Have you ever wanted to visit the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center? EmiratesGBC is giving members the opportunity on 6 December!  The Sustainable Autonomous House, designed and constructed by Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center engineers, is considered the first of its kind in the region. We will tour the House and explore the innovations that went into building this unique building.

Calling all Emirates Green Building Council individual and corporate members. The 2017 Annual General Meeting will take place on December 14^th at TIME Oak Hotel and Suites in Barsha Heights from 9:00 – 10:30 am, with registration, starting from 8:30 am. Please join us and bring your thoughts and ideas for new outreach efforts and initiatives. We’ll be recognizing active members and collecting input to feed into our 2018 strategy.  Registration is vital so please confirm your attendance here.

Organised by Emirates Green Building Council and in partnership with supporting MENA Green Building Councils, the 2018 MENA Green Building Awards has organically grown to accommodate a wider industry with four new categories now introduced to the 2018 Awards:

• Green Healthcare Building of the Year – includes all buildings, private or public, related to healthcare
• Green Public Building of the Year – includes government/agencies such as museums, libraries, post offices, airports
• Sustainable Urban/Community Development Design of the Year – added to highlight the focus to move beyond just looking at buildings to a wider community and therefore city level
• Training Initiative of the Year – added to recognize the commitment to foster a new generation of professionals for the growing green building sector in the region

Visit the website to see the full list of awards categories.  If you think your company or your projects or products deserve recognition, please refer to the awards website and apply!

The Dr Owainati Student Excellence Award, sponsored by EmiratesGBC Co-Founder Dr Sadek Owainati, targets UAE based students from a recognised university in the United Arab Emirates who have conducted exceptional research work in a subject related to green buildings in the Middle East.

Students are invited to refer to the EmiratesGBC website to see the list of requested documents that need to be submitted by 1^st February 2018, the deadline for receiving submissions.  The winner has the chance of being rewarded a cash prize and will be announced alongside the Professional Awards during the Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner taking place in Roda Murooj Downtown Hotel, Dubai on May 9^th, 2018.  Contact EmiratesGBC at awards@emiratesgbc.org if you have any questions.

Recognising organisations and projects for innovative and outstanding sustainable building principles and practices in the Middle East and North Africa region, the MENA Green Building Awards is looking for committed supporters through sponsorship to help grow the 2018 Awards to be bigger and better than ever. 

In partnership with MENA GBCs such as Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco and Palestine GBCs, we are looking forward to another successful event and would like to take this opportunity to invite our members and partners to sponsor.  There is an early bird discount on sponsorship packages available until 01 February 2018. 

We encourage you to visit our website to understand more about the awards and our sponsorship packages.

Please also take a look at last year’s awards brief for a comprehensive overview of what the awards entail, as well as to meet the 2017 winners and shortlisted organisations.

On November 19^th, 2017, Emirates Green Building Council launched the Emirates Coalition for Green Schools, part of the Global Coalition for Green Schools, where some of the UAE’s strongest advocates of green schools were invited to participate in a roundtable discussion to deliberate about the ‘State of Our Schools’.  Stakeholders included government, tertiary level academics, elementary school teachers, education and sustainability-related associations, trade media and the private sector. The session was moderated by Charles Blaschke, Founder and Managing Director of Taka Solutions, EmiratesGBC’s corporate member.

A white paper will be published later this month based on the session’s discourse so keep an eye out for the announcement.

EmiratesGBC is inviting members of the green building industry to exhibit with us under the EmiratesGBC Pavilion at the Energy Efficiency Expo, co-located with World Future Energy Summit.  EmiratesGBC is a 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 part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, taking place from 15-18 January at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.

In order to showcase the green, sustainable and energy-efficient products and solutions for its members, EmiratesGBC is proud to host a dedicated pavilion at the Energy Efficiency Expo. EmiratesGBC corporate members exhibiting within the pavilion are eligible for special rates and benefits and will have access to 30,000+ visitors including Government Authorities, Architects, Building Contractors, Engineers and Consultants.

If you are interested in exhibiting contact Reed Exhibitions at carla.fadel@reedexpo.ae and be sure to let them know you are an EmiratesGBC Corporate Member.

