Cityscape Dubai 2007

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As was expected, the overall theme of Cityscape Dubai 2007 was sustainability.

Everyone seems to have their own version of what sustainability means and which components in a building or development make it sustainable. Likewise, the ‘green' building movement showed itself to be similarly opaque and seemingly ambiguous during the conference.

Khaled Awad, property developer and director of the Masdar zero-carbon city in Abu Dhabi, was among the first at Cityscape to challenge the notion of the green building. "The first question we should be asking is, ‘How smart is green?' I'm not picking on green buildings here, I'm just saying that you can talk to any developer and they'll all claim they're green," says Awad.

His stance became even more poignant on the last day of the conference when, in his talk on Building Environmentally Friendly and Sustainable Projects in the Region, he insisted that ‘green', as a building concept, has been "overused, misused and abused".

"‘Green-washing' is the term we use for developments that claim they are green just because they put a PVC panel on the roof or put a sensor for lighting control in a room," says Awad.

The Emirates Green Building Council (EGBC) has its work cut out for it in trying to define Leadership in Energy Efficient Design (LEED) guidelines in a region that suffers from severe temperatures and an even more severe water shortage.

Until that rating system is in place, and is globally congruent, every developer who uses simple louvers for shading or incorporates balconies into a structure can claim a level of ‘green-ness'. Strolling from booth to booth at Cityscape, it was immediately apparent that this architectural cynicism wasn't without merit.

However, Mario Seneviratne, director of the Green Technologies Company, member of the EGBC and approved LEED consultant, remained optimistic.

"There is a drive for green buildings primarily because it is the right thing to do. Green buildings are energy efficient and they make business sense. They are not a fad; they're not just fashionable; [the green movement] is real and it's happening," he says.

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