The 10th edition of Green Building Congress is being organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) from October 20-22 in New Delhi. The two-day Green Building Congress will also have an exhibition of green building products, training programmes and a national-level school competition to encourage green concepts and ideas.
The Green Building Congress will focus on architectural perspectives, experiences, global patterns, rating systems, materials and public policies. Last year, the event attracted more than 6,500 visitors, 2,000 participants and showcased more than 200 products.
Green building concepts have come to the mainstream in commercial space development, but need to be encouraged more for wider market acceptance, according to C. N. Raghavendran, Chairman, CII-IGBC Chennai chapter, and partner C. R. Narayana Rao Architects, a leading firm of architects.
Speaking to Track2Realty an official of Indian Green Building Council, which spearheads the concept of environment-friendly built-up space, that helps conservation and efficient use of natural resources, said thus far it is a voluntary effort. Still it has catalysed more than 1,270 registered green building projects, accounting for approximately 900 million square feet of built-up space.
According to the organizers a ‘carrot-and-stick’ model, with incentives and penalties, will help in greater compliance. While there need not be direct fiscal incentives or statutory rules, existing regulations could be tailored to provide benefits for builders and promoters who comply with green building norms. This could take the form of faster clearances and tax concessions.
Globally, the concept of urbanisation and built-up space, contributing to green house gas emissions and climate change, has been recognised. In India, leading developers of office space, particularly large IT companies, have recognised the need for green buildings, and have also benefitted from the cost conservation that it provides. But this has to be adopted by a wider segment of the market, the official said.
