“Mindset” is preventing green building
Developers urged to change their attitudes towards sustainability
Energy consumption in new buildings and villas could be reduced by 40% if developers “change their mindset”, according to Masdar ambassador for sustainability Jürgen Beigel.
Speaking at Taylor Wessing’s Sustainability in the Middle East conference in Dubai on November 2, Beigel said many easy and very effective steps to reduce energy waste do not need regulations.
“I see millions of consultants producing thousands of regulations and they aim to monitor all the activities in the construction industry for everybody to follow.
“But on the other hand I see that if I just go down to all these new developments, most of the walls in villas are still 12-14cm of bricks. It’s not rocket science. Just double the wall, leave a space and you reduce energy consumption by 40%. You don’t need regulations for that.”
Drawing comparisons between mindset and construction practices in Europe and the Middle East, Beigel said the region is also failing to exploit the full potential of solar- powered hot-water systems.
Also speaking at the event, Aldar head of planning Alan Paterson responded saying frontline mindset is restricted to “traditional” practices: “There are not that many barriers. It’s about mindset within the developers. A lot of people are used to working and building traditionally.”
Adding that achieving two Pearls under Abu Dhabi’s new Pearl Rating System, is “not that difficult,” he added: “The biggest challenge is making developer’s buildings greener.”
