Thinking Big

01 Oct 2011 Editorial Team

MNRE recently entrusted ADaRSH to formulate a comprehensive set of integrated guidelines to address large developments across the country.

India is currently undergoing massive development in all spheres, particularly in the real estate sector; hence, the energy and resource demand is increasing rapidly. An increasing number of large developments are coming up in the country comprising large townships, educational and institutional campuses, medical colleges and hospitals and special economic zones. Most such projects don’t have adequate guidelines for sustainable design, planning and development, and the current set of codes and standards, although comprehensive in nature, are looked upon as mutually exclusive. To address and counter this situation, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) entr-usted ADARSH (Association for Development and Research of Sustainable Habitats) – an independent registered society formed by TERI, to promote and implement the GRIHA rating system in the country by formulating a comprehensive set of inclusive and integrated guidelines for large developments. The objective is to access the trends in large campus developments in India, analyse our national and local requirements and formulate a set of guidelines and benchmarks to be followed when developing large campuses.

Prominent features
These guidelines will be useful for developing campuses/townships as ‘Green Campus/Townships’. Various incentives that are available under different schemes such as the deployment of solar hot water systems, rooftop PV systems, waste recycling for energy generation, solar power plants, etc, may also be utilised in the construction of these green buildings and green campuses. However, depending on the large development typology, the applicability of the guidelines shall vary with each project.

Green developments
The MNRE is also promoting the green building GRIHA rating system, developed by TERI, through some promotional incentives under which 117 projects have been registered with 4.98 million sq m of built-up area.

Moreover, all Central Government buildings are to be constructed as green buildings with the GRIHA rating. The ministry is providing financial support for capacity building, awareness, exemption in rating-cum-evaluation fees, promotional incentives for architects, engineers, etc, under this scheme.

MNRE recently entrusted ADaRSH to formulate a comprehensive set of integrated guidelines to address large developments across the country.India is currently undergoing massive development in all spheres, particularly in the real estate sector; hence, the energy and resource demand is increasing rapidly. An increasing number of large developments are coming up in the country comprising large townships, educational and institutional campuses, medical colleges and hospitals and special economic zones. Most such projects don’t have adequate guidelines for sustainable design, planning and development, and the current set of codes and standards, although comprehensive in nature, are looked upon as mutually exclusive. To address and counter this situation, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) entr-usted ADARSH (Association for Development and Research of Sustainable Habitats) – an independent registered society formed by TERI, to promote and implement the GRIHA rating system in the country by formulating a comprehensive set of inclusive and integrated guidelines for large developments. The objective is to access the trends in large campus developments in India, analyse our national and local requirements and formulate a set of guidelines and benchmarks to be followed when developing large campuses.Prominent features These guidelines will be useful for developing campuses/townships as ‘Green Campus/Townships’. Various incentives that are available under different schemes such as the deployment of solar hot water systems, rooftop PV systems, waste recycling for energy generation, solar power plants, etc, may also be utilised in the construction of these green buildings and green campuses. However, depending on the large development typology, the applicability of the guidelines shall vary with each project. Green developmentsThe MNRE is also promoting the green building GRIHA rating system, developed by TERI, through some promotional incentives under which 117 projects have been registered with 4.98 million sq m of built-up area.Moreover, all Central Government buildings are to be constructed as green buildings with the GRIHA rating. The ministry is providing financial support for capacity building, awareness, exemption in rating-cum-evaluation fees, promotional incentives for architects, engineers, etc, under this scheme.