Sustainable Business Park design in desert climates: Insights from Zak World of Façades conference by Director Tom Klingholz

The 169th edition of the Zak World of Façades conference took place at the prestigious St Regis Hotel in Cairo, Egypt, drawing an impressive 500 attendees on February 4th 2025. Among the highlights was a presentation by Chapman Taylor Director Tom Klingholz, who shared insights into design strategies for sustainable business parks in desert climates. His talk focused on applying these strategies to create the environmentally responsible flagship business park at Palmet, New Cairo, for Palm Hills Developments.

Designing in hot and arid climates presents unique challenges, requiring innovative solutions to mitigate overheating, reduce energy consumption, and enhance user comfort. “By conducting effective optioneering, we tested key parameters like building heights and distances, street widths, and public space dimensions to minimise urban heat islands and maximise natural ventilation. These early exercises helped to define a strong starting point to ensure that further environmental design considerations later in the process are most effective.”, explained Tom. These principles laid the foundation for sustainable design decisions throughout the project.

The Palm Hills New Cairo Admin Park and Headquarters Building, currently under construction, embodies these sustainable principles. With the first three buildings planned to complete later this year, the park is set to offer a socially responsible, environmentally friendly, and economically viable workplace that aims to reduce its tenants’ carbon footprint.

We extend our gratitude to Palm Hills Developments for their encouragement and commitment to fostering innovative solutions and to ZAK World of Façades for providing the platform to publicly present this project.

Zak World of Façades, an international series dedicated to façade design and engineering, has welcomed over 55,000 delegates across its 169 events to date. The Cairo conference showcased sustainable innovations, industry challenges, and cutting-edge technological solutions, providing a platform for thought leaders and solution providers to engage in the future of building design.

Read Tom Klingholz’s Insight Paper on Designing Business Parks in Desert Climates to learn more.