The 5^th cycle of the Annual EmiratesGBC Congress will be held in Dubai under the patronage of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development on October 25^th and 26^th, 2016.  This year, our flagship event is themed UAE of the Future: Looking Backwards as a Way Forward and will be held at the Dusit Thani Hotel.

The Congress will explore the achievements made to date in sustainable urban development and how we can use this as a roadmap for the future in order to achieve the UAE Vision 2021 and the Paris COP21 Climate Change objectives.

We are pleased to announce that Fareed I. Bushehri, Regional Resource Efficiency Officer of UNEP’s West Asia Office will be delivering a keynote at our EmiratesGBC 5th Annual Congress 2016. Don’t miss hearing from Mr. Bushehri or the other high profile speakers we have lined up!  Last chance to avail the early bird members and non-member rates. Click here to register.

Following the Anniversary celebration luncheon on 21 September 2016, we would like to thank all EmiratesGBC members, strategic partners and sponsors (Majid Al Futtaim, Legrand, Jotun, WSP|Parsons Brinckerhoff) who helped make the event a success. To view our Anniversary Milestone video, click here.

Last month, at EmiratesGBC’s 10th-anniversary celebration luncheon, the Council was congratulated for its efforts and deliverables that are actively enabling the increase of sustainable buildings in the UAE. This impact could not be made without the help of our corporate members and we invite them again to help bring another important project to fruition.

EmiratesGBC is currently seeking committed partners to support its upcoming Green Building Toolkit. The toolkit will be incorporated into the EmiratesGBC website and communicated to those of various levels of technical capacity.

This important toolkit will also be available for thousands of individuals and businesses to use to assist them with decisions to make their homes, offices or schools more efficient and sustainable. To gain more information on the sponsorship opportunity for the EmiratesGBC Green Building Toolkit, please contact Maha Khogali at maha.khogali@emiratesgbc.org or 04-3468244.

• Certified Energy Manager (CEM): November 6-9/Exam November 19
• Certified Energy Auditor (CEA): October 17-19 / Exam October 20 (Abu Dhabi)
• LEED Green Associate: November 11-12
• LEED Accredited Professional Neighbourhood Development (ND): October 7-8

The World Green Economy Summit (WGES) is an initiative by the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) and is held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President Prime Minister of UAE and The Ruler of Dubai and the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, in cooperation with World Climate Ltd and WETEX. The World Green Economy Summit remains the premier international platform for strategic partnerships and innovative solutions seeking to accelerate the transition in to the green economy. WGES 2016 is the 3rd of its event series and will be held over two days on the 5th and 6th of October 2016, at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. Click here to register.

 GCC HVAC Summit 2016 is taking place on 02-03November, 2016 at the Dusit Thani in Dubai.   With the construction business on in full swing across GCC, the need for an efficient HVAC system that can bring down the energy consumption is the need of the hour. With events such as Dubai Expo 2020 and the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the demand for HVAC technologies is on the rise and trends indicate that it will continue rising. The GCC HVAC Summit 2016 for the first time brings the leaders in the industry together for discussions and deliberations on technological advances and landmark events that are helping shape this industry for the better. EmiratesGBC members can achieve a 50% discount on delegate rates using the coupon code EGBC50.

The Big 5 is an annual meeting place for the international building & construction community in Dubai. Presently running in its 37th year, the international exhibition and conference brings together buyers and sellers together from all over the world to conduct business, forge relationships and exchange knowledge. Scheduled for 21 to 24 November, the event will take place at Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai.

 EmiratesGBC is inviting its members to exhibit with us under the EmiratesGBC Pavilion at the Energy Efficiency Expo, co-located with World Future Energy Summit.  EmiratesGBC is a founding partner of the Energy Efficiency Expo dedicated to promoting energy efficiency across buildings, transportation and manufacturing sectors. The event is hosted by Masdar and is a part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability week, taking place from the 16 – 19 January 2017 at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. In order to showcase the green, sustainable and energy efficient products & solutions of its members, EmiratesGBC is managing a dedicated pavilion at the Energy Efficiency Expo. EmiratesGBC members exhibiting within the pavilion are eligible for special rates and will have access to around 30,000 plus visitors including Government Authorities, Architects, Building Contractors, Engineers and consultants.  Contact Reed Exhibitions lynish.menezes@reedexpo.ae if you are interested and be sure to let them know you are an EmiratesGBC Corporate Member.

On 20 September, we opened our doors to UAE Contactors and Sub-contractors for a workshop dedicated to best practices and management systems to implement projects in a sustainable manner. Discussions highlighted the needs of the sector to be better informed and instructed on the latest green regulations and rating systems, as well as the interest in dedicated trainings and certifications that would increase the organizations’ skills and confidence to implement the highest standards while respecting the clients’ requirements.The session, facilitated by Multiplex, also allowed non-members to understand EmiratesrGBC’s  role as a centre for education and a catalyst between public, private and academic sectors.

This new stakeholder-based workshop was successful, and we look forward to hosting more dedicated forums for contractors.

Last month, EmiratesGBC held two Technical Workshops, the first was dedicated to UAE contractors and sub-contractors while the second workshop discussed the topic of health and wellbeing in the built environment. The topic looked at the particular influence our buildings have on physical, mental and social well-being.  Parameters covered and discussed included building and urban accessibility, supporting policies, and wellbeing accomplished by way of design methods outlined in the WELL Building Standard.

