This Radio Chemistry Laboratory is part of a campus of support facilities outside of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant to be delivered by tangramGulf and was the first building to be commissioned as part of the UAE’s new civil nuclear energy programme, in the western region of Abu Dhabi. The laboratory offered the metrics for the benchmarking and subsequent conducting of environmental and radiological rapid assessment methods for emergency response through the modelling of the dispersion and transfer of radionuclides in the environment. It’s completion was key in maintaining the timeline for the very first fuel burning cycle and ultimately the production of nuclear energy to commence for the first time in the Arab world, in 2020. This scheme was a culmination of decades of practice, research and reinterpretation of local and traditional design, building techniques and practices, that emphasize and promote a built environment that sits within and works with its surrounding natural environment. Designs that create spaces which respond to traditional and cultural requirements along with local customs and beliefs, whilst offering sustainable solutions to the growing complexity of contemporary end-user needs. The designs for this scheme were contextually and climatically responsive, using local materials and master planned following the locally traditional desert urban fabric of the barahaat, fareej and sikka to form a traditional neighbourhood layout, stressing and connecting all elements to the community, open space. Upon completion at the end of 2015, the radLab was the winner of the Sustainable Design of the Year, at the Middle East Architect Awards, and was awarded the Silver Prize for the Green Architecture Award, at the International Design Awards in Los Angeles, in 2016.