Emirates Green Building Council Honours Winners of ‘2015 EGBC Awards' for Excellence in Sustainability

•    American University of Sharjah, IRENA HQ Building and Sofitel Dubai The Palm Resort & Spa win Green School, Green Commercial Building and Green Hotel of the Year categories respectively

Dubai, UAE; May 14, 2015: Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC), an independent forum aimed at conserving the environment by strengthening and promoting green building practices, honoured the winners of the 2015 EGBC Awards to recognise excellence in sustainability at a glittering award ceremony held at Al Murooj Rotana hotel, in Dubai.

The event’s Guest of Honour HE Dr. Thani Ahmed Al-Zayoudi, Director of Energy and Climate Change of UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, presented a keynote address highlighting the importance of green building practices, prior to the introduction of the winners by Saeed Al Abbar, Chairman of Emirates GBC. 

Announcing the awards, Saeed Al Abbar, said: “The EGBC Awards have become a core part of our activities in promoting sustainable built environments in the UAE, and in turn contributes to the ‘green economy for sustainable development’ vision announced by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. The high quality of entries for the 2015 EGBC Awards underlines the increased interest and involvement by various organisations and individuals in the UAE and the wider Middle East region in the green building sector.

“The panel of judges was highly impressed by the innovative approaches adopted by the industry stakeholders, surpassing themselves year on year with innovative technologies and solutions. We thank all our partners and participants for supporting the EGBC Awards,” Al Abbar added.

The awards honouring Excellence in Sustainability were as follows:

•    The Green Building of the Year was presented in three subcategories:
o    Green Hotel, awarded to Sofitel Dubai The Palm Resort & Spa
o    Green School, awarded to American University of Sharjah -  Campus Service Centre
o    Green Commercial Building, awarded to IRENA Headquarters Building
•    The Green Facility Management Organisation of the Year, awarded to Imdaad LLC
•    The Green Building Material/Product of the Year, awarded to Khansaheb Bionest
•    Box Industries LLC won the Green Building System of the Year for its Technopark Geochem Office 
•    WSP l Parsons Brinckerhoff won the award for Green Building Research for ‘Outdoor Space Comfort’
•    Dubai Carbon won the Training Initiative of the Year award for The Carbon Ambassadors Programme
•    Muna Alnahdi, from Rochester Institute of Technology in Dubai won the Special Award for Students 

Industry experts who formed the panel of judges were:
 
•    Professor Bassam Abdel-Karim Abu-Hijleh, Dean and Atkins Chair  Head of the Sustainability MSc & PhD Programmes, Faculty of Engineering and IT,            The British University in Dubai (BUiD)
•    Dr. Ghalib Y. Kahwaji, Professor and Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
•    Dr. Michael Schmidt, Board Member of EmiratesGBC and Head of Development, Construction Chemicals Division at ORA Middle East, West Asia, CIS & Africa, BASF
•    Mohammad T. Asfour, Board Member of WorldGBC
•    Dr. Rob Cooke, Board Member of EmiratesGBC and Associate Sustainability Consultant, Buro Happold
•    Rym Baouendi, Founder & Managing Director, Medina Works
•    Sarfraz Dairkee, Secretary of EmiratesGBC Board of Directors and General Manager, Corporate Development & Engineering, M.A.H.Y. Khoory & Co. LLC

The EmiratesGBC Awards Taskforce included: Habiba Al Marashi, Founder and Treasurer of EmiratesGBC and Co-founder and Chairperson of Emirates Environmental Group (EEG); Lora Shrake, Operations Director, EmiratesGBC; and Marie-Hélène Westholm-Knebel, Senior Technical Officer, EmiratesGBC. KPMG served as the official Awards Auditor.

Jotun Paints was Platinum sponsor for the event, while BK Gulf, Brookfield Multiplex and Caparol were Silver sponsors. 

EmiratesGBC regularly hosts and participates in multinational events, conferences and forums. EmiratesGBC has also developed a suite of activities, inclusive of networking events, technical workshops, focus days and facilitated training based around specific issues related to the built-environment that meet the needs of its members, of the UAE community, and the wider Middle East.