Last month saw the departure of EmiratesGBC Director, Lora Shrake. We would like to express our thanks to her for the dedication, support, and enthusiasm she has demonstrated. Throughout her 10-year journey with us, she worked tirelessly to strengthen the role of EmiratesGBC in the UAE and MENA region and we will miss her! We wish her all the best in the next chapter of her life and career.

We would also like to wish a warm welcome to Dr. Waleed Yagoub, EmiratesGBC’s new Director! Dr. Waleed brings with him a wealth of experience in the sustainable building and construction industry, including a background in research and development of renewable and low carbon technologies. We look forward to working with him to support and promote sustainability and innovation in the UAE and MENA region.

EmiratesGBC invites you to the online launch event of the EmiratesGBC Women’s Network!

In support for Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality), the EmiratesGBC Women’s Network (EWN) is a new initiative for 2021, that aims to act as a platform to encourage and promote gender equality in the sustainability and green building sector across the region.

Join us on the 4^th of February at 10am GST in a free, open-to-all webinar to find out more about the network and how you can get involved. During the event we will bring together a panel of esteemed speakers exploring some of the challenges and opportunities for women in the building and construction sector and discussing the importance of sustainability and gender equality in supporting the UAE’s green economy. Click here to register!

We are also inviting corporate members to partner with us and support the initiative as EWN ‘Champions’, which offers organizations to demonstrate their commitment and leadership in gender equality and help shape the program through participation on the EWN steering committee. To find out more click here or contact events@emiratesgbc.org

We are also inviting corporate members to partner with us and support the initiative as EWN ‘Champions’, which offers organizations to demonstrate their commitment and leadership in gender equality and help shape the program through participation on the EWN steering committee. To find out more click here or contact events@emiratesgbc.org.

Our Net Zero Centre of Excellence was launched in 2018 as a think tank and accelerator to advance net zero carbon buildings in the UAE as part of its commitment to World Green Building Council’s Advancing Net Zero Project. We invite you to explore our website to see the work we are doing. We have also summarised our objectives and actions in the EmiratesGBC Snapshot.

One Click LCA Planetary has been officially launched and is available in nine languages and covers the ten most carbon-intensive and significant materials categories in construction. It provides both materials efficiency and embodied carbon metrics at once. Through our partnership with Bionova Ltd, the One Click LCA Planetary is available for all UAE companies for free!

According to the IEA’s Energy Efficiency Report 2020, the buildings sector is witnessing a partial shift in energy demand from commercial to residential buildings, as social distancing and teleworking reduce use of commercial buildings and increase activities that use energy in the home. The socio-economic benefits of energy efficiency are now becoming widely recognised, with several countries working to “build back better.”

We invite the industry to explore and pursue the International Living Future Institute’s Zero Carbon and Zero Energy Certifications, which promotes the design of high performance, climate-positive buildings that account for their total carbon impacts by reducing and offsetting both operational and embodied carbon.

If you are working on a net-zero project and would like to learn more about the certification, email us at netzero@emiratesgbc.org and we will be happy to schedule a call to discuss the benefits and process of the certification. The first 10 pilot projects in the UAE that apply to ILFI’s ZE and ZC certifications receive a discounted rate.

World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment now has 128 signatories! We now have nine EmiratesGBC members, AESG, Arup, Buro Happold, Cundall, JLL, Majid Al Futtaim, Mott MacDonald, Multiplex and Shaw Contract committed. You can find the full list of current signatories here. The case study library also showcases industry leaders who have signed the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment: 76 businesses and organisations, 28 cities, and 6 states and regions.

If you would like to join the lines of these pioneering organizations, please contact us at netzero@emiratesgbc.org.

On January 19^th, EmiratesGBC Corporate Member, Grfn, facilitated the first technical webinar of the year, on Preservation of Modern Architecture in the UAE. This webinar shed light on modern architectural heritage of the gulf and its influences and discussed the debate of preserving modernist building for cultural purposes against the struggle with tackling their energy inefficiencies and large carbon footprints. You can watch the webinar here.

On February 9^th, EmiratesGBC Corporate Member, Saint-Gobain, will also be facilitating a technical webinar on innovative ducting solutions. More information for both webinars will be sent through email invitations, so be sure to keep an eye out and register through the links!

Our 2021 calendars are getting booked quickly, so if you are interested in facilitating a workshop/webinar in 2021 please email us at technicalworkshops@emiratesgbc.org.

Please consider supporting our education and technical programs in 2021 by partnering with us and coming on board as a sponsor to one of our knowledge-sharing initiatives. Opportunities range from webinars and workshops on our priority areas such as Net Zero Carbon Buildings, Energy Efficiency, Green Schools, Health & Wellness and Building Retrofit to our flagship Annual Congress and Annual MENA Green Building Awards.

