Sustain-a-babble, ahem!

Conrad Egbert, Editor

Last week, we saw the conclusion of our Building Sustainability into the Middle East Conference held at the Park Hyatt in Dubai. I’m sure you’re quite tired of reading how well our events go each week (I know last week I was talking about our Saudi Conference).

But in my defense, the current climate shouldn’t be allowing for such successful events, you’d think. But it does. This then brings me to a rather more confusing thought, which is – has the market not slowed down or is this, just a superficial blanket feeling, arising from negative speculation.

People are still working, still looking for better solutions and are still moving along. And what’s more, this is the sustainability sector we’re talking about.

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Despite all the contrary remarks about sustainability not slipping down the region’s agenda and how “dedicated” everyone is to sustainability, we work in the industry and we know the truth. The work “sustain-a-babble” didn’t just emerge out of thin air.

So if it’s a full house at a sustainability conference, it’s a strong sign that things are definitely looking up. If anything at all, it’s good food for some more thought.

We saw some of the top-most experts in their fields discuss sustainability issues that have needed much addressing of late. From “How green is Green”, to building to “carbon negative” standards, most of the important sustainability issues were thrashed out at various panel discussions.

The experts at the conference did have a very direct attitude and there was no hiding the fact that sustainability in the region is a difficult topic to cover.

“It’s tougher to cool things down than to heat them up,” said former Nakheel sustainability manager Michael Nates, cleverly summing up the basic challenge in the region.

Even the founder of the Saudi Green Building Council Sultan Faden, said he wasn’t too impressed with sustainability standards in the region and was hoping to raise them in Saudi Arabia soon.

On the whole, it was a good conference where a lot of ground was covered.