THE 7TH GRIHA SUMMIT 2016
The 7th GRIHA Summit was organized from February 16–20, 2016 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The theme of the conference was ‘Cities of the Future’ and it served as a platform for knowledge sharing on sustainability solutions for built environment both at city and building scale. Some of the key subjects covered in the conference were turning efficient building facades, water distress in growing cities, waste into building blocks, social upliftment and income equality, indoor environment quality, smart metering for buildings, existing buildings, sustainable transport, and post disaster resettlement.
Inaugurating the Summit, Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI and President GRIHA Council said, “Considering that two-thirds of infrastructure that will exist in 2030 is yet to be built, it presents us with a huge opportunity to ensure that all new buildings are ‘green’. Dr A K Tripathi, Advisor/Scientist-G, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India, congratulated the GRIHA team for creating a 100 per cent indigenous green building rating system. He said that out of the 100,000 MW solar power goal of India, 40,000 MW will be in the form of rooftop solar power, which translates fully into the building stock, which directly relates to green buildings. He also highlighted that the cost of renewable energy at Rs 4.50/unit as compared to that of electricity from the grid at Rs 5.25/ unit, removes any question of its unviability.
Setting the theme of the GRIHA Summit 2016, Ms Mili Majumdar said that GRIHA has evolved in the last seven years and has grown from 30 projects to 700, covering almost 28 million m2 of green footprint. Although there is still a long way to go, substantial impact has been made thus far. This journey would not have been possible without the support of government and private stakeholders. GRIHA is recognized and incentivized by many urban local bodies and was recently acknowledged as a tool to achieve the climate change goals in India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the Conference of Parties 21 (COP21) held at Paris in December 2015.
THE 4-DAY GRIHA SUMMIT SERVED AS A PLATFORM FOR KNOWLEDGE SHARING IN DIFFERENT DOMAINS OF GREEN BUILDING INDUSTRY. IT FACILITATED MULTI-STAKEHOLDER PARTNERSHIPS AND NETWORKING AMONG GOVERNMENTS, ACADEMIA, CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS AND PROFESSIONALS FROM DIFFERENT DISCIPLINES, SUCH AS ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING, AND CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT.
The 4-day GRIHA Summit served as a platform for knowledge sharing in different domains of green building industry. It facilitated multi-stakeholder partnerships and networking among governments, academia, civil society organizations and professionals from different disciplines, such as architecture, engineering, and construction management. The conference theme was ‘Cities of the Future’ and the sessions centred on enhanced efficiency of built environment both at city and building scale. In addition to plenary sessions where several eminent speakers addressed the audience, key sessions revolving around feasibility of smart cities in Indian context, architectural design and technology for efficient buildings and hands on activity workshop for students and media were also organized during The GRIHA Summit 2016. Talking about the ideology of cities of the future, Dr Bimal Patel, President & Acting Director, CEPT University said that our capacity to predict the future is very limited, and this uncertainty must be taken seriously and cities must not be subjected to rigid policies. He also pointed out that there is no cost involved in formulating the codes but there are huge costs involved in implementing them, which ultimately leads to difficulty in enforcing them. He emphasized that our focus should be on problems which must be solved immediately and maybe leave some problems to be solved by the next generation.
The summit was concluded on Green Lifestyle where the panellists expressed concerns about the growing disconnect between nature and our lifestyle and how we are not able to protect the environment. Different levels of certification to projects were awarded that have maintained the standard for sustainable habitat according to GRIHA norms. A total of seven projects were felicitated, including three 5-star ratings, two 4-star ratings, and two 3-star ratings. Projects with 5-star ratings were Manipal University, Jaipur; Infosys Pocharam, SDB 4 & 5, Hyderabad; and Institute of Public Enterprise, Shamirpet, Hyderabad. Chandigarh Airport and A J C Bose Road Residential Project, ITC, Kolkata were recognized as 4-star rated projects. Ansal Esencia, Gurgaon and Ganga Cypress, Pune were recognized as being 3-star rated. GRIHA Council also awarded three SVAGRIHA rated projects. IIT Gandhinagar and IIT Ropar were felicitated as GRIHA LD (Large Developments) rated projects.
The Council recognized projects from diverse fields of building and construction for their exemplary work on promotion of sustainable habitats. These nomination categories were health and safety, site management, passive design, energy, materials, and water management. The projects included IIT Hyderabad and High Court, Goa. Dr Ajay Mathur congratulated all the projects that received GRIHA rating and exemplary awards. Mr Ashok Chawla, Chairman, TERI emphasized the linkage between economic growth and environmental responsibility and said that one cannot exist without the other. He highlighted the importance of green buildings in the Indian context and its role in mitigating climate change. He also congratulated the GRIHA Rating system for mainstreaming the green agenda in the country.
Compiled by Akshay Urja Editorial Team, TERI Press, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi.