Sustainability still mostly 'green wash'

Experts say there is a lack of initiative in the market

Sustainability is not being taken seriously and is a race to the bottom, said experts on the sidelines of the Construction Week Building Sustainability into the Middle East Conference that was held on Sunday in Abu Dhabi.

Speaking to Construction Week, Holly Chant, corporate sustainability director, KEO International said: “Most projects and building materials manufacturers in the region are using tools like Leed certification and the ‘green’ word to market themselves or their products. There is a lot of green washing going on in the construction industry."

“If one has to truly become sustainable, you have to incorporate green solutions right from the concept stage. You cannot ‘green wash’ your project in the construction stage and expect it to be sustainable.”

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She added that the main reason for this was due to the widespread misconception that sustainability costs more.

At the conference, Estidama held a training workshop to help designers, developers and agencies to begin to think about sustainable development in the region but Samuel Keehn, environment and sustainable energy manager, Energy Management Services said: “It’s a race to the bottom I’m afraid. Many people are here to learn what the lowest required minimum standards will be after the green building codes are introduced in January. There is a lack of initiative in the market right now to push for sustainable construction and this is where the real change needs to come."

Many delegates agreed that sustainability needs to begin at the top. Government bodies need to enforce building codes on developers who will, in turn, enforce them within the wider construction industry. They also agreed that with utilities costs in the country being so low, end users are not in the habit of conserving resources.

Hamid Kerayechian, development manager for Emaar confirmed this: "The cost of water and electricity is extremely low in the UAE. If the cost of utilities is increased, it will affect the end-user and that will automatically make it an incentive for developers to construct projects that conserve energy."

The Construction Week Building Sustainability into the Middle East Conference is ongoing Sunday and Monday at the Crowne Plaza in Abu Dhabi.

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