Majid Al Futtaim, the leading shopping mall, communities, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, aims to produce a minimum of 7.5% of its electricity consumption through renewable energy. The company has consistently made bold commitments to sustainability as a pillar of the company’s overall ambition to positively impact society and the environment in the markets in which it operates. As the third City Centre in the company’s portfolio in Egypt, City Centre Almaza is currently under construction and in the process of adopting Majid Al Futtaim’s sustainability targets. These targets have been established based on the practical feasibility assessment undertaken by Majid Al Futtaim; incorporating solar thermal technology where feasible, and assessing ground source cooling for potential implementation.
In line with international best practices in sustainability, Majid Al Futtaim’s targets for new developments including City Centre Almaza have become increasingly viable from a business perspective as greater focus has been given to market and legislative mechanisms for investing in renewable energy around the world. Egypt’s national renewable energy strategy introduced a target of 20% renewable energy (9,500 MW) by 2020, with at least 2,300 MW to be generated from solar energy.[1]
“Investing in renewable energy aligns with Majid Al Futtaim’s existing ambitions and is a win-win for communities, companies and governments,” said Ibrahim Al-Zu’bi, Head of Sustainability at Majid Al Futtaim. “Committing to renewable energy is a natural step in our sustainability journey. As a regional sustainability leader, we hope to continue setting sustainability best practices and policies that will not only support the communities in which we work, but will serve as a blueprint for others in the business as well.”
Over the past year, City Centre Almaza has pursued additional engagement activities to positively contribute to the local community including implementing a job shadowing program, a summer internship program and offering special incentives to team members for achieving health and safety targets. The first iteration of the City Centre Almaza job shadowing program included 10 engineering students who shadowed senior project managers, the company’s sustainability coordinator and LEED coordinator both in their offices as well as on site visits to observe their day-to-day activities and gain insight into their particular work area.
The City Centre Almaza summer internship program in 2016 offered a select number of engineering students the opportunity to intern at the property throughout the summer.
In addition to City Centre Almaza’s commitment to supporting education, health and safety initiatives are also a top priority for the property. City Centre Almaza implemented a monthly special incentives program for employees based on their contribution to meeting health and safety targets. This includes financial incentives such as granting Carrefour gift vouchers to qualifying employees on the first Thursday of every month.
City Centre Almaza, due to open in 2019, is one component of Majid Al Futtaim’s significant investment plan in Egypt worth $1.4 billion (over EGP23 billion), which also encompasses the newly-opened Mall of Egypt and the expansion of City Centre Maadi, in addition to four neighborhood centres in new residential cities in Cairo and the development of four new shopping malls in greater Cairo. The first brick at City Centre Almaza’s site was laid on 14 January 2016, with a total amount of investments of EGP4 billion.