Kuwait, January 23rd, 2018 – An inaugural roundtable event aimed at advancing net zero carbon buildings in the MENA region took place between the 9th and the 11th of January at Kempinski Hotel Ishtar Dead Sea, with the support of Green Building Councils in the region.
The roundtable was followed by a regional meeting on the next day whereby regional GBCs were providing updates on their latest developments and discussed joint projects on Net Zero Buildings.
The main purposes of the roundtable, workshop and regional meeting were to extend the reach of the WorldGBC’s Advancing Net Zero project towards the wider green building network in order to fulfill the 2050 vision, to create enough awareness towards net-zero buildings to help GBCs overcome perceptual, technical and financial barriers, to learn about opportunities and challenges facing net-zero buildings in the MENA region, and to encourage regional cooperation around issues of mutual interest.
Desired outcome of the roundtable was to identify regional case studies and successful models that can be shared within a global platform, to create a regional net zero roundtable for MENA, to agree on a regional roadmap and action plan, and to identify valuable resources and deliverables for the MENA GBC network.
The first day saw a group discussion & 1-on-1 talks with technical experts from WorldGBC and Integral on perceptual, technical and financial barriers towards net zero buildings, opportunities and challenges facing net zero buildings in the MENA region, and the strategies to determine training & educational resources that would be valuable, as well as regional roadmap and action plan.
Attendees of the first roundtable were regional Green Building Councils including Kuwait Green Building Council delegates, regional partners and sponsors.
Speakers
Victoria Burrows
Victoria is the Project Manager for WorldGBC's Advancing Net Zero project, the ambitious global project to ensure that all buildings are net zero carbon by 2050. In this role, Victoria oversees and supports Green Building Councils participating in the project, as well as a number of other partnerships which provide funding and support, and marketing and communications.
With a strong background in the sustainable development industry, ranging from international client side advisory services, green building rating tool consultancy, and an on-site Head of Sustainability for a major contractor, Victoria brings a unique perspective to the Advancing Net Zero project.
Ed Garrod
Ed is an influential sustainability strategist and environmental design consultant whose passion lies in developing compelling visions and innovative design responses for major projects in the built environment. Ed joined Elementa to focus on growing their international workload and further strengthen their capabilities in environmental analysis and sustainable design consultancy. Edward was Co-founder, and equity director of PHA Consult, a sustainable design and environmental engineering consultancy acquired by Foster + Partners in 2011. Before joining Elementa, Ed was Partner and Deputy Group Leader for Environmental Engineering at Foster + Partners – providing sustainability strategy for international projects, and direction of CSER initiatives.
Ed has played a central role in the environmental design and sustainability strategy of projects including the award-winning zero carbon Masdar Institute in Abu Dhabi, Winspear Opera House in Dallas and Musée de la Romanitée in Narbonne.
