Dubai, 5th Oct. 2009 (WAM) -- Eng. Yousuf Abdullah, Head of Licensing Section in the Buildings Department of Dubai Municipality, has called upon the public to adhere to the application of green building standards, and the observance of environmental standards to achieve sustainable development and establish a green environment culture and harmony of the concept and reality between the population and urban fabric of the city, and the rationalization of energy consumption and the exploitation of surplus water from air conditioners.

This comes in line with the efforts of Dubai Municipality in achieving its vision to create an excellent city that provides the essence of success and comfort of living by developing rules and regulations to keep pace with international standards in the field of sustainable development, planting green roofs and facades in the Emirate of Dubai.

He noted that green roofs project aims at transforming the roofs of all buildings and houses in Dubai to cultivated areas, to the use of water resulting from air conditioners to irrigate plants, and the project is implemented progressively and in line with the green buildings project.

"The massive urban expansion witnessed by the city of Dubai is raising the temperature in the region, and green roofs are one of the environment friendly solutions taken by the Dubai Municipality to meet this expected expansion," said Abdullah.

The Municipality has conducted an extensive study, which confirmed the success of this project in other countries. Hence, the Municipality decided to apply this idea in the field of environmental protection and reducing temperature and air purification from other pollutants. The civic body selected plants appropriate for this project in addition to the beautiful designs. He pointed out that the cost of building green roofs range from Dhs10,000 to Dhs50,000 in just about any project.

The green building project has vital importance in reducing carbon emission and improving the internal environment and the air in the home and thus improves the health of the community and increases the life span of buildings and preserves the ecosystem, which ultimately leads to higher productivity and boost to the economy in various sectors.

Abdullah said it is important that the consulting offices and contracting companies comply with the rules and regulations in accordance with standards of implementation as the application is mandatory on all types of buildings (except industrial buildings with metal roofs).

"A minimum of 30% of the total surface area should be green and it is optional for the front side. The architecture work details should be done in accordance with the approved international standards taking into account the provision of irrigation systems and determine the type of vegetation and soil and the protecting surface layers from roots and doing waterproofing and thermal insulation in accordance with the instruction manual and the specifications approved by the municipality. Surplus water from air conditioners could be used as the primary source for irrigation through a network of specially designed surfaces and irrigation with separate water tank, taking into account the additional water supply reservoir of the main water network in the building or sewage water cleaned after purification according to the approved criteria," he said.

He added that there is no identification of the type of vegetation required but it is preferred to use native plants, ornamental plants and fruit plants, which are brought here and adapted to the environmental conditions of the Emirate of Dubai in order to ensure the success of cultivation and its continued growth.

"One must choose plants that are characterized by their water needs and the lower cost of cultivation and maintenance. The green roof manual supplied with Circular No. 171 is available on the website of the Buildings Department, which contains some examples of these plants," said Abdullah.

In the city of Dubai public can get plants suitable for cultivation on the rooftop gardens from the Municipality Nursery at Warsan-3 area. The nursery has many species of plants, trees, shrubs, soil cover, flowers, ornamental palm trees etc. The Municipality's Public Parks and Horticulture Department also provides services of sale of plants to the public at the cost price in accordance with the Local Order No. 67 of 1992, where anyone can buy what is needed from the plants from the municipality nursery during official working hours.

The roofs need a way to surface irrigation, which may be manual or automatic, and depends on the amount of water needed on the type of plants and the proposed cultivated area. It should be noted that the objectives of the project is to use water from air conditioners and rainwater for irrigation. It is preferred to use modern irrigation systems, according to the type of cultivated plants, which will ensure the provision of water needs of the plant species under cultivation.

Abdullah said the buildings that would be subjected to the system would be the new buildings under design (new license), buildings under the license (under the procedure for issuing the license), buildings that were issued a license but the site has not been used, buildings that are under construction on the sites, the buildings that owners wish to get major exceptions, and the surfaces of the gymnasiums that are converted to housing or offices.

He pointed out that the Municipality will provide promotional incentives to encourage owners to apply the system such as allowing the work of halls on the roof of villas with an area equivalent to 25% of the cultivated area of the surface interfaces, and an increase in built-up area on the surface in a total area equivalent to 25% of the cultivated area from the surface and interfaces of the multi-storey buildings. As far as public and governmental buildings, schools, universities, sports clubs and the like, it will be allowed swimming pools, or an area equivalent to 25% of the cultivated area in the cultivation of surfaces and interfaces in the parking premises.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2009.