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BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE: Warehouse construction will soon follow green building codes in the Middle East.

It is a points-based system that stretches from gradings such as certified (26-32 points), through to silver, gold and platinum (52-69 points).

The Abu Dhabi scheme is more stringent and has a point-based system that goes up to 75 (five pearl level). It also bases its assessment on a wider range of criteria - water, energy use, indoor environmental quality, ecology, management, transport, pollution, materials, waste management and, finally, land use.

Critics are divided on whether the eventual system that will emerge in Dubai will resemble the Estidama code, but Amana remains determined to train engineers up to LEED level regardless.

"The Dubai building code with regard to green buildings is not out yet but it will be published sooner or later," says Bsaibes. "So we could do one of two things - we could wait for that building code to come out, wait for the consultants to understand it and then start designing facilities. Or we could take a more pro-active role and say we are going to jump into that sector and understand it in the meantime.

We will run our training in parallel with the building code as it is being developed so when it is released we will have a better grasp of what it takes to build green industrial facilities," he adds.

Bsaibes stresses that the basic bones of LEED and Estidama codes are essentially the same and even if an alternative system is adopted it will not be too difficult to make the transition.

"They are very similar and both are largely to do with the requirement to save both power and water. In addition, both require that you are able to generate your own source of power," he says. "These are the common themes, whether it is LEED certification or whether it is European or British certification."

Even if it is the case that Dubai Municipality adopts LEED, it is still not clear on what the minimum number of points will be. But Amana has good grounds on which to guess. The company is currently in negotiations with a "large government entity" to build an industrial building to ‘silver' LEED classification.

In both LEED and Estidama, developers can earn ‘points' in each category for energy-saving methods within the warehouse. For lighting systems, these can range from the simple step of providing skylights for natural lighting, to motion and daylight sensors to prevent wasted electricity.

Other tips include painting roofs white and installing reflective glass to prevent the warehouse from heating up, thus reducing the need for excessive air conditioning.

According to Ghazal, ProLogis is currently in the process of building a 70,000m² warehouse for Aramex that is destined to carry a significant number of the above features.

Another type of technology for green warehouses that is likely to catch on is solar power. Amana is currently in talks with companies abroad to purchase photovoltaic cells to be installed on the roofs of green warehouses. Moreover, the company is also competing for the tender of a solar farm under Abu Dhabi's Masdar Initiative.

Solar technology can enable firms to cut their electricity bills, but the immediate capital costs are fairly high. Bsaibes believes this to be a temporary issue.

"The development costs are going to be slightly higher because it is going to take time for the construction industry to understand what it takes," he says. "This means that the costs will go down over the years, so that's one reason why many are thinking about waiting later to develop a facility.

"But, on the other hand, the earlier you build it, the earlier you can capitalise on it from a marketing point of view," Bsaibes concludes. "It can also save you money - having a green building lowers your operating expenses on power and water.

So there really are economical advantages to green buildings. It's not just a necessity that needs implementing because you are compelled to do so by the laws of the land."

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