FE : Green Habitat : Sept 23, 2007

GREEN HABITAT
 India Inc now knows for sure that eco-friendly measures can translate into
substantial savings in operational costs. So, they are donning the green
robe in earnest. From company headquarters to residential complexes,
corporate addresses today flaunt everything from energy-efficient systems to
non-toxic building materials. Sunday FE takes a look at a few such green
buildings across the country and the ideals that drive them...


New Delhi/ NCR I T could have been a glass-sheet exterior. That sure would
look good. The state-of-the-art lighting would sit just right over the new
collection of paintings that the office purchased. But in all this
architectural jugglery, would concern for the environment be anywhere on the
horizon? Most would think not. But the fact is, India Inc does seem to have
woken up to going green.

Environment-friendly buildings, if not bringing in million of dollars like
the listed carbon trade, at least ensure saving a few lakhs of rupees and at
the same time conserving depleting resources. Besides, there's the
additional benefit of being tagged as an eco-friendly organisation. Living
up to this image is the ITC Centre, the green building up and running at
Gurgaon. Following their example is Fortis Healthcare, which is launching
the country's first green healthcare facility in the Capital.

Fortis' 500-bed hospital, to be built by Delhi-based architect Mani Chowfla,
is undergoing The Energy and Resources Institute's Green Rating for
Integrated Habitat Assessment certification. "Simulation and analysis of
various alternatives to optimise external solar gains, in-depth analysis and
optimisation of the lighting system, simulation of the air-conditioning
system, usage of renewable energy, eco-friendly materials and waste and
water management techniques have been taken care of," assures Pardeep Sood,
deputy general manager, projects, Fortis Healthcare.

Niranjan Khatri of ITC Welcomgroup believes that new entrants like Fortis
are better placed than first movers. "With the trend catching up, parties
interested in building green structures are going up. Our green project at
Gurgaon had cost 20% more than the other buildings. This percentage has
drastically come down to 4% for these companies today," he says.
Teri research associate Gaurav Shorey seconds Khatri's view. "Most
industrialists conduct a lifecycle cost analysis for proposed product
development to assess break-even points and rates of return. If a similar
exercise is carried out for buildings, then the investments can be seen in
light of the overall lifespan of the building," he says. Jyoti Verma
Hyderabad T HE CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre (GBC), a
publicprivate partnership of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII),
Andhra Pradesh government, USAID and Pirojsha Godrej Foundation, aims to
build 1,000 green buildings by 2010. Interestingly, IT parks, offices,
banks, airports, convention cen tre, educational institutions, hotels have
also evinced interest in going the green way.

According to CII-Godrej officials, Hyderabad International Airport,
Hyderabad Institute of Technology and Management and Hyderabad Urban
Development Authority buildings are being constructed as per the
international norms. "We have received 40-odd building proposals for
conducting feasibility studies, out of which 20 are IT companies. This
includes IT majors such as Microsoft, Satyam Computers, HSBC, Tata
Chemicals, Lake Paza Hotel, etc," officials said.

At the Microsoft development centre in Hyderabad, conservation of resources
is an important issue. "The building has been designed such that natural
light streams into the workspaces, along with indirect dif fused lighting. A
solar hot water system reduces the energy bill, while a man-made reservoir
doubles up as a landscaping hotspot even as it ensures that water is
recycled to the maximum extent possible,'' say company officials.

The building management system controls and monitors the computer systems,
lighting and air-conditioning systems. There are sensor lighting systems in
the hi-tech conference rooms and an intelligent air-conditioning system that
adjusts according to the number of people in the area. Hitech safety systems
are another outstanding feature at the centre.
"Microsoft will be seeking green building certification for existing
buildings under the US Green Building Council certification," say Microsoft
officials.
BV Mahalakshmi Mumbai E CO-FRIENDLY buildings are a necessity and not a fad
to be observed, says Prof Shyam R Asolekar, Centre for Enviromental Science
and Engineering, IIT-Bombay. Corporates, he says, are making a conscious
choice to go eco friendly, which is 'a happy event considering the fact that
India has no law that makes it mandatory for corporate buildings to observe
eco-friendly norms'.

Wockhardt, for instance, took a conscious decision to construct an
ecofriendly corporate building way back in 2000. The corporate office at
Bandra-Kurla complex, Mumbai, came up 18 months later. "It was the right
thing to do as it saves energy and improves the working environment," says a
company spokesperson. Designed by Pheroze Kudianawala and Associates, the
structure optimises on all forms of energy - reduction in air-conditioning
load, reduction in lighting load by using energy-saving fixtures; besides
recirculation of water after treatment. "We have used reflective
double-glazed glass (insulated) panels. It provides insulation against heat
while allowing light to pass through," says the spokesperson. The building
was selected by Environmental Protection Agency of USA to be a test site for
their study of energy efficient buildings. Sulekha Nair Chennai T AMIL Nadu
has quite a few green buildings, most of them in Chennai. One of them, the
1.8 million sqft Olympia Technology Park, an information technology
workstation at Guindy, is said to be the world's largest green building.
Then there's the India office of Danish wind power giant Vestas, owned by
Vestas Wind Technology India Pvt Ltd, Grundfos India's corporate office, ABN
Amro Bank building, Rane Institute of Employee Development and L&T ERDC 1.
At the green building congress in Chennai last week, Tom Hicks,
vicepresident, LEED, US Green Building Council, launched 'LEED India Core &
Shell' rating system. Under this new system, the 'Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design' (LEED) gold rating was awarded to Olympia Technology
Park and ABN Amro and silver rating awarded to the Rane Institute and L&T
ERDC 1.