Partnership opportunities are a great way for members to get involved and showcase your organization’s leadership and commitment to sustainable development initiatives. We invite you to find out more – please view our sponsorship packages and contact us to learn more.

EmiratesGBC hosts multiple events throughout the year in a variety of formats and covering a wide breadth of topics. Drawing on our members’ expertise and knowledge, we curate panel discussions, webinars, presentations and conferences that go beyond the current conversation and discuss the latest innovations and issues in the sector. If you are a member with a story to tell or interested in getting involved through speaking opportunities or would like to share ideas, please contact us at events@emiratesgbc.org with details of the topic and nominated speaker.

EmiratesGBC corporate members can fill out the speakers form and submit to events@emiratesgbc.org.

During this pandemic, single-use plastics had a big comeback in the tourism industry, as they are a means to assure safety and hygiene. Although the safety of guests and staff is priority, it does not need to come at the cost of the environment. To tackle this issue, Green Key International partner, Travel Without Plastic has created GreenerGuest, a website offering free courses about how to reduce plastic and keep guests safe. To find out more, click here.

Are you interested in certifying your hotel property with Green Key? If you would like to find out more about the Green Key certification and how we can support you, please contact greenkey@emiratesgbc.org.

Visit the UAE Green Key webpage to see a list of the UAE’s Green Key certified hotels.

Learn the fundamentals of Building Retrofit, Energy Efficiency, Indoor environmental quality and much more through EmiratesGBC’s Building Retrofit Training Introductory course or learn how to undertake a retrofit and become a Certified Specialist through the Advanced course, now internationally recognized through TUV Middle East. Each course has been divided into 4-hour modules and will be led by our expert facilitators through an online platform that can be accessed from anywhere in the region.

The program is in partnership with Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) and is endorsed by Etihad ESCO. The Building Retrofit Specialist certification is now also recognized by RSB Dubai as part of its ESCO accreditation scheme.

The Advanced Building Retrofit Training is endorsed by TUV Rheinland Middle East Those and participants who pass the examination conducted by PersCert TÜV will receive the ‘Building Retrofit Specialist with TÜV Rheinland Certified Qualification’, an internationally recognised certificate for building retrofit.

The program offers two levels:

• Advanced Building Retrofit Training Course: This two-day course is perfect for engineers and technical experts with prior experience or currently undertaking retrofit projects who wish to enhance and streamline their knowledge of retrofit principles and methods. Participants of the course will undertake an examination which will allow them to become an EmiratesGBC certified Building Retrofit Specialist. EmiratesGBC are partnering with a global recognized organization to provide certification to the qualification. Contact us for more details on training@emiratesgbc.org.
• Introductory Building Retrofit Training: For non-technical professionals looking for an overview of Building Retrofit methods and provides knowledge of sustainability to industry professionals looking to understand the fundamentals of building retrofit.

Further information about the courses, dates and eligibility guidelines can be found on the Building Retrofit Training webpage. EmiratesGBC can also schedule in-house training for groups of 10 or more, please contact training@emiratesgbc.org to request a proposal. EmiratesGBC members and partners will receive a 20% discount off the registration fees.

“Schools generally have fewer paved and impermeable surface area than offices in urban districts – however, since playgrounds use artificial surface cover, they are still susceptible to absorbing heat and should be adequately covered.”

The above is one of many useful tips available through the EmiratesGBC Green Building Tooltips. The Tooltips is an online platform serving to further educate the industry and community on simple green building practices. The interactive designs cover three different building typologies, showcasing home, school and office buildings. The initiative is powered by BASF and Rain Bird and is supported by Taqati.

This month, we look at the IEA’s Energy Efficiency 2020 Report, which highlights that energy efficiency progress, which was already lagging, faces further setbacks from the pandemic. The reports also estimates that the efficiency-related stimulus spending announced to date could generate the equivalent of 1.8 million full-time jobs between 2021 and 2023, nearly two-thirds of which would be in the buildings sector. To read the report, click here.

World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) launched its Health & Wellbeing Framework — a comprehensive educational tool for a healthy and equitable built environment — after a multi-year global consultation in a global online summit on November 4^th 2020, followed by the MENA launch on November 5th.

With the COVID-19 pandemic bringing the link between the built environment and human health into focus, the Framework is a welcomed piece of work with a plethora of information.  The Framework’s six principles span indoor air quality, human rights in the supply chain, climate change resilience, and more. Click here to view the Executive Report of the Framework.