The Retrofit Revolution

There are several myths surrounding green construction. But developers and vendors alike are looking at breaking through this to make for sustainable living.

- Jayashree Kini Mendes

The world is paying the price for rapid urbanisation and massive population increase in the quest for faster economic growth. Over the last few decades alone, we have depleted our natural resources because of the dynamics of urbanisation that has misused these resources. The alarming rise in greenhouse gas emissions, climatic changes, waste generation, have resulted in continuous environmental degradation. It is only in the last few years that the industry across sectors have woken up to the fact that they need to save the planet. Environmentalists abound and much of their cries have trickled down to the hoi polloi.

The lifecycle of a development from demolition to construction to operation consumes a number of key resources such as energy, water, raw materials, among others. In order to achieve economical resource consumption certain best practice processes and undertaking key initiatives during the development phase is most important. The implementation of these initiatives/processes that help track and manage resource consumption in projects will be important to ensure efficiency in the utilisation of natural resources during the development phase.

Vivek Mohanani, MD & CEO, Ekta World, says, “The climate change and global warming is compelling the real estate sector to find ways of constructing green buildings that are affordable to all. If the intention is to construct a green building, it is advisable to build, rather than work on an existing one. The cost may vary but overall green construction offers 12% operational savings and 7% assets value appreciation as compared to conventional buildings. Sometimes green technology appears expensive because they are new or seem complicated, but their gains are long term.”