According to Khivraj Tech Park Pvt Ltd MD, Ajit Kumar Chordia, who is also
one of the promoters of Olympia Technology Park, the LEED rating did enhance
tenant confidence. Commenting on the various ecofriendly features that the
building sports, he remembers that no environmentally toxic material was
used during construction.

At the Vestas building, features like insulated walls, double-gazed windows
and heat reflective tiles, enabling 20-25% savings in energy consumption
helped it get the gold rating. The company practises what it preaches. Wind
power is the main source of energy. "Wooden crates in which consignments
come are used to make furniture and donated to schools around our offices.
We also use only non-toxic housekeeping materials and organic manure for
plants," says its proud officials.

For Grundfos, the green building concept is an initiative to make the
environment a better place to live in. It is a zero-discharge building (100%
waste water recycling) and native plants are grown to minimise water
requirement. A high-efficiency irrigation system, which includes like
sprinklers and drip systems are used. And in addition, it offers optimal
usage of resources by addressing critical areas like air conditioning,
lighting and energy-efficient appliances. The building consumes 25% less
energy than most other conventional buildings, say Grundfos officials.
Joseph Vackayil Pune T HREE years ago, Aditya Javdekar attended the opening
of the CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre in Hyderabad, the country's
first building to get a platinum rating from the US Green Building Council
(US GBC). The visit left a lasting impression on his mind. He decided to
make eco-friendly homes in Pune. Better still, he wanted to make
'eco-friendly' homes a USP for his firm Vilas Javdekar & Associates.
His company is coming out with Pune's first 5-star rated eco-housing scheme
called Palash. "We began with the concept of making eco-friendly homes more
as a differentiating factor. As I learnt more about the concept, it has
become more of a moral issue than a marketing issue," Aditya Javdekar, MD,
Vilas Javdekar & Associates says.

Javdekar's five lakh square feet Palash project is based on four Rs -
reduce, reuse, renew and recycle. He gives one example. Modern domestic
living processes result in incredible water wastage. "The water used in a
single toilet flush could keep an entire family in a drought-stricken area
alive for a whole day. Palash will have water-saving systems like water
purification and rainwater harvesting systems that could reuse water," he
says. Javdekar claims his project has bio-climatically designed homes,
making optimum use of natural light. The project includes a fully-automatic
garbage-handling and disposal system, a bio-gas generation plant for
recycling of common waste, thermally responsive exteriors for lower cooling
requirements and low energy devices like V3F lifts. "The 5-star rating has
been accorded by the local civic bodies - Pune Municipal Corporation and
Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. This rating is usually done on a
1,000 basis points. A company needs to get 500 points to qualify as an
eco-friendly building; 600 points would qualify for a two-star rating and
700 points for a 3-star rating," he explains. Nanda Kasabe Bangalore B
ANGALORE-BASED real estate major Puravankara Projects Ltd has taken special
steps to implement environmental friendly measures in all their projects,
residential in particular. Suhas Kulkarni, technical director of Puravankara
says, "The company's aim to give the best to its customers has been the
major reason for adopting several environment-friendly measures." He claims
all residential projects promoted by Puravankara comprise eco-friendly
buildings.

"All our projects have state-of-the-art systems for rain water harvesting
and recycling bio-degradable manure. The company has also installed
recycling plants to conserve water and cater to the requirements of
gardening and flushing lines," he says. Citing the company's upcoming Rs
400-crore Venezia project in Bangalore, he says, "Only 25% of the space has
been used for buildings, while 75% has been left as open space to ensure
better air circulation and greenery. We are also using solar energy for
lighting common areas and pathways in the project area to conserve energy,
and only around 15% of the space in the building has been covered with glass
for adequate ventilation," he explains.

Another Bangalore-based real estate company Skyline is leaning towards
environment-friendly methods in its new projects. Skyline managing director
Avinash Prabhu says that the company is promoting a residential project
christened Beverly Park in Amruthahalli in Bangalore, with
environment-friendly facilities like rain water harvesting and energy saving
lighting systems. Here, parking and common area lighting have timers,
facilitating automatic switch-off of the lights at regular intervals during
the night to save electrical energy. The company plans to extend the solar
powered lighting systems to its future projects.

As for cost escalation due to adoption of such measures, Skyline does not
have too many apprehensions. According to Prabhu, introduction of
eco-friendly mechanisms have not had a big impact on the total project cost.
And given the cost savings in the long run, it definitely makes business
sense to make a little investment in eco-friendly systems.
Jaishankar Jayaramiah

Publication : FE; Section : Focus Pg : 5; Date : 23/9/07
URL :
http://70.86.150.130/financialexpress/ArticleText.aspx?article=23_09_2007_005_001