Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services

Tender description

Competition for the design of the UK Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. The Expo 2020 Dubai, United Arab Emirates coincides with the UAE's Golden Jubilee. Its theme “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future” is about the power of collaboration and partnership to create a better world. The UK participation will consist of a self-build country Pavilion with an accompanying business and cultural programme. As the first World Expo to take place in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, and the first to be hosted by an Arab country, the opportunities to connect with one of the most dynamic, young, and fastest growing regions in the world are immense. The Expo will have the “the world in one place” with an expected footfall of 25 000 000 visitors from across the Gulf States and from all over the world including all of the UK’s key trading partners. The Expo provides the UK with an ideal platform to project Britain as a global force for prosperity, innovation, creativity and thought leadership. It provides the UK government with the ability to showcase British expertise rooted in cutting-edge design and a dynamic and open cultural and business sector, projecting both heritage and modernity, in line with Gulf Strategy and across the broader Middle East and South East Asia. The Department for International Trade (DIT) has appointed a design team to design the UK's Pavilion for Expo 2020. We sought a dedicated, inventive, multi-disciplinary creative team that will enable us to interpret the UK's contribution to the theme, in a way which creates the most original, inspiring and memorable visitor experience possible. The winning design team offers a holistic concept that unites the structure with the content. We have a strong tradition of multiple award-winning Pavilions which have helped forge the international reputations of their creators – from Thomas Heatherwick’s Seed Cathedral at Shanghai 2010, Wolfgang Buttress’s ‘Hive’ at Milan 2015 to Asif Khan’s ‘Yurt’ in Astana.