The multi-platform tech entrepreneur and space pioneer Elon Musk is divesting himself of his property portfolio. Once he has sold his last mansion in Hillsborough, California - on the market for $37.5 million – he is out of the property game. Today, billionaire Musk reportedly lives in a $50,000 prefabricated tiny home built by Las Vegas company Boxabl.
The pre-fab, towable, 400 square foot home is more durable and efficient than traditional homes. The UAE has been an innovator in this practice, and in March Dubai Municipality won the UAE Ideas Award organised by the Dubai Quality Group under the slogan, ‘Nothing is Impossible’ for constructing the world’s largest 3D printed building. The initiative yielded a saving in construction costs of between 50-70 per cent, and labour costs by 50-80 per cent, in addition to reducing the percentage of waste resulting from construction operations by up to 60 per cent.
A First World billionaire’s ambition to downsize and reduce his carbon footprint and Dubai Municipality proving that sustainability in housing does not necessarily need to be modestly sized. One could not find a better illustration of the unifying influence and power of the global community’s response to climate change. It is also what one might term the ‘force multiplier’ power of technological innovation.
The construction industry attracts its fair share of criticism around the world; the main areas of concern are air, water and noise pollution. Indeed, it is an industry that sometimes been a slow adopter of new practices and technologies. That might be termed the argument for the prosecution.
Construction industry’s decarbonizing
Let us see what ballast one can find for signs of a construction industry that is on the move, progressive in its approach to innovation and sustainability. The World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment, recently signed at COP26 by 44 businesses, calls on the building and construction sector to take action to decarbonise the built environment, inspire others to take similar action, and to remove barriers to implementation. It recognises leadership action to reduce the impacts of the sector, which is globally responsible for 36 per cent of energy consumption, 38 per cent of energy-related carbon emissions, 50 per cent of resource consumption, and is expected to double in total footprint by 2060.
According to last year’s UAE Green Building Market Brief released by the Emirates Green Building Council, the country has 63.96 million square metres of built-up area adapted to local green building regulations or certification programmes. The in-depth publication also revealed the number of buildings under various green building ratings across the UAE. Ali Al Jassim, Chairman of EmiratesGBC, said the study presented evidence-backed insights on the progress achieved by the UAE in promoting sustainable built environments.
These are indeed impressive and important developments, but perhaps there is more to discover and learn. As an alumna of London Business School Dubai, I learnt a lot about the power of the School’s international community, and in particular, the importance of opening one’s mind to intrapreneurship and innovation. As such, I tend to find myself drawn to not only the big landscape opportunities, but also grassroots initiatives and smaller enterprises that seek to apply clever technical solutions to ever-expanding applications of technologies such as IoT and 3D printing.
As has been observed by many in the industry, SMEs can be more flexible and ready to adapt technical solutions to the finer requests of the construction client, which is why it was heartening to learn that the Emirates Development Bank is to pump $8 billion into the industry. In particular, there are plans to enable SMEs to become core pieces of the ecosystem and to promote local entrepreneurship and startups.
The notion that new and clever technologies and innovative companies might one day be behind ‘green retrofitting’ - or creating clever solutions for fast, sustainable construction systems - cannot fail to capture the imagination. Perhaps, one day there will be innumerable innovative construction and construction service companies, and perhaps an ever-growing number of would-be Elon Musks, ready and willing to forsake the world of the grande maison, showing the way to greener, more sustainable future.
