As part of its mission to promote awareness on sustainable development, the Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC) held its first building research establishment environmental assessment method (BREEAM) international assessor training course.  Conducted in co-ordination with BRE Gulf, the three-day event which was held at the Grand Regency Hotel saw personnel from construction, contracting, property development, facilities management companies, and building materials and products suppliers in attendance in addition to representatives from major academic institutions. There were trainees from Jordan, UAE and Kuwait also. Those who passed the course will be accredited BREEAM international assessors.

The exercise was a component of QGBC’s agenda to offer regular training on numerous certification programmes and internationally recognised benchmarks of sustainable building practices. These also include the locally developed Qatar Sustainability Assessment System QSAS by Barwa Knowledge, BREEAM Gulf (Middle East), US-based LEED, and Green Star (Australian based).

The training covered the BREEAM Gulf rating system and provided an insight to the applicability and use of sustainable methodologies.  In her welcome note, QGBC administration manager Rajaa Saleh encouraged the trainees to use the skills and knowledge from the training in their professional life.  “The trainees will contribute to QGBC’s mission by raising the bar on sustainable practices and safeguarding our environment,” she said.

QGBC will continue to guide and train designers, planners, and developers in the creation and development of green buildings and sustainable communities. To encourage companies and individuals working in the built sectors to become members of QGBC, the training is offered at a discounted rate for members.

BREEAM Gulf has been developed in collaboration with a variety of large organisations based in Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The aim of the scheme is to bring together all the most commonly used building types in the area into one easy to use, accessible BREEAM Scheme which developers and assessors can use to evaluate, improve and demonstrate the environmental credentials of their building. The scheme has been developed using the same categories from the UK BREEAM Schemes and provides an independent means of assessing key environmental impacts associated with Construction in the Gulf region. More training programs are coming up soon in coordination with QSAS and LEED.

To learn more about Qatar Green Building Council and its upcoming activities, programs and events, please log on to QGBC website: www.qatargbc.org  QGBC acknowledges with appreciation the Grand Regency Hotel, QGBC hospitality partner for this training which supports green building and environmental sustainability initiatives, as part of its corporate social responsibility. Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC) is a private non-profit organization with a vision to provide leadership and collaboration for Qatar in guiding and adopting environmentally sustainable practices for green building design and development; and to support the health and sustainability of environment, people and economic security for generations to come.

The Council's mission is to educate the public, generate and foster awareness among people, develop a definitive set of clear environmental and green building practice guidelines, and to support and commit to research and development. The initiative is supported by Honorary President Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser AI Missned, and Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. Website: www.qatargbc.org