Standard Chartered Bank Tower

Dubai, UAE

The result of a uniquely successful collaboration between the Bank and GRDI is the new Standard Chartered Bank Tower in Dubai.

  • The process started with joint site selection and agreement of commercial targets
  • Followed by collaboration on design, specification, construction and commissioning
  • At the outset, we set an aggressive occupancy cost target of 20% below the Bank’s running cost at the time, a target that we exceeded. The market in Dubai has now moved in the Bank’s favour to a point where they occupy over 30% below market
  • Building the first instance of a Global Bank working with a developer to deliver a fully fitted building on a pre-let basis for a single rental figure
  • The Agreement for Lease was based on GRDI delivering to all SCB’s global workplace and engineering standards, which happened without exception and exceeded in many areas
  • The Agreement was predicated on SCB having full participation and final right of approval over all design and specification

Project summary

GDV: AED 600m

Project type: Commercial HQ building

Total sq footage: 540,000 ft2

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Sustainability

We would deliver a Gold Standard base building and commercial interior fit-out using the LEED assessment method.

  • The building would be sustainable socially, environmentally, and economically – ‘The Triple Bottom Line’
  • The building would be maximised for Net / Gross efficiency
  • The building would be ‘long life – loose fit’, which allows for maximum flexibility
  • The building would be designed and constructed with a holistic approach to sustainability; a complete synthesis of space, structure and services

The results

  • Based on the project’s success, Standard Chartered selected GRDI to replicate the model for a new head office in Accra and a service centre in Chennai. GRDI secured these projects through exhaustive competition among a field of well-regarded Indian and African developers
  • GRDI hope to reach closure with Standard Chartered on a pipeline of similar opportunities in Jakarta, Seoul and Bangkok
  • This model of delivery has set a new high benchmark for build-to-suit delivery; fully fitted and designed for financial services industry occupiers

The project has redefined Occupiers’ expectations of what can be achieved with the right approach in the Middle East and elsewhere. The project has caused a re-think among occupiers of a specific size about whether they have the same opportunity to reduce costs and optimise their portfolio. GRDI has closed another development in Dubai on the same basis with a Global conglomerate. GRDI will share detail and offer a reference on this project on a confidential basis

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