DEWA's Al Shera'a Headquarters Becomes First Building to Earn SPIRE Diamond Smart Rating

The building also received the UL Verified Mark. SPIRE scores buildings on energy, life and property safety, health and wellbeing, cybersecurity, connectivity and sustainability. That makes it one of the few international benchmarks for how well a building's digital systems are integrated and secured, and not only how efficiently it uses energy.

According to DEWA's statement, Al Shera'a received best-in-class scores for demand response and distributed energy resources, cybersecurity governance and asset management, and connectivity security. The assessors also noted its digital twin, which combines building information modelling, Internet of Things sensors and big data analytics with predictive monitoring.

DEWA says the building runs on more than 110,000 smart sensors, over 1,500 wireless access points and more than 3,200 network devices. Together these feed a central system that issues more than 1.9 million automated control commands a day. About 100 separate building systems are managed through a single AI-powered app, which DEWA says adjusts resource use according to actual occupancy and demand.

DEWA describes Al Shera'a as the world's tallest, largest and smartest net-positive government building, meaning it is designed to generate more energy than it uses. It already holds LEED Platinum certification in the New Construction category from the US Green Building Council.

"Powered by data, analytics and automation, the building optimises operational efficiency and occupant costs," DEWA managing director and chief executive Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer said in the statement.

The rating gives DEWA a third-party credential to cite as Gulf governments and developers push AI-driven building management and net-zero targets. DEWA did not say whether it plans to seek the same rating for its other facilities.