Building Sense: Certificate Course for Sustainable Building Policies and Practices

June 22-24, 2016

CSE organised a training programme on ‘Sustainable Building Policies and Practices’ exclusively for the CPWD officers from different technical backgrounds. The three day programme aimed to deepen the understanding of existing policies, their potential and constraints in promoting efficient use of resources and minimizing waste in public buildings.  The programme explored the scope of harmonizing the policy-driven and market-driven approaches to accelerate the adoption of resource-efficient practices in buildings.

The programme brought together 23 senior officers including Civil, Electrical engineers and Architects to suggest ways for integrating green measures in building practices.

The training addressed and focused on following components:

• a) Understanding sustainability principles and codes
• b) Sustainable design and methods of construction
• c) Green building materials
• d) Building energy efficiency and technologies
• e) Water sensitive design and management

The first day of the programme started with a lecture delivered by Ms. AnumitaRoychowdhury, Executive Director- Research & Advocacy in CSE was wonderful on ‘Overview of sustainability and green buildings’, the way in which she gave ideas about sustainability and concepts of green buildings. The presentation provided an overview of issues concerning urbanization, building construction and energy use with a special focus on developmental challenges in building sectors. . She highlighted the fact that the India has still to build 70 per cent of its building stock which will be there in 2030. Pointing out that we have great opportunity to develop differently and be more sustainable.

She was followed by a presentation on ‘ECBC – towards performance based approach’ and ‘energy efficient technologies with case studies’ delivered by VivekManhajan and SammerDivekar from dbHMS consultants.

The second day focused on the theme Sustainable building materials and construction methods. The day started with a lecture on “Sustainable building materials with case studies”. There were two afternoon sessions focused on Parking planning and management; and street design guidelines. Both lectures were delivered by Ashok Bhattacharjee.

She was followed by DeependraPrashad, Principal Architect DeependraPrashad, Architects & Planners (DPAP), Delhi and he talked about the “Priortizing materials in sustainable design”. His presentation examined the types of "green" building materials available and how to select the best ones for your specific needs.  The materials used to construct buildings can make a tremendous difference in preserving natural resources and promoting human health.

The third day started by Mr. Inderjit Ahuja from CSE who talked on “High performance building envelope strategies and material technologies”. Later the day was focused on water efficiency and water programme team from CSE delivered lectures on rain water harvesting and waste water treatment techniques. The day was ended with a talk on ‘HVAC Technologies’ by Mr. SamdarshNayyar.

In the feedback session, the participants felt that the programme was of more informative, inspirational and beneficial that enabling them to design sustainable buildings.