IMPLEMENTING GREEN DESIGN INITIATIVES IN THE UAE

misbe2011 Tracking Number 194

The drive for more sustainable built environment in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) received a significant boost in the period 2006-2008 supported by new legislations from the government and increased interest from major stakeholder especially municipalities. The absence of locally developed frameworks for evaluating sustainable design of buildings has created opportunities for the introduction of foreign ones. LEED has become popular in industry and has even influenced the current current attempts to develop a local framework. The paper will report the findings of a research that, first, evaluated the effectiveness of LEED framework in dealing with local issues. Secondly the paper will examine 2 case studies where LEED was used in one of the cases to ensure the development is sustainable. The second case study sustainability was driven by what was considered to be “responsible” design. The need for more integrated design practices is highlighted in the analysis as well as the role of the local municipality in facilitating sustainability in these cases.