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Appearing at Construction Week’s Building Sustainability into the Middle East event, currently taking place in Abu Dhabi, members of the Urban Planning Council (UPC) and Estidama tried to clear up confusion regarding new build codes.
Members of the audience - consisting predominantly of architects, engineers, developers and government agencies - had voiced their uncertainty over where the impending new building codes, which are mandatory, would integrate with Estidama’s voluntary Pearl Design System, to be launched next year.
“Our original goal was for the new build code to be sufficient for all new buildings to meet the minimum levels to reach a ‘one pearl’ rating,” said Estidama senior planning manager Gregory Acker.
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“We’re working diligently to try to make that happen, but the deal’s not done yet. We’ll only know in January. What I can tell you is that we‘re in the process of growing regulations and guidebooks to help the industry.”
UPC associate planner Aysha Abu Shahab added, “We re-discussed this issue as we felt that even ‘one Pearl’ should be higher than the build codes required in order to keep raising the bar.”
Explaining why Abu Dhabi and UPC had seen the need to develop the Estidama and Pearl Design System guidelines when other certification systems, such as LEED, already existed, Acker explained: “There is the need for a more climate- and region-responsive system with cultural considerations.”
The UPC panel did explain that the two systems - the mandatory and voluntary - would mesh closely without repetition. “If it’s in the building code, then it won’t be in the Pearl Design System,” said Abu Shahab.
“However, we’ve not discussed whether, at any point in the future, a certain Pearl rating may become mandatory in Abu Dhabi.”
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With a leap towards sustainability in the form of USGBC?s LEED, the initiative could have been modified to suit the loca