Colombia. The ninth edition of Construverde International Forum & Expo Sustainable Design and Construction "Innovation for Well-being" presents a broad, attractive and renewed panorama in terms of integral sustainability, in addition to the fundamental avant-garde trends to materialize projects of high environmental performance at any stage of the life cycle of real estate developments.
"The built environment advances faster and faster in processes of continuous improvement, information and communication technologies, in addition to access to data in real time, facilitate decision-making that positively impacts the environment, finances and the well-being of those who occupy these spaces," said Cristina Gamboa, Executive Director of the CCCS.
Gautami Palanki - Director of Arc Skoru Inc. (www.arcskoru.com), is one of the featured speakers at CONSTRUVERDE 2018. She leads the development of products that enable the performance management of existing buildings and the global implementation of Arc, as an easily accessible digital platform to turn the power of real-time information into concrete actions that reduce environmental impact. Palanki comments on this important initiative to facilitate the renovation of the built environment and raise its level of sustainability.
What is the power of big data for decision-making in terms of integral sustainability?
GP: Real estate developments anywhere in the world have simple and powerful information stored inside them. For example, construction and design teams know the size of the building, the materials used to build it, the characteristics of the systems that compose it, the number of occupants, the uses and the consumption of water and energy. Managers and operators have a deep understanding of how buildings work and what their weaknesses are. The missing piece is often, what is the performance of that building in relation to other similar ones in the region and the world.
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Green Business Certification Inc (GBCI) – with a presence in Colombia in partnership with the Colombian Council for Sustainable Construction (CCCS) – have designed Arc, a free and easy-to-operate digital platform to measure the performance of existing buildings, so that innovative ideas, a better occupant experience and lower operating costs are realized.
How can this platform facilitate the identification of opportunities for improvement in the systems of existing buildings?
GP: Generating a rapid reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment is critical to meeting the commitments of the Paris Agreement. To be successful, everyone in each building must take steps to understand its impact and monitor its consumption during operation. Arc makes this seemingly invisible information useful and allows decisions to be made regarding building management. The performance rating is a simple visual reminder of how the building is performing and areas that can be improved.
Cities and communities can also use this platform to monitor collective actions to achieve Colombia's commitment to reduce GHG emissions by 20% by 2030.
What is the importance of measurement and control in existing buildings?
GP: Research worldwide has found that existing buildings in which there is an absence of measurement and control processes waste up to 25% of energy and water, so understanding performance is critical to making informed decisions about a real estate development. Measurement allows a building to monitor the current state, identify the improvements required over time and implement the changes required to improve performance.
Through Arc, all buildings have the opportunity to compare their performance against similar buildings, understand their initial state and set significant goals in their sustainability strategy.
Why is it important for a real estate project designed and built from the LEED system to continue to manage its sustainability strategies during the operation and maintenance phases?
GP: Integral sustainability is a permanent commitment to continuous improvement. Buildings change over time, with occupants, weather, renovations, system upgrades, among other reasons. It is important that LEED-certified buildings understand whether the property is performing as intended and whether they can make additional improvements to reduce consumption, operational costs, and improve the occupant experience.
LEED is integral sustainability, means leadership and allows to materialize the opportunities that are a reality in Colombia: tax incentives, preferential financing, attraction of foreign capital and new businesses.
How is Arc doing in Colombia?
GP: Colombia has a strong and sophisticated group of sustainability professionals and experts. They work with their clients to activate their LEED-certified projects on the Arc platform and have initiated reporting of building performance data in Colombia. No doubt with the presence of GBCI in Colombia and the work of the CCCS, we see opportunities to maintain and increase the number of high-performance projects with this tool, in addition to encouraging and inspiring more people to seek LEED certification.
The existing buildings represent a great opportunity to reduce the national carbon footprint and of course improve the health and well-being of Colombians. We know that the CCCS and its Members lead the sustainable development of the construction industry in the country and precisely within the framework of this alliance, GBCI Colombia is focused on generating greater market awareness about the benefits and opportunities represented by recent advances in public policy for sustainability, such as Resolution 463 of 2018 that establishes tax incentives for those projects that participate in the LEED certification system and demonstrate energy efficiency.
I am delighted to present myself at CONSTRUVERDE 2018, the overall framework of the event "Innovation for Wellness" fits perfectly with our purpose.
CONSTRUVERDE 2018
The event will take place in Bogotá, on Wednesday, October 3 and Thursday, October 4, 2018, at El Cubo de Colsubsidio, a building certified in sustainable construction with LEED®, Gold level and is organized by the Colombian Council of Sustainable Construction (CCCS) that completes 10 years leading the sustainable development of the construction industry. www.construverde.co
