Dubai Municipality has called in international environmental consultants to draw up tough new building regulations as part of efforts to clean up its image as one of the world's major polluters. New "green building" regulations will be enforced next year after WSP, an environmental consultancy firm, completes its study. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) and Dubai Municipality have been working since April on the new regulations to make buildings more environmentally friendly by reducing energy waste and increasing conservation through various methods.
WSP has studied Singapore, Los Angeles and Australia to find the best options for Dubai, but is open to suggestions from Dewa, Dubai Municipality and developers. Dan Dowling, a specialist in policy and regulation, sustainable cities and master-planning at WSP, said there were several advantages to environmental buildings, including long-term cost effectiveness and higher rents due to the growing demand for such buildings.
"We are still in the middle of the process and that is why we have brought WSP here," said Essa Almaidoor, the assistant general director of planning and engineering at Dubai Municipality. Several new laws are already in place, and the new proposals will be phased in. "The [rules] will get tighter and tighter over the following three to four years and, after 2015, things will be tightened down," said Susan Rogers, a facilities management and sustainable building expert at WSP.
The regulations will be better than most when compared internationally, Mrs Rogers said. "It will meet international expectations and sustain development," she told a construction industry gathering yesterday. @Email:eharnan@thenational.ae
