We are proud to share that Dar has been shortlisted for three categories at the prestigious Big 5 Global Impact Awards 2025, one of the industry’s leading platforms for celebrating innovation, sustainability, and leadership in the built environment. The winners will be announced on 25 November 2025 at Address Sky View, Downtown Dubai.

Our three nominations reflect the strength of our people and the impact of our ideas:

• Digitalization Initiative of the Year – Living-Labs: PARA OS

Dar has transformed its London and Cairo headquarters into “living labs” with PARA OS, our AI-powered digital twin platform. By connecting more than 650 sensors and over 60,000 live data points across the two buildings, PARA OS continuously monitors performance in real time, detects issues, prescribes fixes, and optimizes energy use. At 150 Holborn in London, meeting room energy use decreased by 22% and overall electricity consumption dropped by 12%. In Cairo, energy use fell by 28% and mean time to repair decreased by 40%. These results translate into lower operating costs, higher resilience, and measurable progress toward Dar’s pledge to achieve net zero operations in controlled assets by 2030. Every operational challenge encountered has been codified into Digital Ready Design (DRD) guidelines, ensuring that new Dar projects, from airports to hospitals, are designed for seamless integration of digital systems from the outset. Building on these successes, PARA OS has expanded beyond Dar’s own offices to client assets in Toronto, Doha, Dubai, and Angola. It is already helping asset owners cut energy use, improve reliability, and achieve sustainability goals, while positioning Dar as a market leader in data-driven decarbonization and smart building operations.

• Sustainable Initiative of the Year – Dar’s Net Zero 2030 Strategy

Dar has committed to eliminating operational carbon emissions by 2030 in line with the World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment. Energy efficiency plays a central role across our operations, from optimizing HVAC and lighting systems to installing low-flow water fixtures, upgrading to hybrid transport, and expanding the use of renewable energy. This includes expanded solar arrays in Cairo, a projected 88 kWp system in Pune, and a recently installed 100 kWac PV plant in Luanda generating 184.3 MWh annually and cutting at least 478 metric tons of CO₂ emissions each year.  We are steadily cutting our footprint, achieving a 14% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions since 2022. Beyond technology, we are also transforming workplace culture by phasing out single-use plastics, launching recycling initiatives, and engaging our teams worldwide. These efforts are backed by global certifications such as BREEAM Outstanding, LEED Gold, and SmartScore Platinum, and reinforced by Dar’s active role at COP27, COP28, and COP29. We have equipped our staff with training in net-zero practices and launched internal eco-awareness sessions, which have already engaged over 60% of our employees.

• Technology Leader of the Year – Faysal Shair

As Partner and Director of Digital Solutions and Services, Faysal Shair has reshaped how digital innovation drives the AEC industry. From founding Dar’s Digital Innovation Group to launching PARA and Dar’s Digital Solutions and Services Sector to introducing digital readiness across the full design–build–operate lifecycle of Dar’s projects, Faysal’s vision and leadership has reshaped how digital innovation supports decarbonisation and future-ready design. Under his leadership, PARA OS became the first software globally certified under UL’s Smart Building Systems Standard, gaining one of the industry’s highest recognitions and UL’s top verification mark for smart building systems excelling in performance, resilience, and cybersecurity, the Platinum rating, and has delivered measurable results worldwide. Faysal also spearheaded Dar Ventures (the venture capital arm of Dar) and forged strategic partnerships with Microsoft, Schneider Electric, and others, successfully positioning Dar to achieve global recognition as a thought leader at the intersection of digital transformation and sustainability.

Being shortlisted across these three categories is a powerful recognition of our people’s commitment to making the built environment smarter and more sustainable.

For the full list of categories and finalists: Big 5 Global Impact Awards | Big 5 Global