ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Progress on a new US Consulate General complex in Erbil is moving forward with the announcement of construction and architecture contracts being awarded.
“The new Consulate General will include a Chancery, Marine residence, housing, support facilities and facilities for the community,” the US State Department announced in a statement on Friday.
EYP of Albany, New York, will be the project’s architects, which is the largest US consulate complex in the world.
“The goal was to create a community that would have both the features and amenities familiar to the American population while making a connection to the culture of the local people with whom they interact on a daily basis,” reads a statement from the firm.
The area between Erbil and Shaqlawa has dramatic elevation changes overlooking the Kurdistan Region’s capital.
“Taking advantage of the topography and elevation shifts allows us to provide a variety of views and connections to the surrounding community,” EYP wrote.
An aerial rendering of the new US consulate complex on the Erbil-Shaqlawa Road. Image: EYP
B.L. Harbert International of Birmingham, Alabama, won the construction bid.
It confirmed the news, but did not provide details beyond what the state department had announced. B.L. Harbert “specializes in design-build, construction management, and general contracting for national and international clients representing construction markets of every kind.”
The new US consulate building will cost $600 million, and will be built on 200,000 square meters on Erbil-Shaqlawa Road.
“We signed the project for the US Consulate General building in Erbil when Matthias Mitman was the Consul,” Falah Mustafa, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Foreign Relations Office, said in early January during the presidency of Barack Obama.
The United States currently rents homes and buildings from local residents and business owners in Ankawa to house its consulate complex, which opened as a diplomatic office in February 2007 and was upgraded to a consulate general in 2011.
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