• Home
• Real Estate
• News Article

New green building regulations in Dubai soon

Dubai: The first stage of new green building regulations due to be handed over to Dubai's Executive Council next January 1 is set to lead the world in sustainability, industry experts say.

"In green building what we are attempting to do will be the first in the world. To have regulations that look into all the environmental elements and be mandated, it's never been done," Adi Afaneh, senior environmental planner, planning department at Dubai Municipality , told Gulf News.

There are currently around 252 international green systems worldwide.

"In California, the regulations mention all the elements, which include energy, water, waste, yet it's not mandated. So what we're doing is a first," Afaneh said.
The new regulations, when finalised, mean all new and existing buildings will be more energy conservative and more water conservative and be healthier for those living and working inside them.

No shock the system

"The first stage is a set of regulations suitable for this coming period. Later on, we will monitor and upgrade the work, making them more suitable one or two years from now and act accordingly," Afaneh said.

Afaneh added that there is likely to be a transition period in between the time the regulations are finalised and how and when they will be implemented so as "not to shock the system".

"We are keeping an eye on the costs that might be put on developers and contractors. That is why the first stage we don't want to burden people," Afaneh said.

The amount of energy currently required to power new and existing buildings is expected to hit unsustainable levels with the massive $500-billion [Dh1.84 trillion] worth of new developments across the entire Middle East over the next 10 years.

The total built-up area in Dubai have increased 25-fold since the 1980s, Afaneh said. With the many mega projects now underway in Dubai, including island developments and a kilometre-tall tower, developers and contractors need to start focusing more on the environmental impact of the eye-catching projects they create.

"The rate of change is something we never anticipated. And we're about to go through changes that will make the last 10 to 20 years look like it was standing still," Keith Clarke, chief executive officer at WS Atkins, told delegates at the Green Buildings Conference 2008, yesterday.

Gulf states now need to look at a comprehensive carbon model, Clarke said.

"The Gulf has done an extraordinary job in leadership. But we must develop standards," Clarke added.

With the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently saying the human cause of climate change is "unequivocal", in a city like Dubai, bursting with construction and an influx of people, the need for greener buildings is obvious.

We are keeping an eye on the costs that might be put on developers and contractors. That is why the first stage we don't want to burden people."

By Suzanne Fenton

© Gulf News 2008

---

© Copyright Zawya. All Rights Reserved.

---