EmiratesGBC conducted its last Building Retrofit Training (BRT) Level I course on November 16^th in Dubai.  The course provides the fundamentals of retrofit through bridging the

knowledge-gap regarding best practices for retrofitting.  The programme has been structured based on the EmiratesGBC Technical 

Guidelines for Retrofitting Existing Buildings, of which a free copy is offered with each course registration.

EmiratesGBC will soon be announcing the launch of BRT Level II, an advanced version of the programme tailored to engineers and professionals already involved in the retrofitting and green buildings market.

Please visit our website for further information on the BRT Programme and to register your participation in the upcoming courses. Follow us on social media (FB, Twitter & LinkedIn) and stay updated as we announce the new BRT course calendar for 2018.

The BRT Programme is in partnership with the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company).

We are pleased to invite Hotels, Shopping Malls and Schools in Dubai to participate in the Benchmarking Project carried out in a partnership with Dubai’s commitment to the Building Efficiency Accelerator, a global initiative under the United Nations program Sustainable Energy for All “SE4All”, in which EmiratesGBC is collaborating with the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy.

Under this initiative, we will benchmark at least 100 buildings in three focus groups (Hotels, Schools and Shopping Malls). To participate in this project, contact the EmiratesGBC office at  04-3468244 or send an email with your interest to BEA@emiratesgbc.org.  You can learn more about the Benchmarking Project here.

BEA Sponsorship opportunities are also open, and we invite you to learn more by clicking here or contacting engagement@emiratesgbc.org.

With Palestine Green Building Council’s guidance and supervision, The Palestinian Museum locates Palestine State on the Green Buildings’ Map through LEED Certificate and project accreditation by the USGBC.

On 13 November 2017, Palestine Green Building Council, presented by Dr Afif Aqel, handed the Palestine Museum Chairman the official Gold LEED certificate to be the first LEED-certified building in Palestine, the first LEED museum in the Middle East, and one of 14 LEED certified museum around the world earning the Golden certificate. The museum design saves about 16% of energy and about 49% of annual water consumption, in addition to other sustainable categories. The building was classified as golden-green with total points of 61 following LEED rating system.

The Museum, in return, honoured Palestine Green Building Council (PalGBC) for their technical efforts and technical support during the design, construction, and operation phases.

A big congratulation to Corporate Member, Sheraton Dubai Mall of the Emirates for winning the 5-star city hotel award at the Dubai Sustainable Tourism awards.  We salute your efforts for continuously striving to be a leader in sustainability within the UAE hospitality sector.

This month we encourage you to improve your lifestyle by adopting an EmiratesGBC Green Building LifestyleTooltip – “Turn off the AC’s and open windows when the weather outside is good!”

The EmiratesGBC Green Building Tooltips is a rich online platform serving to further educate the industry and community on simple green building practices.   The interactive designs cover three different building typologies, showcasing a home, school and office building.  The initiative is powered by BASF and Legrand, EmiratesGBC board members underlining their commitment to promoting sustainability.

We strongly urge you to visit the Green Building Tooltips on our website to test out this valuable online tool and fulfil your goal of pursuing a greener lifestyle whether it be at home, school or at the office.

On November 7th, 2017, a Technical Workshop was delivered on Energy Optimization and Retrofitting of Pumps, facilitated by Grundfos, a corporate member of EmiratesGBC. Topics covered included pump fundamentals and characteristics, energy efficiency measures, and potential retrofitting measures. Pumps account for a massive 10% of the world’s electricity consumption and by simply switching to energy efficient pumps, a 40% reduction of that portion can be realized. The savings can reach 60% if smart controls are applied. Achieving energy efficiency does not solely depend on the pump but rather the integration of the entire pumping system.

On November 21^s, 2017, a special edition of the Monthly Technical Workshop was delivered on UAE VAT Law. The session provided an overview of the new VAT legistlation and a perspective of the impacts on the construction industry. During the workshop, both facilitators and attendees observed the VAT legislation as a cashflow management matter rather than a cost concern. Understanding the upcoming law and ensuring transparent and full compliance with the requirements should ease the VAT invoicing and reclaiming processes. Until the complete law is announced, business owners are advised to register their companies with the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) as required and mandated.

