Features

Setting New Standards

By Gavin Davids

Posted on March 3, 2014

Big Project ME talks to energy consultants about how the introduction of green building codes has changed the way buildings are being designed and built

Energy consultants have gotten busier since Dubai’s Green Building Code was introduced in January 2014

With Dubai’s Green Building Code introduced in the last week of January, there has been a significant shift in the way developers have approached the construction and development of their projects.

Whereas previously developers, consultants and contractors would look at the bottom line and aim to get the best price on building materials, the introduction of the comprehensive green building codes in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have meant that they have had to be more selective about their choices.

Nowhere is the more evident than in the selection of energy efficient materials, with standards such as LEED and Estidama now providing a stringent guidelines that must be adhered to, as Mark Grogen, contracts and QS manager at KEO Consultants explains.

“Due to Estidama, Dubai’s Green Building Code, GSAS and LEED standards’ requirements, the consultants have to make projections, at concept design, on the energy and water characteristics of the buildings to comply with the required environmental and sustainability targets,” he tells Big Project ME.

“In order to allow flexibility on the architectural design development there is not an actual “golden solution” for all buildings; for this reason, KEO is always proactive on its design approach to minimize overall construction cost while achieving the highest environmental standards, for example, if the correct building envelope specifications are not integrated into the design correctly and appropriately, expensive add-on sustainable technologies may be required to achieve the required Estidama’s Pearls, GSAS Star’s and LEED Certification standard,” Grogan warns.

This approach is echoed by William Whistler, managing director of Green Building Solutions, an energy consultant that specialises in the building envelope.

“The key is inspections during construction,” he says. “The reasons why buildings leak is usually very small stuff. It’s usually not about the facade, these facades engineers are very smart people who design these beautiful things that can withstand cyclone conditions. It’s about putting them together. It’s the gaps, it’s the joints and the shafts, the penetrations (into the building). It’s very simple things like that,” he explains.

Grogan adds that during the design phase, it’s vital that energy consultants have input into the selection of the entire façade system so as to ensure a cost effective solution in terms of capital cost and life cycle costing to minimise energy consumption results.

Convincing their clients of the value of life cycle costing is an issue that a number of energy consultants face as developers in the region have given that the traditional attitude has been ‘build to sell’ with the aim of maximising profits.

However, this could be about to change, thanks once again, to the introduction of the building codes and standards.

“It’s becoming more frequent now,” says Mark Grogan, “Estidama, LEED and GSAS, environmental and sustainability standards, are being requested by the Clients to be achieved by design. As all of the standards focus heavily on energy efficiency, the industry is moving more towards higher efficiency targets during the design.”

“Contractors are starting to understand such design obligations and there is an increased interest by informed contractors about good construction practices to achieve highly energy efficiency buildings.”

Although he agrees with this change, Whistler does point out that it’s not as clear cut as it appears, citing his own personal experience to illustrate his point.

“The clients that come to my company are the clients that are looking to build a quality building,” he says. “Now there are plenty of people out there that say, “Oh I just need this test.” They’re not looking for inspections, they just want the test (to show they’re meeting standards). And guess what, 99% of them will fail.”

“It’s like taking a course, if you don’t pay attention all year long, you’re not going to pass. If you try to cram it all in at the end, that’s the equivalent of putting silicon everywhere. By then, it’s way too late. It’s a mind-set and an approach to building the building,” he adds.

However, both Grogan and Whistler remain very optimistic about the future of green building in the country and the role that energy consultants can play in the construction industry.

Comparing it to his home country of the USA, Whistler says that the most promising thing for the UAE is that the federal government has pushed through these reforms and that there is going to be a uniform approach going forwards.

“It’s a lot closer than most of the world. I’m not kidding. This place, I love that almost every third day that I pick up the newspaper, there’s something about green, renewable, saving energy projects and regulations. This place has a goal,” he enthuses.

“I live in the United States, which is completely screwed up at the moment. You have 50 states, with a loose federal organisation and there isn’t a uniform approach. In some states: Washington, Colorado and California, these regulations are well under way, but you go to West Virginia, where they mine coal, they don’t even want to talk to you.”

Grogan adds that with regular conferences being held about sustainability and water efficiency, information is spreading through the GCC and clients are starting to respond.

“In the UAE there are sufficient mandated regulations that now exist for the design of energy efficient buildings. Design teams are designing energy efficient buildings based on the current codes,” he says.

“Appropriate and adequate Construction Supervision can ensure that the energy efficiency design inclusions are actually constructed and fully commissioned. Qatar has also made progress with their minimum standards. Other GCC countries show signs of also enhancing their regulatory environment to mandate energy efficient designs,” Grogan concludes.

This feature first appeared in the March 2014 edition of Big Project ME. Read it here.