May 2011
CONSTRUCTION
Consultants need to have a place around the planning table to ensure that the whole building is designed and managed in a more environmental manner”
Ali Al Suwaidi says that designers working in the Middle East are no different to those working in the rest of the world with aesthetics playing a key role in design.
Solar panelling is now playing a bigger role in powering buildings.
a very delicate stage as the architect will have his or her own vision for the project. If there is not a strong push from the owner or a good awareness from the architect then there needs to be a compromise between sustainability and aesthetics, which can sometimes lead to a very complicated exercise.
www.buildgreen.ae
BG: Is sustainable FM now being implemented in the early stages of building design across the region?
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Ali Al Suwaidi: This really depends on which part of the region you’re looking at. Universally, however, it is critical to engage developers and FM consultants at the concept stage. Engagement engenders developer understanding of the initial and lifecycle cost benefits that FM consultancy can deliver. Without this process, consultancy can appear as an additional cost eating into the developer’s budget. If FM were to become a mandatory element at the building concept stage through design, construction, operation and decommissioning, the challenge then is twofold — to provide all professionals in the field with CPD training and to bring through enough graduate FMs at the required level to meet demand. Youssef Abillama: Things are slowly moving especially on projects where LEED
accreditation or the equivalent is required. To make it move faster, governments and associations like MEFMA have a crucial role to play. A government can move things faster by requiring for instance any preliminary drawings to be approved by consultants certified in sustainability to validate the drawings according to minimum green requirements and guidelines. In the UAE, things are starting to move forward on this basis, and we very much hope it will be rolled out to the rest of the region.
Nick Coetzee: Sustainable FM is being introduced earlier in the building process, but only in terms of sourcing greener products. As encouraging as this is, the same consultants need to have a place around the planning table to ensure that the whole building is designed and managed in a more environmental manner. This means actually arguing for solar panelling, better waste control and recycling, remote control technology and efficient building management system (BMS) operations.