Kuwait, January 24, 2018: The Kuwait Green Building Council (Kuwait GBC), the national and non-profit organization for the development of a sustainable property sector in Kuwait, partnered with the Kuwait Construction Week to deliver and moderate a two-day conference on sustainability, energy efficiency and green building practices in the local industry.

Welcoming speakers and guests, Eng. Khaled Al-Mashaan, Chairman of Kuwait GBC, presented the Council’s long-term goals of educating about sustainable planning and development to create living spaces that have little impact on the environment, consume fewer resources, and ensure the health, comfort and high performance of its users.

Al-Mashaan said: “Kuwait GBC provides training and knowledge to promote sustainable development in the property sector, as well as develops sustainability criteria and certification systems to guide Kuwait’s property owners in their green building commitment. Our organization is affiliated with the World Green Building Council, benefiting from the expertise of 100 national councils around the world.”

Moderating an array of architects, engineers and consultants from the industry, Kuwait GBC brought industry leaders and experts together, providing them with a platform to share knowledge and solutions and provoke exchange of thoughts and conversations with the audience on energy-efficient and green projects.

The Conference aimed at raising awareness and encouraging the adoption of green building practices in Kuwait, providing insights to the latest conservation measures, sustainable urbanization, optimization of energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, tenants’ health and LEED criteria. In its first day, the Conference discussed “Energy and Sustainability”, while talks focused on “Delivering Sustainability” in the second day encouraging Kuwait to include sustainability on the agenda.

The Conference also provided workshops on how to implement sustainable practices in the industry and commit to delivering sustainability.

Presentation abstracts

Energy Auditing & Conservation Measures
Heba Alfarra
Training and Development Specialist, EnerTech Holding Co.

Climate change has forced humans to wake up to the challenge of unlimited energy consumption.
We come up with Energy Audits that consider the main key for Energy Efficiency which focusing on energy saving using different techniques in building operation system that includes lighting, automation, ventilation and air conditioning. The aim is to reduce Energy Consumption and the Greenhouses Gases (GHG) produced.
The strategy for implement Energy Audit is to set out the measures that will be undertaken throughout the audits of the site to reduce energy consumption and continually improve energy efficiency on site. that will help the users to understand the different points at which energy is being consumed and amount of energy being consumed also to identify how to reduce energy consumption, decrease costs and result in overall reduction of greenhouse gases.

Sustainability in the 4th Kuwait Masterplan
Hugo Frieszo
Principal/Project Manager, Dar

The 4th Kuwait Masterplan is the spatial implementation of the Kuwait National Development Plan and the plans of the constituent sectors, balancing economic sustainability with development needs of a strong Kuwaiti society and development of environmental capital. Years of divergent practices have seen Kuwait fall into the lower quartiles of performance globally in terms of economic, environmental and human resilience, such that the viable pathways out of this have little option but to be sustainable and are therefore triple-win. The economic diversification so badly needed now literally depends on development of human capacity and mobility which in turn depend on – and have positive impacts on – the environment from here on. The alternative is not viable. Kuwait has turned that corner.
The 4th Kuwait Masterplan supports this turnaround in hardwiring the fabric, infrastructure and governance to support the revitalization of Kuwaiti economy, environment and the health and well-being of its people to 2040. Here we discuss how this is done through the different scales of application of the plan and what this means for the future buildings developed in this context ie. how the 4th Kuwait Masterplan is getting behind green building and needs green buildings to successfully deliver the plan.

Green Building Movement in Kuwait
Mohammed Abdulrazzak Al Saleh
Project Manager, MEP-Pro Engineering

The presentation demonstrates the green movement through a number of case studies for mega projects that are and being constructed in State of Kuwait.

Archisystems
Aisha Alsager
Managing Director, AGi Architects

The presentation will define 'sustainability' in its various forms and showcase sustainable design principles implemented in various projects by AGi architects. The projects will show that sustainability is inherent to the design process itself and not a feature that is added on to any building

The Simplicity of Sustainability, Wafra Wind Tower
Lulu Alawadhi
Senior Architect, AGi Architects

AGi Architects was awarded Sustainable Project of the Year at the 2017 Middle East Architect Awards for its work on the Wind Tower located in Kuwait. Located in Salmiya, Kuwait, the residential project reinterprets local environmental techniques. The services core of the building is located on the southern wing in order to minimize sun exposure and reduce energy consumption, acting as a thermal barrier for the rest of the building. The judges praised the project for its successful incorporation of sustainable solutions, drawn from traditional regional architecture, and updated to create a new language for single-family dwellings. They also praised the project’s response to the changing dynamics and needs of regional families without losing the sustainable design philosophy of past generations.

Advancing Net Zero Buildings in Kuwait
Sandra Draskovic
General Manager, Kuwait GBC

Buildings are responsible for 30% of global carbon emissions and are therefore an essential part of reducing global emissions in line with the Paris Agreement. WorldGBC believes that in order to meet reduction targets, the following must be achieved: new buildings must operate at net zero carbon from 2030 and all buildings must operate at net zero carbon by 2050. The presentation explains the definition of Net Zero Energy and Net Zero Carbon buildings and the strategies for achieving 100% of Net Zero Carbon buildings by 2050 and how the State of Kuwait can be part of the solution in the region.

AIA and Sustainability
Fajer Al Hendi
AIA ME Kuwait Representative, Founder of Fajer Consultants

Climate change is happening, and we are all here to do something about it together.
AIA +2030 (American Institute of Architects plus 2030) is a commitment program for private sector leadership in combating climate change. Following the Architecture 2030 challenge, none profit organization founded by Arch Edward Mazria in 2002 in response to climate Change crises, the AIA + 2030 commitment started. AIA supported the initiative since 2009. The participants in the commitment report their firm performance throughout the calendar year by the design data exchange (DDx), which includes the predicted energy use performance, building type, area and energy performance.
My proposal is that Kuwait Green Building Council and Federation of Kuwaiti Engineering Offices and Consultant Houses* to collaborate in introducing the same initiative concept of Architecture 2030 and AIA + 2030 to encourage sustainable environments and eliminate greenhouse gas emissions.

LEED v4 for Interior Design and Construction
Sandra Draskovic
General Manager, Kuwait GBC

Green buildings, when operated as intended, improve working environments, promote higher productivity, reduce energy and resource costs, and prevent system failures. The presentation discusses the importance of LEED for Interior Design and Construction (LEED ID+C) that enables project teams who may not have control over whole building operations to develop indoor spaces that are more comfortable for users and more mindful of our resources.

Occupant Health and Comfort in Green Buildings
Razan Nejem
Environmental Engineer, USGBC Faculty

The presentation talks about Indoor Environmental Quality in LEED. The high quality of the indoor comfort, odours, sound, light, and air quality are prime incentives for choosing to design and build green. The focus of the presentation is given to the relationship between the green building practices and health, wellbeing, productivity and performance of the occupants.

LEED and Paint Coatings
Jemie Aparacio
Regional Communications Manager, Hempel Paints

The presentation talks about Paint Coatings and its relationship to LEED. LEED certification system mentions paints in three occasions where they can contribute in achieving 5 credits: Low Emitting Materials: paints with low VOC content in g/L for less air contamination. Heat Island Reduction: paints with high solar reflectance index (SRI) to reduce heat island effect. Material Resources: applies to life cycle thinking to material transparency and material optimization.