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| Ali al-Najim speaking at a recent summit in Doha |
Deputy chairman and co-founder of the Saudi Green Building Council (SGBC) Ali U al-Najim was making a presentation at the recently held Qatar Construction Summit 2011 at Hotel Grand Hyatt.
While calling for more changes in the region’s architectural designs, Al Najim, considered one of the top regional consultants in green building technologies, said innovations being carried out in some GCC territories, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, would bring about sweeping chances in the construction scenario in the coming years.
“Each of the GCC states should strive for innovative but acceptable changes so there is sustainability in the future construction plans of the whole region,” he said.
Elaborating on the sustainability initiatives by SGBC, al-Najim said others could also emulate Saudi initiatives if they were found viable and practical in their territories.
While calling for more training programmes in GCC states, al-Najim highlighted the training and awareness campaigns carried out by SGBC in Saudi Arabia.
The speaker said the massive growth in power consumption all through the region would make electricity dearer in coming years and said unless massive changes are made in architectural designs, power consumption would grow to alarming levels.
The engineer said buildings in their present designs consumed more than 80% of the power generated in the GCC. “It is high time some of the new power-saving architectural designs are implemented in the region,” he said.