This month’s Technical Workshop will look at power quality optimization and the importance of power quality management in various commercial and industrial sectors which help to improve productivity, efficiency and cost control and will be taking place on October 11^th, 2016. To register please email technicalworkshops@emiratesgc.org. Technical Workshops are open to EmiratesGBC members and partners only and subject to limited seating. Please be sure to register your participation early.

In January this year, we received students visiting from Sciences Po Urban School’s Master’s program “Governing the Large Metropolis”. During a field trip throughout the UAE, the students in comparative urban governance and sociology tried to understand the inner workings of both Emirati cities through their governance model and strategies for further development. “Building Visions with Glass and Steel” compiles their papers and perspectives on the UAE built environment.

To read more:  http://www.sciencespo.fr/ecole-urbaine/en/content/glm-study-trip-dubai-and-abu-dhabi-january-201

Over the summer, Green Key International compiled an overview of the most common energy, water and carbon dioxide saving practices in the travel and hospitality sector and their cost-effectiveness. The factsheet can be found here shared around for information.

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To help us raise awareness and spread the word about the Green Key eco-certification contact: greenkey@emiratesgbc.org.

EmiratesGBC invites its Corporate Members to join the Green Key Program and become Official Auditors. Review the auditor criteria and contact the office for more information.

On September 27^th, EmiratesGBC launched the first of its kind report, ‘EmiratesGBC Energy and Water Benchmarking for UAE Hotels -Report 2016’.  The report draws on information gathered from 46 voluntarily participating hotels across the country on their property’s general, physical and operational characteristics as well as annual energy and water consumption data. The report studied energy and water consumption data over a three-year period (2013-2015).

The initiative is part of EmiratesGBC’s ongoing efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of the UAE’s hospitality sector and is based on feedback received from hoteliers on the high cost of retrofitting existing properties, lack of benchmarking tools and lack of relevant indicators to compare properties against each other.

Thank you to all who attended the launch event and provided their feedback, as this pushes us toward a deeper discussion and further research which will catapult our goals of advancing green building principles within the tourism industry and the country as a whole to a new level.  Download your copy of the report from the EmiratesGBC website.

A special thanks to Sheraton Mall of the Emirates Hotel for hosting this milestone launch event.

The much-awaited training program is well underway and curriculum development is progressing towards completion. We wish to thank the industry experts from within our membership who have stepped up to review the content, helping  ensure that knowledge of building sustainability is made available to an audience wider than only building industry professionals. Stay tuned for more updates as we roll out trial workshops.

Stakeholder engagement informs the core of EmiratesGBC’s initiatives and drives the Council toward achieving its goal of advancing green building principles in the country by acting as an information and knowledge sharing hub for the green building industry. As a member-driven organisation, EmiratesGBC thrives through the resolute effort and support of its corporate members.

The Council would like to support Al Futtaim Carillion, a corporate member of EmiratesGBC with conducting some research into the issues which matter most to people across different parts of the world, and would welcome your views on it. Al Futtaim Carillion has a long-standing history in the sustainable and green building industry in the Middle East and have brought the key issues together in a short survey, which will be open for feedback this week.

They would be very grateful if you could spend 10 minutes completing an online consultation on October 5^th, 2016 by following this link. http://surveys.stakeholdertalk.com/s3/Carillion-2016-Materiality-Study 

Stay tuned as the Council will  be sending out a member survey in the month of November 2016.

Congratulations Diamond Developers on receiving two prestigious awards from the Africa & Arabia IPAX Awards:

• Best Residential Development for Dubai (for the design of the residential project as a whole)
• Best Residential Property for Dubai (for the design of a stand-alone single unit)

Click here to learn more about how the Technical Guidelines can potentially  save  your facility or home millions in utility bills and reduced operational  costs.

The annual gathering of regional and international experts, who represent diverse sectors of the sustainable building environment and related industries, will highlight how the nation’s success in constructing green buildings can be leveraged to formulate a roadmap of the future, in line with UAE Vision 2021 and the objectives of the Paris COP21 Climate Agreement.

The theme of EmiratesGBC Congress 2016, organised under the patronage of the UAE Ministry of Infrastructure Development, is ‘UAE of the Future: Looking Backwards as a Way Forward.’ Read more …

Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC), an independent forum aimed at conserving the environment by strengthening and promoting green building practices, today unveiled the findings of the first-of-its-kind report on ‘Energy and Water Benchmarking for UAE Hotels.’

The key findings of the study are that UAE hotels have unequal energy and water performance with high potential for significant savings using viable and affordable existing technologies. This correlates with a recent report that Dubai’s five-star hotels consume up to 225% more energy compared to their counterparts in Europe. Read more …

Unilever, in collaboration with the Dubai Chamber’s Sustainability Network, has hosted a multi-sectoral collaboration event to galvanise support for United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as the goals espoused by the UAE Vision 2021. The event was held on Sunday at the Dubai Chamber premises in Deira. Read more …

Demonstrating its commitment to environmental sustainability, Radisson Blu & Park Inn secured the largest global eco-label for tourism and leisure establishments, Green Key Award 15/16 by Emirates Green Building Council. A non-governmental, non-profit and independent program, Green Key is recognized by the World Tourism Organization and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Read more …