Oman’s Supreme Council for Planning has set up a committee to develop a comprehensive green design code to meet the requirement of proposed unified GCC Building Code, Ahmed Mazroui, board member of the Oman Green Building Council (OGBC) and Oman Society of Engineers (OSE), told Muscat Daily.
No details were given on the upcoming building code or the estimated date of implementation.
Simon Wilson, Vice Chairman, OGBC, said high level discussions have been taking place at GCC Secretariat level to agree to the terms of reference for the work.
“Buildings have an initial capital cost for their construction, but they also have an operating cost and a design life so the associated costs need to be considered over the whole life cycle of a building. If the life of a building is extended from 25 to 50 years it is likely that the initial construction costs will increase incrementally, but the overall cost of the building per year over its life time basis will be dramatically reduced.”
Wilson said the new codes have the potential to reduce the life-cycle costs of buildings and result in macro-economic benefits such as reduced consumption of energy at the national level.
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