A rating programme for healthy buildings for real estate occupiers, the IGBC Healthy Building Rating was launched at the 15th CII-IGBC Green Building Congress 2017 held in Jaipur on Thursday. It seeks to evaluate buildings on the metric of people-centric design and on the basis of certain parameters such as energy consumption levels, water use and waste management.
The Healthy Building Rating for Occupants developed by CII-Indian Green Building Council addresses the physical, intellectual and social well-being of its occupants.
“The current green footprint for India stands at 4.68 billion sq ft of built-up space. The target for the green building's footprint for the year 2022 when India celebrate 75 years of independence, including the green cities is 10 billion sq ft. Of the additional 5 billion sq ft to be added in the next five years, at least 5 percent will be contributed by the new healthy wellness system,” says V Suresh, Chairman, Policy & Advocacy Committee, IGBC.
The three-day international conference and exhibition of the 15th edition of Green Building Congress 2017 was inaugurated on Thursday by Rajpal Singh Shekhawat, minister for Industry, NRI & Govt. Enterprise, Government of Rajasthan.
Speaking at the occasion, Shekhawat said, “Government of Rajasthan is committed to facilitating sustainable development in the state. It has introduced a slew of measures, including offering 5 per cent additional FAR (Floor Area Ratio) for projects under JDA (Jaipur Development Authority). It’s encouraging to see that, the State of Rajasthan has already 83 IGBC registered projects with a footprint of 103 million sq ft. of green buildings making Rajasthan the role model for other states. Awareness about the importance and benefits of adopting the green building concept is very important to further this growth.”
Appreciating CII’s support to the Government of Rajasthan in its growth initiatives, Gajendra Singh Khimsar, Minister for Environment & Forest, Government of Rajasthan said, “India, which is currently the 2nd largest country in the world with Green Building footprint of 4.68 billion sq ft, has the potential to be the world’s leader soon. Rajasthan has taken a leadership position in this area and can play a significant role in helping the country to achieve IGBC’s vision of 10 billion sq. feet green built up environment by 2022.”
“The green building movement should not just be urban centric, it should reach villages and rural part of India. With these objectives, IGBC on one hand has been driving initiatives to introduce various rating systems customized to meet the requirements of different types of built environment including IGBC green building village rating system. At the same time, our effort has been to create opportunities for market transformation and make green building affordable to ensure greater participation,” said V. Suresh, Chairman, Policy & Advocacy Committee, IGBC.
Sharing his views Tai Lee Siang, Chair, World Green Building Council said, “India has made significant progress in promoting the adoption of green building practice and to take it to the next level, we need to make green building a part of our tradition by going beyond the business case”.
“The Asia – pacific region which includes India, is one of the fastest growth regions in the green building space. WorldGBC is driving the mission of ensuring green building for “everyone-everywhere”. India, one of the first founding members of WGBC, has been playing a vital role in accelerating the global green building movement,” said Terri Wills, CEO, World Green Building Council.
The three-day Congress, that began on Wednesday, is hosting over 2000 delegates, with representation from 31-member countries of the World Green Building Council. The event features an exhibition on technologies and processes that have transformed the global construction industry.