With the advent of VAT in 2018, this month we will be looking at the white paper by Thomson Reuters, Implications of VAT Implementation on the GCC Construction Industry, which discusses the recently announced Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Unified VAT Agreement and its effect on the construction industry. The whitepaper was published as a result of a roundtable hosted in Dubai and brought together both local and regional industry players, providing a platform for them to voice any concerns and gain further clarity from value-added tax (VAT) experts from Deloitte Middle East and Thomson Reuters.

The paper summarizes construction specific VAT rules, which states that all domestic supplies of goods and services are subject to the standard VAT rate of 5 percent unless specifically zero-rated or exempted. Furthermore, there is no specific relief for the construction sector in the UAE VAT laws. Additionally, other construction related VAT rules state real estate-related services will be taxed where the real estate property is located and that the UAE has allowed a tax refund for citizens of member states who are constructing their homes for private use.

To learn more about the upcoming VAT and its effect on the construction industry, click here to read the white paper.

The EmiratesGBC team is busy reviewing and certifying new and renewing hotels with THE Green Key certification.  The Green Key eco-label is the Largest global ecolabel operating in 56 countries and with 2600+ establishments.  It’s also the lowest cost label on the market due to its operation as a non-governmental, non-commercial, and independent program.

Hotels interested to strengthen their brand by committing to sustainable operations and environmental best practice should consider the Green Key certification. If your hotel is committed to sustainable best practice and interested in becoming Green Key Certified, EmiratesGBC can support you in the journey.  Please contact greenkey@emiratesgbc.org.

Click here to learn more about how the Technical Guidelines for Retrofitting Existing Buildings can potentially save your facility and/or home millions in utility bills and reduced operational costs.  Copies are available in both English and Arabic for purchase at the EmiratesGBC office.

EmiratesGBC also offers a free copy of the Technical Guidelines, as part of your registration and participation in the Building Retrofit Training Workshop. For more details, please click here to complete registration.

White paper on the state of schools in the UAE will be released next month by the Emirates Green Building Council (EGBC), which will reveal where schools stand in terms of being green.

Although, a round table by the EGBC has already revealed that majority of schools in the country need improvement when it comes to being green. Only 75 schools are registered as eco-schools out of the 1,316 school buildings in the UAE and only seven are LEED or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design registered.

Read more

Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC), an independent forum aimed at conserving the environment by strengthening and promoting green building practices, hosted the winners of the MENA Green Building Awards 2017 and launched next year’s edition with four additional categories based on industry stakeholder feedback.

At the event held at TIME Oak Hotel & Suites in Barsha Heights, EmiratesGBC brought together the winners of the MENA Green Building Awards 2017 to present their winning ideas and initiatives as part of a knowledge-sharing initiative to promote sustainable built environments.

EmiratesGBC also announced the launch of the MENA Green Building Awards 2018 with four additional categories adding to the existing 15 professional award categories and sub-categories. These awards have been instituted based on the feedback received from various industry stakeholders, and include recognitions for the Green Healthcare Building, Green Public Building, Training Initiative and Sustainable Urban/Community Development Design of the Year.  Read more

AA: AMCA will make an announcement in Q1 2018 about staffing arrangements in the region, and we will continue to host technical seminars in conjunction with ASHRAE. Our chief goal is to increase uptake of the AMCA Certified Ratings Program. We also intend to help regional professionals develop and enforce tighter specifications, and – in collaboration with ASHRAE Falcon and the Emirates Green Building Council (Emirates GBC) – we would like to educate the market about new energy efficiency standards for fans.  Read more

Dubai is blazing a new path for cities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by calling attention to energy consumption in urban buildings and highlighting the lack of data available to benchmark usage rates and measure progress.

In 2016, Dubai joined the Building Efficiency Accelerator (BEA), a global network of cities led by WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, and proposed a new policy on energy performance labels for existing buildings. The city government launched a pilot project in February 2017, led by the Emirates Green Building Council and Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, to measure the performance of 100 buildings. The World Green Building Council is a delivery partner for the BEA, supporting its Green Building Councils involved in the program.  Read more …