Barwa and Qatari Diar Real Estate companies yesterday avowed their implementation of green building codes by adopting the Qatar Sustainability Assessment System (QSAS) in all future projects. The two leading real estate companies of the country also urged all offices and consultancies in Qatar to adopt the QSAS system immediately. Although several green building codes exist and are followed across the globe such as LEEDS, QSAS’s foundation adapts with the needs of the region in such areas as desertification, scarcity of water and preservation of cultural identity. “Unlike imported global systems QSAS is the source of securing the architectural identity of Qatar and the region,” Barwa & Qatari Diar Research Institute (BQDRI) chairman Dr Yousef al-Horr said yesterday. BQDRI was instrumental in developing QSAS in co-operation with TC Chan Center for Building Simulation and Energy Studies at the University Of Pennsylvania, US, and unveiled it earlier in April. The official insisted that local and global consultancy companies in Qatar now take the initiative to train and qualify their staff on the latest implementations of green building design, as well as adopting professional practices which meet the environmental, cultural and social needs and priorities of Qatar. Qatari Diar subsidiary, Lusail Real Estate Development Company chief executive officer Eng Mohamed bin Ali al-Hedfa echoed the call of al-Horr and said: “I ask the consultancy offices, especially those who provide services to future Qatari Diar projects, to train their staff immediately in QSAS principles, in compliance with our adoption to the assessment and in awareness of implementing green building principles.” Also present on the occasion, Barwa’s Local Development president engineer Majed al-Bader, said: “Our adoption of QSAS will allow Barwa to implement an advanced and integrated concept of green building sustainability, and to take the lead in addressing regional and national energy efficiency policies, reducing carbon emissions, minimising ecological impacts, and ensuring high indoor environmental quality to all tenants of Barwa projects.” Recalling the latest appeal by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon last month to world leaders to reach an agreement at the upcoming Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change in December, al-Horr said that UN Environmental Programme’s recommendations “directed all countries of the world to support better policies.” Among other QSAS advantages is that the system learns and benefits from other global sustainability rating systems, using the best assessments determined according to performance, integrity, flexibility of the assessment to overcome the weak points in other international systems, in addition to have full control over the development, operations, and future amendments of QSAS. http://gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=326942&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16

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