Continuing our concept of webinars around green buildings, this time the collaboration of Construction Week and IFC (A World bank Group) moved to the hospitality and retail sector. Evolving Trends in Green Hotels & Shopping Centres revolved around the concept of building and maintaining hotels and retail outlets that are essentially green in nature and will offer comfort to denizens and those paying a visit.
Moderated by Sandeep Singh, Sr Consultant, IFC (A World Bank Group), the panellists comprised Ajay Koshy, Head, Design Management, Brigade Group; Beck John, Executive VP, Architecture, Panchshil Realty; Deepan Prakash, Leader, Sustainable Development, Decathlon Sports India; Ridham Shah, Director, Rajyash Group; and Shabbir Kanchwala, Sr VP, K Raheja Corp.
Sandeep began the evening by explaining the nuances of its software for certifying green buildings, EDGE. Playing an active role in development for the private sector, EDGE helps the private sector and sometimes even the government to formulate green policies and develop green. The building sector is globally responsible for 39% of greenhouse gas emissions. This not only includes construction, but also operations and maintenance. For IFC, measuring a building’s resource efficiency was important to its core business. EDGE is scalable, versatile, locally and globally accepted, and cost-effective. In India, it covers about 65 cities and with the local database, it enables green finance. Setting a green criteria to raise green finance is a must and IFC has done that well. It makes a developers’ life easier and makes the developments better.
Coming to the panel discussion, Sandeep asked the panellists to explain some of the green initiatives that their company is taking and how they are moving forward.
Ajay: Going green is a three-pronged approach and includes water, energy and materials. Recycling of water is done strategically, while high energy chillers, HVAC and DG systems play a major role in keeping costs low. The company is yet to acquire any certifications for its malls and hotels, but its commercial buildings are LEED or IGBC certified. The Group plans to go in for certification for hotels and malls as they are sustainable to some degree.
Beck: For us, sustainability begins at the design level and then moves up to the construction phase and the operations phase. Materials are standard and we try to look at green materials as much as possible. Most of our buildings are glass oriented. Taking JW Marriott as a case study, the company was planning ready toilets as it meant less consumption of labour and water on-site. About 14 years ago, the cost was prohibitive and too new for India. But not anymore. Building most of the hotel in dry wall construction has helped it save plenty of water. About five years ago, it adopted solar and wind energy and the operations became easier and cost-effective.
Deepan: Having been in India for more than 10 years, globally, the company has a strong climate mitigation programme and adheres to the Paris Agreement. It has committed to reduce emissions by 53% by 2026. This also translates to its construction business and prefers to use optimal resource and is now got three stores certified. Most of the focus for green is on water, energy, materials and site selection. Bio-diversity, health and mental wellbeing of employees is on top of the charts.
Shabbir: Various measures have been implemented such as ESG, carbon neutrality, RE100, EV100, etc. The group is doing much in the way of green and not confining itself to basic measures. for instance, the hotels have more than 50% of energy coming from renewable energy that have been built offsite. All these measures were adopted around eight years ago. The waste water discharge is zero from the hotels. Down the level of using environment-friendly laundry detergents and handwashes. Its malls too is covered in greenery and the landscapes are native.
Explaining how a green hotel and residence can be easily marketable, Ajay said that a green building will have more demand and people find it easier to stay and live in.
Sandeep pointed out that EDGE is now accepted buy Booking.com and it might help the developers too. Beck said that international companies that are developing in India insist on green as one of the criteria before tying up with Indian companies. Since most of them are into commercial development and large office spaces, it helps with significant savings. With 2.5MW of renewable energy being used at JW Marriott, it helps in 20% savings per annum.
Ajay then said that one should also look at interiors in terms of paints, finishes, materials, laminates, beds, mattresses, etc. One needs to be mindful when purchasing these goods and seek out products that have low carbon footprint. Hotel operators too insist on products that are highly efficient and low maintenance.
Explaining the Gujarat perspective, Ridham said that about five years the concept of green was relatively unknown and few people ventured into such projects. Gujarat picked up pace around 2017-18. This was because the guidelines were missing and the focus was on fresh air and roomy space. The good part is that the green concept, when awareness set in, began at the design stage, which is where it should happen. Using EDGE during execution, it has worked its way upward and realised the changes it needs to incorporate to stay green.
Overall, the panellists expounded that developers must look at green buildings overall and cultivate ways to make it 100% green as it means that India can achieve its net zero target.
