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Energy City Qatar takes measures to introduce green buildings
The Energy City Qatar (ECQ) has made all plans to go green, and plans to seek internationally accepted rating for the designing, construction and operation of top-quality environment-friendly buildings.
Lusail Development, which is expected to house several local and international gas and oil firms, apart from service and infrastructure companies, within its 72 hectares, has specified that only Green Buildings would be permitted within the development.
ECQ plans to obtain the LEED Rating from the US Green Building Council by 2010. The allotted land will be handed over to the clients during the second quarter of 2008, after which, the construction of buildings would begin towards late 2009 or early 2010.
The Chief Technical Officer of ECQ, Ahmad Al-Abdullah, revealed to Gulf Times, that ECQ will be the first energy city in Qatar to obtain this prestigious rating.
He said, all buildings in ECQ would be powered only by alternate energy, such as wind or solar energy, as far as possible. Also the construction materials used too would be environment-friendly, and the buildings would be so designed, as to ensure that sufficient natural light would be available. This would ensure minimal consumption of oil and gas, and there would be only minimal carbon emission.
Al-Abdulla opinioned that green-built projects would result in better occupancy rates, better rents and sales and better insurance prices, than when compared to their non-green counterparts. “Even the cost of construction of green properties would not be higher than conventional structures. Also, they would be of great benefit to the occupants and owners in the long run. Although, the concept has not been well-absorbed in the region, in many parts of the world, there seems to be a lot of focus on environment-friendly properties,” said Al-Abdullah. ECQ would soon be hosting a campaign emphasizing the importance of green properties. The campaign would also include a seminar on “Green building design” to be held on 19th November in Doha. Most governmental ministries and departments, and real estate firms are expected to participate in the seminar, revealed Al-Abdullah.
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