By V. Suresh Chairman, Indian Green Building Council (IGBC)
M. Anand Principal Counsellor, IGBC

Organising the annual Green Building Congress is one of the approaches adopted by the CII-Indian Green Building Council to facilitate the spread and growth of green building movement in the country. The Congress, in many ways, helped India over the years to become one of the top five countries in the world in terms of registered green building footprint, with various types of buildings adopting IGBC green building rating systems. Broadly, the objectives of Green Building Congress are to further advance the green building movement in India, facilitate greening of all forms of built environment, sensitise young minds, showcase innovative and futuristic green building products, materials and technologies, facilitate market transformation, and enable networking among stakeholders.

The 17th Green Building Congress was held on September 25-28 at Hyderabad. Telangana was the Partner State of the event. Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan, Governor of Telangana, inaugurated the three-day annual event. The theme of the event was ‘Green Built Environment for People & the Planet’. Dr. Soundararajan underlined the importance of conserving the environment and cultivating a mind-set of responsible and sustainable development. “Make green a way of life and appreciate the bounty of nature”, she said.

Ar. Tai Lee Siang, Executive Director – Building and Construction Authority, Singapore and Immediate Past Chair, World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) brought to fore his thoughts and perspectives on ‘Collaborative Cities for People’. Visal Leng, President, Asia Pacifi c, Johnson Controls shared his vision of ‘Liveable Cities’. (Please see Interview of Visal Leng elsewhere in this issue – Managing Editor.)

These sessions were followed by a panel discussion on ‘Advancing Green Built Environment – Challenges & Opportunities Ahead’, wherein experts from the academia and industry shared their insights.

Another panel discussion on ‘Advancing Net Zero Energy’ was also an interesting session, which provided new national and international insights to the delegates. Allan Han-Huei Teo, Regional Head, Asia Pacific Network, WorldGBC and industry experts presented new angles on the subject. A session on ‘Architectural Perspectives on Green Built Environment’ demonstrated how out-of-the-box approaches can bring new flavour and vibrancy to project design. Other sessions included ‘Inspiration from Nature’, ‘Eco Sensitive Green Cities’, ‘Urban Mobility’ and ‘Clean Cities’. There were concurrent subject-specific sessions like Conference on GreenPro; Green Homes and Aff ordable Housing; Green Landscape and Biodiversity; Green Hotels and Resorts; and Green Rail.

Sensitising young minds is one of the objectives of Green Building Congress, and the Inspiring Series for School Children enabled young minds to re-orient their perspectives towards Planet Earth. Recognising and awarding young minds through Green your School Contest and IGBC Green Design Contest is an annual feature. Awards were presented to winners of IGBC Green your School Contest and IGBC National Architectural Design Competition.

Green Building Congress offers a platform to forge new partnerships and build new green frontiers. In light of this, IGBC inked the following four MoUs:
1. Department of Technical Education, Telangana to spread awareness on green buildings among students and the teaching community.

2. Thailand Environment Institute for mutual recognition of the Eco-labels of India (GreenPro) and Thailand.
3. Nalanda University to partner in sensitising the student community on the importance of environmental policies and management, and foster industry-academia linkages.
4. Global Association for Corporate Services (GACS) to promote and implement green building and sustainability concepts across the built environment.

The visitors got the touch and feel of various innovative and futuristic green building products and technologies displayed at the international exhibition. Some of the product
categories on display were paints and coatings, insulation, plasters, furniture, tiles, false ceilings, construction blocks, water efficient plumbing fixtures, high performance glass, cleaning chemicals, IAQ-related products and plumbing fixtures. 

Some other highlights of Green Building Congress were: 
1. Launch of IGBC Green Homes Rating System Ver 3.0.
2. B-2-B meetings.
3. IGBC Green League (IGL) annual quiz competition.
4. Award of IGBC green building rating to over 180 projects.
5. Award of GreenPro certification to 16 products.
6. Green Building Performance Challenge awards to 15 projects.
7. Screening of eco-films.
8. Presence of Taiwan delegation at the event.