Sunday, Sep 14, 2003
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By P. Vikram Reddy
The physical infrastructure of GBC will be a unique example of a `Green Building', a building that incorporates eco-friendly features, and will be the first of its kind in India, when it is completed by November and inaugurated probably in December, or latest by January 2004. The concept of GBC on the other hand is new and focusses on the belief of `sustainable development', and will provide a platform for creating awareness and promotion of green buildings and associated technologies for `commercial buildings'. It will not concern itself with industrial buildings, though. The CII-Godrej GBC, which will function as a division of CII, is being set up with an investment of about Rs. 8 crores on a five-acre site at Madhapur given by the Andhra Pradesh Government on a nominal 25-year lease. The house of Godrej has contributed Rs. 5 crores to the project. Globally, the movement is yet to catch on, but countries such as the U.S. have made headway and can now boast of over 200 `green buildings', which are certified by a non-governmental agency named `Green Building Council (GBC)'. About 20 States have committed to the concept in the U.S., but 60 per cent of the green buildings fall in the private domain. The concept has spread to the U.K. and Canada, and to a lesser extent to China. The GBC categorises green buildings into four, with Platinum being the highest, followed by gold, silver and bronze. The concept of green buildings was first mooted in the U.S. in 1992, and guidelines were formulated by the GBC by 2000. And today there are over 200 green buildings dotting the commercial horizons of the world's largest economy. Air Cmde S. C. Kumar (Retd), Project Coordinator, told The Hindu that the long-term objective of the centre was to establish itself as a self-sustaining (revenue wise) centre by offering consultancy services for establishing green buildings. Already it has received some enquiries, at least two of them serious. One is from the North Delhi Power Company Limited (NDPL) of the Tata group, which showed interest in getting its proposed building rated. The other is the ITC headquarters proposed in Gurgaon. Mr. Kumar said ITC had asked the CII to conduct preliminary survey, which has since been completed. The centre, which has 25 engineers besides ten administrative staff in Hyderabad, has already started taking up projects like energy audit in Sri Lanka and Singapore and has enquiry from Thailand. The centre will offer technical consultancy and services in energy, water, and `green', and may gradually take up social audit also, he said.
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