Dubai- Decypha: Encouraging developers to establish environment-friendly buildings, the Green Building has found a favourable spot in the UAE market, after the concept has been widely accepted and encouraged through the regulations.
Designed to safeguard the environment and protect the health of buildings’ occupants, the green building practice is promoting efficiency in using energy, water and materials and using health-preserving methods in the building process.
With over 1,400 green building projects have been constructed across Dubai since 2010, green building regulations and specifications have been made “mandatory” in January 2011 for government establishments in Dubai, to reach 44 green buildings by March 2014.
Moreover, all new buildings were obliged to abide by the green building regulations in 2014, according to Dubai Government website.
Between March 2014 and 30 June 2016, the Dubai Municipality has granted licenses to more than 17,400 buildings spreading over 187 million square feet.
Guidelines for Green Buildings
Promoting the concept, the Emirates Green Building Council (EGBC) was founded in 2006 to support green issues and practices.
As part of the National Agenda 2021 and in line with Abu Dhabi Vision 2030 and the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy, the EmiratesGBC has announced in June 2015 a number of guidelines to help real estate developers implement the green building strategy.
Builders will find in the guidelines tips and resources on using economically effective tools with regards to waste management, air quality, energy and water use and reducing utility costs, secretary-general of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy Ahmed Al Muhairbi told local media at that time.
"Even buildings that are designed well need to uphold high levels of operation and maintenance practices to ensure they operate efficiently," vice chairman of EmiratesGBC Khaled Bushnaq highlighted at the same time, adding that these practices are cruicial for a greener UAE.
UAE among the Top 10 Markets
In July 2015, the UAE was named by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) was ranked as one of the top 10 countries with regards to green building spaces.
"The UAE has become an increasingly important centre for the global green building movement, a development that will help provide greater environmental health and increased economic opportunity for its citizens and will hopefully help to inspire a robust green building market throughout the Middle East," said Rick Federizzi, the chief executive of USGBC said at that time.
In the same rank, the UAE was considered the fourth largest country in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certificates in the construction sector, after the US, Canada and China, according to USGBC.
By August 2016, the UAE had a number of 221 USGBC LEED-certified buildings, performing better than Saudi Arabia (124 buildings) and Qatar (97 buildings), according to Dubai’s engineering consultancy Green Technologies.
Latest Measures to Promote Green Building
In order to encourage adopting green building practices, the Dubai Municipality announced in July 2016 that it will rate buildings using their integration of green standards, with those buildings that disqualify for bronze rating to be deprived from permits.
As part of a wider strategy to transform Dubai into a smart city by 2021, this imitative targets high performance in supporting human and environmental health through promoting green planning, design, implementation, and operation of buildings, director-general of Dubai Municipality Hussain Nasser Lootah said in a statement.
“We anticipate carbon dioxide emissions will see a reduction of 7.3 million tonnes over the next five years, producing the same effect as planting 36 million trees — 40 times the size of Zabeel Park,” Khalid Mohammad Saleh Al Mullah, Director of the Buildings Department said at that time.
Started operations in September, the rating system named “Al Safat”, targeting reducing 20% in electricity consumption,15% in water consumption, 20% carbon dioxide emissions and 50% waste reduction.
The green building concept matches the UAE’s strategy to reduce dependence on energy sources, rationalising the usage of land and materials and protect the environment.
By Doaa Farid
