'Green buildings' are the future in Dubai

Tuesday, 12 August 2008 7:49 AM

Stricter building standards will be imposed in Dubai next year in a bid to increase environmentally-friendly practices, Dubai Municipality have announced.

Eisa Al Maidour, assistant director-general of Dubai Municipality for Planning and Building Affairs, said planning chiefs would develop a new legislative framework for green design that would be implemented in all new buildings across Dubai by January 1.

Al Maidour said the issue of "building green" in rapidly growing urban environments is emerging as a major factor in the booming Middle East real estate market. Dubai has been expanding at a rapid pace, with an unprecedented scale of construction projects that sometimes seems to be defying forecasts by many economic experts in the region.

"Growing concerns about the adverse impact of such a fast paced urbanization have underlined the crucial need for sustainable, eco-friendly and energy efficient property development as well as the challenge of decreasing the emirate's ecological footprint," he noted.

He was speaking at a seminar called Build it Green: Greening of Dubai through Regulations, which came as part of the civic body's initiative to offer a continuous learning environment for local architects and consultant engineers.

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Posted by: KrisZ Wednesday, 13 August 2008 11:29 AM[UAE] - UAE

I'm sure many Villa owners would like to make their contribution to a greener Dubai, by installing solar panelling on their roofs and pumping their generated electricity onto the grid, thus offsetting their monthly electricity bills. Has Dewa made two way meters available for those who want to do this? Will they allow it ? Nope !!! - Until they get their act together we can all twiddle our thumbs...

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Posted by: Trojan Tuesday, 12 August 2008 3:26 PM[UAE]

As an industry insider, what I have seen is that this whole "green" thing is not much more than talk, so far. I wish it was different, but it all seems to be a feel-good fad. In reality, becoming green does not come cheap, and those cheapo developers and contractors looking to cut corners are just not going to do the right thing to make it happen. Dubai Muni already has regulations on the books requiring all new buildings to have some kind of thermal insulation; but the devil is in the details. Almost all developers and contractors I have encountered opt out for the cheapest solutions and products, which in fact don't work very well, if they ever do. The harsher reality is that it is way too late. In more developed and forward-looking countries, developments are not even given the go ahead until a full environmental impact study is done by independent bodies and the public and everyone concerned has a chance to debate it. It is never a one-man's decision. This should have been thought of and done long ago!

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