leed | abu dhabi goes green pearls of wisdom abu dhabi goes green by John Davey, LEED AP Ecological Footprint Afghanistan Yemen Nigeria Egypt China 0.1 0.8 1.2 1.4 1.6 Lebanon Saudi Arabia UK USA UAE 2.9 4.6 5.6 9.6 11.9 The global average is 2.2 ha/person Source: WWF 2006 An integrated program for the design, operation and maintenance of sustainable buildings and communities in Abu Dhabi was launched in May 2008 under the direction of the Urban Planning Council. Appropriately called Estidama, the Arabic for ‘sustainability’, it provides a holistic approach that integrates sustainable building design with the local and regional builtenvironment, maintaining quality of performance while minimizing natural resources depletion. Estidama components embrace discretionary guidelines and mandatory regulations for community and building design, operation and maintenance, together with a rating system and certification procedure known as the Estidama Pearls. Elements will be introduced incrementally; those issued to date have included: • Design guidelines for new residential and commercial buildings • Assessment method for new residential and commercial buildings • Estidama Pearl Preliminary Assessment Tool • Interim Estidama community guidelines In a manner similar to LEED and other ‘green’ building rating systems, the award of Estidama Pearls is achieved by addressing the environmental impacts of development. Ten issues that reflect local and regional concern have been adopted by the Estidama Guidelines for new residential and commercial buildings include: water, energy use, indoor environmental quality, ecology, management, transport, pollution, materials waste management, and land use. The Community Development Guidelines address eight sustainability issues from compact mixed use development to integrated solid waste management. While both sets of guidelines are currently being implemented voluntarily, with Abu Dhabi’s population expected to double from 1.4 million to 3 million by 2030, and the UAE having the dubious distinction of the world’s largest ecological footprint, much is expected to become mandatory over the next few years. Followers of LEED will recognize a lot that is common between the two rating systems; Estidama for new buildings taking its cue from LEED-NC, while the community guidelines draw on LEED for Neighbourhood Development. Issues specific to Estidama include: • Incorporation of traditional Arabic architectural forms • Souk-type shade structures over pavements • Prioritising of hard landscaping • Building signage • Acoustics and noise • Raised or set back ground floor residential areas for privacy Perhaps of most interest to those involved in advising clients on ‘green building’ certification are the incentives adopted by Estidama, such as: • While all major developments must have a minimum of three use types (residential, office, retail, institutional/public), those that achieve four are eligible for a 20% height or density bonus over the zoning allowance • Any building that installs a ‘green roof’ over at least 50% of the roof area is eligible for a floor area bonus of twice the allowable FAR or an increase in height over the maximum permitted height • The provision of off-street parking spaces may be reduced by up to 20% depending on the number of bicycle parking spaces provided While developed for Abu Dhabi, Estidama has the potential for application elsewhere. Whether it will compete with already established rating systems such as those of LEED, time will only tell, but it is now being applied to Dar projects such as Motor World and Khor Al Raya; our client’s elsewhere in the Middle East are already being attracted by the inherent promotion of traditional Arabic architectural vernacular incorporated into the Estidama requirements. 48