5th - 6th March 2024
Green Buildings in the Middle East: A Reformation in Population Explosion
Given the Middle East's susceptibility to extreme weather patterns, green building strategies focus on making structures more resilient. Check out reasons why the Middle East presents the best market for green building growth.
You must have heard about urban development in the Middle East that aligns best with the region’s clean cities objective. But how well do you know that Green Building in the Middle East, aka Green Construction or Sustainable Building?
In this blog, we will explore how green buildings in the Middle East are realising the purpose of clean cities and sustainable development.
Green Building
A green building is an innovative type of futuristic construction that, because of its type and architectural design can maintain and improve the quality of life on the earth.
According to the reports, the year 1990 saw the invention of the first green building in the world in the United Kingdom.
The Middle East is an arid region with a considerably dry and hot climate. Not only this, challenges to sustain through clean drinking water are met by costly desalination and this does not stop here. The desalination plant emits higher carbon footprints, which needs to be stopped.
This is when Green Building comes into play!
Unlike traditional construction and according to the Sustainability Agenda 2030 – green buildings not only accommodate people but also use less energy, water and raw materials. Additionally, these buildings are resource-efficient and are a boon for the earth.
Siemens headquarters in Masdar City Abu Dhabi is regarded as the first green building in the Middle East established in 2013. A total of five floors are inside the building and expands to an area of 22800 m².
Let us find out why the Middle Eastern region is the best for green building construction.
Hot and humid Climate: The Middle East is a deserted region with most of the season quite hot and arid. Solar energy is one of the cleanest sources of energy. The year-round sunshine makes it ideal for harnessing this energy.
● Green buildings in the Middle East are designed in such a way that they cut down energy needs by almost 50%.
● The Irena building, in Masdar, UAE is one of the best examples of using solar energy for generating electricity.
The evolving trend of fashion linked to sustainability: The word “sustainability” is in the hearts of the Middle East. To incorporate socioeconomic, environmental and cultural elements into contemporary architecture, notable nations like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar are creating their green building rating systems.
● KAUST in Saudi Arabia and Msheireb Downtown Doha in Qatar are setting up different standards in terms of design and modern architecture.
A catalyst for smartly shaping urbanization: The Middle East is a region that is known for its urban and economic development. Rapid population development has put a strain on the countries of the region to build more residential and service infrastructure and this is how – green buildings are aiding the need.
● Green buildings not only provide accommodation but are created keeping the environment in mind.
● The building generates lower greenhouse gas emissions by reducing landfill wastes and creating vegetated areas on the roofs.
Innovative technologies at disposal: The Middle East has always been at the forefront when it comes to the latest cutting-edge and smart technologies adaptation. Technologies such as Cool Roofs, Green Insulation, Rammed Earth Brick, Solar Power, Electrochromic Smart Glass and several others that go into building a green building are easily available in the region.
Pledge to greening the construction industry: By keeping their sustainability and clean cities agenda a priority, countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman etc. have pledged to achieve carbon neutrality in forthcoming years.
The Middle East is working on two important goals:
● Making the construction industry more environmentally friendly and using cleaner, renewable energy.
● The Middle East is at the forefront of this effort, with 65% of the green buildings in the MENA region belonging to the region. UAE And Qatar are the leaders.
So, we are confident that by reading our brief blog, you must have had an opportunity to understand what a green building is and how the Middle East is leveraging this new-age residential model.
Stay tuned for more such blogs coming in on our website.