The Founding Chairman of Gulf Organisation for Research and Development (GORD), Dr Yousef Al Horr (centre), is flanked by the Director of Research and Development at GORD, Dr Esam Elsarrag (left), and Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at GORD, Salah Al Ayoubi, during the press conference to announce the launch of the new version of the Global Sustainability Assessment System at QSTP yesterday. Shaival Dalal
DOHA: Hospitals, health centres, stadiums and public parks in Qatar will soon be going green with the launch yesterday of an advanced version of the Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS), a locally developed sustainability rating facility.
GSAS Version 2 includes a railroad projects assessment system — the first of its kind in the world and other features to assess urban planning, health facilities, parks and public spaces.
QSAS and its new version were developed by the Gulf Organization for Research and Development (Gord), a no-profit subsidiary of Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company,
Based at Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), Gord aims to promote healthy, energy-efficient, and environmentally responsible building practices in Qatar and the entire Gulf region.
Some half-a-billion square feet of built area in Qatar has already adopted the GSAS standards, which is the largest in the Middle East, a senior Gord official disclosed yesterday.
More than 300 pending projects and several malls including the Doha Festival City, Bin Tawar Mall and North Gate have applied GSAS criteria.
Five medical centres are being registered for GSAS-compliant design and more are expected to follow suit, Dr Yousef Al Horr, Founding Chairman, Gord said yesterday, while launching the new GSAS version.
GSAS Version 2 includes an assessment system for sport facilities, which is an upgraded version of the one launched in cooperation with the Olympic Committee during the Environment and Sport Conference in 2011. This is designed to meet the requirements of the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
The new version can handle the issue of air conditioning in open stadiums through a scientific approach, which represents a huge technical challenge. For the first time, a simulator model is built from an environmentally sustainable perspective.
In the health sector, the most prominent standards are ways of handling harmful and toxic waste, and the ability to control the internal environment to provide patients with optimal conditions while controlling infections.
“According to recent official statements, Qatar is planning to establish nine new hospitals and 18 medical centres, which would hopefully benefit from the system and apply it on a wide scale. We have already seen the trend starting, with five new medical centres being registered for GSAS-compliant design, and we are looking forward to widen the initiative to cover major hospitals as well. This would make Qatar the only country that developed a specific system that is practically applied,” said Al Horr.
The railroad assessment system can evaluate the efficiency of modern energy-saving methods against financial costs, while enabling builders to apply sustainability standards in early design stages.
“Railroad projects represent Qatar’s main option in public transport, where investments worth $40bn are to be made, highlighting the need of this system being introduced for the first time. It depends on a set of subjective measures that can be applied on the railroad network. Once applied, the system will cover all over-ground and underground stations and the railway networks,” said Al Horr.
He said Qatar would see sustainable public parks in the near future, to be the first step towards instilling sustainability concepts in the public opinion.
“Young children and family members will be aware of such concepts when visiting these places and practice methods of saving water and going on picnics amid local plants that resist the harsh conditions. They will also witness practical applications of renewable energy lighting, which ensures awareness through an enjoyable experience,” said Al Horr.
GORD also launched the GSAS gate – one of the latest, state-of-the-art project management systems in the field of green buildings, as it allows all parties in a real estate project to register their projects and monitor the progress of their assessment while exchanging opinions and suggestions online through an integrated paperless electronic environment.
The new version of GSAS covers the launch of various new training programmes that target professionals and those working in the real estate sector, in accordance with their specialties, where special courses will be held for engineers in the fields of energy, civil, electric and mechanical engineering, and architecture.
Version 2 of GSAS includes a testing platform that enables holding GSAS computer-based tests in approved test centres around the world, to make it easier for participants in training courses outside Qatar while saving them the costs of travelling to the country.
A final distinctive feature in the new version is “GSAS Publication Series”, a move to provide all scientific references and technical evidence of GSAS on Amazon, and international publishing houses to facilitate access to information in an easy, affordable way. According to data released in 2012, GSAS is witnessing an unprecedented expansion in applying sustainability criteria through various projects.
The total QSAS compliant area in the country amounts to 500m sq ft, putting Qatar among the world’s most advanced countries in terms of application in commercial and residential complexes.
Those projects include Lusail and the Ministry of Interior’s city Lekhwiya, and Barwa city. On the side of major developments, there is a total area of 12m sq ft, including new major shopping malls, like Doha Festival City, Bin Tawar Mall and North Gate, in addition to others.
Separate and standalone buildings include more than 300 projects, with a total area of 30m sq ft and comprising commercial towers, schools, medical centres, mosques and towers being developed in an open-space design in various areas of Doha.
