World watching for UAE progress on green initiatives

Officials from Abu Dhabi and Dubai outlined new green building guidelines and regulations both emirates are to begin implementing next year at a special conference taking place as part of The Big 5 construction supply industry trade fair in Dubai. The Big 5 which runs until Thursday 27 November 2008 is the Middle East's biggest-ever event for the sector.

Pointing out that the nation has one of the world's worst ecological footprints, Holley Chant, a planning manager at the Abu Dhabi Planning Council in charge of Estidama, the emirate's sustainable building and community initiative, said "the world is watching." to see how the UAE introduces policies to bring about change.

"Abu Dhabi is establishing Estidama and Dubai is working on their guidelines but we have to meet the same targets of promoting conservation of health, energy and resources," she added.

Earlier, Adi Afaneh, Senior Environmental Planner at Dubai Municipality said, "Buildings were responsible most energy use. In Dubai 75% of all electricity was consumed by buildings, both residential and commercial. Similarly, commercial and residential buildings were responsible for 85% of water consumption."

"Dubai's new green building regulations will soon be submitted to the Executive Council which would decide the timetable for implementation, starting in 2009," Afaneh added. "The regulations will apply to all new buildings initially but eventually will be extended to cover existing buildings as they are renovated."

Conference Chairman David Baggs, Technical Director of Ecospecifier International said, "The sector suffering less from the downturn in the construction industry worldwide was green buildings. Building in a sustainable manner was being seen as "future proofing your assets."

The Big 5 Technical Conference, compiled in conjunction with Ecospecifier International, was convened in response to the introduction by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, of a green building directive on addressing global environmental challenges.

The conference was a complete sell-out with speakers on other green issues such as sustainable communities; district cooling; the design of carbon critical buildings; eco-profiling of buildings; sustainability assessments; and green architecture.

"There are serious challenges ahead to reduce the carbon footprint of the UAE. The Big 5 Technical Conference addressed some of these and was a huge success with over 200 professionals from around the world attending," said Simon Mellor, Vice President Construction, dmg world media.

Alongside The Big 5 exhibition is The Big 5 PMV - The Middle East's premier construction plant, machinery and vehicles at the same venue. Exhibitor numbers have increased by 70% at this year's Big 5 PMV, 85% of which are international companies. The Big 5 PMV features an outdoor arena over an area of 40,000 square metres.