Emerald Properties Limited, is organising a green build summit on the 18th October 2017 at the African Regent Hotel. The aim of this summit is to augment efforts aimed at reducing the negative impact of real estate projects on the environment while conserving natural resources. To have the desired impact, projects must be designed to maximize energy savings and minimize the cost of construction by using less energy & water.
These goals are summed up as follows:

• Sensitize stakeholders (Real estate developers, planners, policymakers,
  architects, advocacies etc) on the importance of understanding thoroughly what it takes to incorporate green technology and how to implement it during the project life cycle – from the conception to design through execution.
• Advocate for a national policy (e.g tax incentive for developers who adopt
  green build methods).
• Highlight present and futuristic innovative solutions and models that work in the green built environment.
• Create awareness on certification requirements by independent third party with a rating system.

What is Green Building?

A ‘green’ building, according to WorldGBC, is a building that, in its design,
construction or operation reduces or eliminates negative impacts, and
can create positive impacts, on our climate and natural environment. Green buildings preserve precious natural resources and improve our quality of life. Features which can make a building ‘green’ include:

• Efficient use of energy, water and other resources
• Use of renewable energy, such as solar energy
• Pollution and waste reduction measures, and the enabling of re-use and recycling
• Good indoor environmental air quality
• Use of materials that are non-toxic, ethical and sustainable
• Consideration of the environment in design, construction and operation
• Consideration of the quality of life of occupants in design, construction and operation.
• A design that enables adaptation to a changing environment.

Any building can be a green building, whether it’s a home, an office, a
school, a hospital, a community centre, or any other type of structure,
provided it includes features listed above.

Need For Green Buildings

According to Aalto yliopisto (2014), WorldGBC  (2013), adoption of green build methods enables the following:

• Short sickness absences in offices can improve by about 35% with a good indoor air quality.
• Good indoor air quality can improve productivity by 10%.
• The control and guidance of technical building services can save 10- 20% of a property’s energy consumption which would nationally amount to the energy production of 2-3 nuclear power stations.
• Decreased stressors at work and at home and decreased blood pressure, cortisol and heart rate.

Challenges In Implementation

•  “Perception” that green buildings are expensive
• Poor communication of advantages of green building to developers and end users
• Developers focus on maximizing profit disregarding end users’ comfort
• No effective enforcement by professionals and government by-laws
• Lack of stakeholders buy-in to the technology

Structure of Summit

• Presentations (by resource persons)
• Demonstrations (of existing green built models or solutions from selected programs or companies)
• Panel discussion (of a specific area of interest)
• Q & As

Target Audience

• Private: Architects, engineers, real estate developers, construction companies, property management companies, real estate suppliers
  (Mechanical, electrical and plumbing etc)
• Government & Agencies: Ministry of works and house; Ministry of Science and environment; Town and urban planning etc
• Associations: Ghana Institute of Architects; Ghana Association of Engineers and Planners; GREDA etc

Key Takeaways (Targeted achievements at end of summit)

• Identification of stronger communication channels that would promote benefits of green buildings and ensure a call to action.
• Commitment from governmental, nongovernmental agencies to fashion policies and incentives to promote green build methods.
• Get the buy-in of operational stakeholders to adopt green build methods and acquire requisite certification.