Dubai - MENA Herald: Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC), an independent forum aimed at conserving the environment by strengthening and promoting green building practices, today honoured the winners of the fourth Annual EmiratesGBC Awards at a gala event held at Al Murooj Rotana, Dubai. Recognising excellence in sustainable building practices, the Awards were chosen by an expert panel with entries from across the Middle East and North Africa region.
EmiratesGBC also announced that the awards will be rebranded as MENA Green Building Awards from 2017 to celebrate the accomplishments of MENA-wide country projects. The MENA Green Building Awards is supported by the World Green Building Council with other regional GBCs coming on board as partners. The Awards programme will be launched in December, with entries to be received in both English and Arabic.
The event was attended by representatives of key industry leaders from Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council, World Green Building Council and the Green Building Councils from Lebanon, Qatar and Jordan, among others.
The Awards were presented in five main categories, including Green Facility Management Organisation of the Year, Green Building Material/Product Award, Green Building Research Award, Training Initiative of the Year and Green Building of the Year with its sub-categories including Green Hotel, Green School, Green Residential and Green Commercial Building. The winners are:
Green Facility Management Organisation: Enova; short-listed – BK Gulf and Emaar Communities Management
Green Building Material/Product: VRV IV by Daikin Middle East & Africa FZE; short-listed – Siemens Demand Flow Solution by Siemens and Re-CON Zero by Mapei Construction Chemicals
Green Building Research: Solar Calorimeter Test Facility by RAK Research & Innovation Centre; short-listed – Market Surveillance and Performance Testing by Abu Dhabi Quality & Conformity Council; and Effective Utilisation of Waste Air in FAHU by Dubai Silicon Oasis
Training Initiative: The Carbon Ambassadors Program 2015/16 by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority; short-listed – University Students Programme by Peopla
Green Building:
Green Hotel: Alila Jabal Akhdar Resort in Oman (Oman Tourism Development Co); short-listed – Hilton Garden Inn in Dubai (Majid Al Futtaim) and Sofitel Dubai The Palm Resort & Spa (Sofitel Dubai)
Green School: Qatar Academy Msheireb (Brookfield Multiplex)
Green Residential Building: The Sustainable City, Dubai (Diamond Developers)
Green Commercial Building: City Center Me’aisem, Dubai (Majid Al Futtaim); short-listed - DAFZA Square (Dubai Airport Free Zone) and Siemens Headquarters in Masdar (Siemens)
Additionally, the 2016 Dr. Owainati Student Excellence Award, presented to one student from a recognised university in the UAE for exceptional research in a subject related to green buildings in the Middle East, was presented to Maria Gabriela SotoConde at Heriot-Watt University in Dubai for ‘Evaluation of Available Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Systems and Their Impact when Used in Commercial Buildings in the UAE.’
Two students were short-listed: Tarek Sobh of RIT Dubai University for ‘Life Cycle Energy, Environmental Impact and Cost Analysis of Eight Conventional/Hybrid Cooling Systems in the UAE;’ and Samia Mhenni of British University in Dubai for ‘Visual Comfort and Energy Saving Due to Internal Shading in an Office Building in the UAE.’
Saeed Al Abbar, Chairman of EmiratesGBC, said: “We congratulate the winners of the Annual EmiratesGBC Awards for their deep commitment and sustained focus on setting new standards in promoting the sustainable built environment. The progress that the region has achieved in developing sustainable buildings reflects on the clear leadership of the government and sustained efforts by various industry stakeholders and academia to continuously innovate and develop cutting edge solutions that contribute to a greener future.
“The high quality of the entries and the remarkable achievements by the winners in securing energy efficiency and savings are an inspiration for the industry. The concerted efforts of all players in the building industry will enable us to support the vision of the regional governments to promote sustainable development. The winning ideas can be applied industry-wide to achieve tangible gains in reducing our carbon footprint and ensuring the well-being of the residents and users of the green buildings. We are now taking the Awards to the next level with its rebranding next year as the MENA Green Building Awards, which will foster greater industry participation and stakeholder engagement.”
The 2016 Official Judges for the Professional Categories were: Prof. Bassam Abdel-Karim Abu-Hijleh, Dean and Atkins Chair Head of the Sustainability MSc & PhD Programmes, Faculty of Engineering and IT, The British University in Dubai (BUiD); Dr. Ghalib Y. Kahwaji, Professor and Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Dubai; Dr. Michael Schmidt, Board Member of the of EmiratesGBC, and Head of Development, Construction Chemicals Division, ORA: Middle East, West Asia, CIS & Africa, BASF; Dr. Rob Cooke, Board Member of the of EmiratesGBC, and Associate Sustainability Consultant, Buro Happold; Sarfraz Dairkee, Secretary of EmiratesGBC Board of Directors and General Manager Corporate Dev. & Engineering, M.A.H.Y. Khoory & Co. LLC; Abdallah Bdeir, MENA GBC Regional Network Chair; Walid El Baba, LebanonGBC Board member; and Abeer Manneh, Urban Designer at Woods Bagot and representative of the Board of EmiratesGBC.
The 2016 Official Judges for the Dr. Owainati Student Excellence Award were: Jeffrey Willis, Associate Director, ARUP; Sanjeev Coelho, Senior Associate, HOK; Simone El Henoud, Specification Market Development Manager, DOW and representative of the Board of EmiratesGBC; and Tushant Suri, Sustainability Coordinator, Brookfield Multiplex.
The EmiratesGBC Awards Taskforce members were: Habiba Al Marashi, Representative of the EmiratesGBC Management Committee; Marie-Hélène Westholm-Knebel, Senior Technical Officer, EmiratesGBC; and Lora Shrake, Operational Director, EmiratesGBC. KPMG were the 2016 EmiratesGBC Awards Observing Auditors.
