01-07 October 2012 - orsam

Newer construction projects in Middle East less sustainable than decade old
constructions
Whilst the term 'Green Buildings' is relatively new to the Middle East region, the concept itself has
been around in the region for generations. In the early decades of the 20th century, building
construction was extremely sustainable due to the lack of availability of centralized electricity and
water supply and the use of only local building materials.
However, as the Middle East entered the 21st century, globalization bought with it many ideas and
design concepts from the West and fully glazed, tall skyscrapers began dominating the skylines of the
regions major cities.
The use of fully glazed and therefore poorly insulated facades can be argued to be an inappropriate
design concept for the climate in the region, however the concept was frequently used to showcase
modernity in new buildings.
Saeed Alabbar, Director at AESG, notes, "Local building codes have been evolving during this time
to incorporate some of the fundamental features of Green buildings, predominantly with a focus on
insulation. For example in Qatar, the Gulf Organization for Research and Development has
introduced the Global Sustainability Assessment System 'previously QSAS' while in Abu Dhabi,
developers are mandated to follow the Estidama Pearl Rating System."
"Whilst these are steps in the right direction and local governments should be praised there are still
fundamental issues that need addressing in the industry. Despite all the measures being taken, the
construction industry is still unfortunately in a position where buildings being constructed today
consume more energy per square meter of floor area than buildings constructed in the 1970's. There
are factors which need immediate consideration if the concept of green building is to truly gain
momentum in the region," said Saeed.
Developers need to start talking about a building's energy use intensity, the energy consumption per
square meter, rather than comparing buildings to theoretical baselines.
Quality control in the integrity of building envelopes needs major improvement. Some fantastic
analysis goes into building designs to select the right glass and insulation but quite often all this good
work is lost during construction as insulation and facades are installed poorly with high levels of
thermal bridging and air leakage.
In many cases it is not only the contractors but the architects who are at fault. There is really little use
in specifying the top of the range insulation if heat is allowed to pass through all the exposed
elements of the building. Major savings in energy can be made by addressing this rather simple issue,
which would not cost that much to fix.
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