Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC), an independent forum aimed at conserving the environment by strengthening and promoting green building practices, today announced its partnership with TÜV Rheinland Middle East, a leading provider of technical services worldwide, to upskill the public and private sector in the Middle East region with advanced retrofit capabilities.

Participants will get complete access to the highly Advanced Building Retrofit Training course designed by EmiratesGBC and endorsed by TÜV Rheinland Middle East. Those 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 training consists of four modules and will cover several important elements of building retrofit such as Auditing and Commissioning, HVAC, motors, pumps and fans, HVAC Electronically Commutated Motors (ECMs), Air Quality, Lighting, Energy Management System & Building Automation System, Electric Network, Solar Systems, Water, Waste, Economic Evaluation, Measurement Instruments, Retrofit Procedures and Case Studies, and Retrofitting to Net Zero.

His Excellency Ali Al Jassim, Chairman of EmiratesGBC, said: “At EmiratesGBC, our aim is to support the region in driving sustainable built environments, thereby adding more value to property and other core economic sectors. In this, building retrofits play a key role, more so as nations such as the UAE work towards its commitment to achieve Net Zero Buildings by 2050. Our partnership with the TÜV Rheinland Group will enable organisations to prepare for Net Zero Buildings by covering critical aspects such as waste disposal and water treatment, indoor air quality and deep retrofit.”

Fares Naouri, CEO of TÜV Rheinland Middle East, said: “TÜV Rheinland is a leading competence companion for excellence in the technical qualification field. Bringing around 150 years of experience, we offer over 750 certification programs for professionals in over 150 locations worldwide. We are privileged to partner with Emirates GBC to support in imparting the necessary skillsets for Building Retrofit trainings. These will help the professionals from both public and private sectors to empower their technical competencies in building retrofit and gain global recognition at the same time.”

To qualify for taking part in the Advanced Building Retrofit Training course, aspirants should have a degree in architecture or any of the building-related area such as civil, electric, energy or mechanical engineering. They should also have at least one year of professional experience in building engineering or energy management, and/or five years of work experience if they do not have a university degree in any building-related area of engineering or architecture.

On completion, participants will gain knowledge in building retrofit principles and procedures applicable to the MENA region; energy audits, building commissioning, preventive maintenance, and measurement and verification; difference between different HVAC systems and controls; identify energy efficient HVAC systems, lighting, pumps, fans, motors.

Successful candidates get their personal signet as “Building Retrofit Specialist” and prove their competences as below;

• Demonstrate knowledge of building retrofit principles and procedures applicable to the MENA region
• Apply the principles of energy audits, building commissioning, preventive maintenance, and measurement and verification
• Assess and differentiate different HVAC systems, HVAC controls and identify energy efficient HVAC systems, retrofit measures for lighting, pumps, fans, motors
• Apply electric networks calculations and optimization techniques
• Understand and assess the design and functioning of different types of solar thermal and solar photovoltaic power systems
• Ability to identify economically viable retrofit solutions for different building typologies, assess the risks and benefits of the retrofit measures
• Ability to identify and use the relevant financial metrics to evaluate retrofit projects and energy efficiency measures
• Ability to recommend techniques for improving the environmental performance of existing buildings, including energy, water, waste, indoor environment, etc.

The 2020 Advanced Building Retrofit Training will be held on Nov. 29-30 and Dec. 6-7 from 9am to 1pm and the examination will be held on Dec. 14. For the year 2021, the training sessions will be held from March 10-11 & 17-18; Aug. 11-12 & 18-19; and Nov. 21-22 & 28-29. Exam dates will be announced closer to the sessions.

EmiratesGBC will also conduct the 2021 Introductory Building Retrofit Trainings on Feb. 24-25; July 7-8 and Nov. 14-15, which will be independently certified.

The EmiratesGBC Building Retrofit Training Programme is designed to teach the fundamentals of building retrofit and energy efficiency specific to the MENA region. EmiratesGBC conducts various technical trainings and programmes to educate the real sector in the MENA region.