoor environment and use of systems that facilitate the management of buildings are all part of the design strategy to create high-performance buildings. Engineering details completely integrate with the architecture, taking on an aesthetic strength and contributing to a whole that blends beauty with innovation. Artelia Italia's proposal was successful because of a design concept with great architectural impact - thanks to the solutions proposed by Studio Boeri Architetti - and advanced engineering, carefully studied to meet the most modern operational requirements, but also thanks to an offer of project management that meets the needs of an international player like NOC.

As noted by Alberto Romeo, Managing Director Artelia Italia and former CEO of Intertecno, who has followed the whole offer process, from the presentation to the signing of the contract, "The project is intended to become an icon of the process of rebirth of the city of Benghazi and of all of Libya after years of great difficulty, and a model of reference in the entire Mediterranean area for its specific attention to energy and environmental sustainability. We are very satisfied with this outstanding result. Artelia Italia will play a key role as NOC's lead consultant, providing integrated engineering services that will combine design activities and management services throughout the entire duration of the project".

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