UAE | Environment

Tackling challenge of building green skyscrapers

How to achieve sustainability and build high-rise buildings? The upcoming Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat Congress in March in Dubai will address how to build sustainable skyscrapers - the next challenge in Dubai's roadmap to turning buildings green.

  • By Emmanuelle Landais, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 00:38 December 15, 2007
  • Gulf News

  • Dilip Rahulan shows Al Gergawi around the first platinum rated green building in the Middle East which was inaugurated earlier this year.
  • Image Credit: Tracy Brand/Gulf News Archive

Dubai: How to achieve sustainability and build high-rise buildings? The upcoming Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat Congress in March in Dubai will address how to build C.

Antony Wood, executive director of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) said many real estate companies and developers have started to implement green building principles across the full spectrum of their properties.

"These initiatives will tremendously improve the quality of the emirate's environment," said Wood.

"Counteracting impact on the environment from construction projects with a sustainable vision is absolutely vital for the long-term vitality of the emirate."

The answer in building sustainable tall buildings is in design. Through attention to detail in all parts of the design process, buildings can move towards sustainability.

"Sustainability at the end has always been about an investment in the present for the benefit of the future," added Wood. All these challenges will be discussed in detail in the upcoming CTBUH Congress.

Balancing act

"We are in a critical stage in the development of human culture, as the realities of climate change begin to impact human behaviour.

"On the one hand we are trying to build new cities as quickly and efficiently as we can to accommodate an overwhelming population increase, and on the other hand we are trying to preserve natural environments and integrate them with urban living," he said.

The eighth CTBUH Congress labelled "Tall and Green: Typology for a Sustainable Urban Future" will be held from March 3 to 5 and gather more than 600 building professionals from around the world to discuss the sustainable design of tall buildings and technologies concerned with energy use reduction and generation.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai issued a directive in October 2007 mandating builders and developers in Dubai to comply with green building standards to ensure a healthy and environment-friendly city.

"Many people think that adoption of the green building specifications can cost more, but this is not totally true. Green materials can contribute to the reduction of operational cost of buildings through reducing electricity and water bills.

Green buildings also promote indirect benefits, such as improved worker performance and productivity," Wood said.

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