Orientation Workshop on Agenda for Sustainable Buildings in Lucknow

Lucknow, December 20, 2012

The Media Resource Centre organised a half a day media workshop on sustainable Buildings in Lucknow in collaboration with Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), Government of Uttar Pradesh.

The workshop focused on the following energy challenges:

• Lucknow represents a high-growth area in India and it needs second generation action to scale-up greening of the building construction sector to curb energy and resource guzzling. 

• Compared to other sectors, electricity consumption shows highest growth rate in the residential and commercial building sector of Lucknow. The energy and overall environment impact of the construction boom can be severe. 

• Lucknow needs an aggressive action plan for scalability of action. 

• Without resource efficiency measures, the frenetic building construction will severely affect liveability of cities. Nationally, residential and commercial buildings guzzle more than 40 per cent of energy in India. 70 per cent of building stock that will be there in 2030 is yet to be built in India.

The speakers at the workshop included Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director- Research and Advocacy, CSE, Deependra Prashad, Principal Architect Deependra Prashad Architects and Planners (DPAP), Delhi, Prof. Ritu Gulati, Assistant Professor, Architecture department, Gautam Budh Technical University and a representative from Green Tree Building Energy Consultancy. There was a lively panel discussion featuring Shri. R. K Govil, Additional Director-General, Central Public Works Department (CPWD)-NR1, Shri S. P. Srivastava, Chief Engineer, UP Power Corporation Ltd., Prof. Ritu Gulati, Anupam Mittal, Director, ARINEM Consultancy and Dr. Venkatesh Dutta, Assistant Professor, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University.

This workshop provided a platform for local and regional reporters to understand the necessity of sustainable buildings and it also enabled members of the media fraternity network with experts, government officials, professors and professionals working in the arena of sustainable buildings as well as with their peers. The media was able to gain access to information and resources on issues that are of immense importance to residents of the city and state there is a serious shortage of comprehensive and unbiased information. CSE leveraged its brand equity to disseminate information to local stakeholders, media, opinion leaders, government officials and private sector players.

Over forty-five reporters and editors attended the workshop. There were five correspondents from the major radio stations and T.V. channels in the city accompanied by their crew. There were nine out-station reporters from Noida, Sonbhadra and Jhansi. The majority of attendees stayed for the entire duration of the workshop.

The workshop managed to drive home several important points. The speakers and panelists emphasized that the real estate boom in Lucknow is an opportunity for sustainability especially in New Lucknow where investor participation is approximately 40 per cent and it is expected to escalate in the future; new and existing buildings can be made more energy-efficient using a combination of passive and active design measures and operations; energy use can be cut by about two-thirds; appropriate and sustainable construction material needs to be used; poor people’s homes need to be improved as well; performance monitoring is required; affordable and quality energy-efficient solutions must be adapted to local contexts; public policies at the city level must push for energy-efficient practices; and public acceptance of green buildings needs to be improved.

There was prominent coverage in Hindi dailies like Spasht Awaaz, Amar Ujala, Swatantra Bharat, Hindi Pioneer, Rashtriya Sahara and Hindustan and in English dailies like Hindustan Times and The Pioneer. There was also coverage in Urdu dailies and in the electronic media.

This workshop was supported by Jamsetji Tata Trust