Dissertations for Sustainable Design of Built Environment (SDBE)

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Browsing Dissertations for Sustainable Design of Built Environment (SDBE) by Author "AHMED, FATIMA AHMED"

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    Development of Green Building Rating System for Evaluating Existing Office Buildings in Dubai Based on Al Sa’fat Rating System
    (The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2019-03) AHMED, FATIMA AHMED
    Many Green building rating systems are applicable world-wide, yet, several green building rating systems are emerging as a reaction to contextual and cultural differences. Dubai has recently developed Al Sa’fat Green Building Rating system for new buildings assessment and the system is still under development and incorporation stage within the emirate’s various governmental systems. However the new system, at this stage, is designed for the evaluation of new buildings only. At different scales, assessment of existing buildings stock in Dubai will help in detecting performance improvement opportunities, and also achieve the city strategic plan DSP 2021 by reducing carbon footprint, energy and water consumption and annual associated generated waste. Not to forget the marketing and financial value of certified green buildings among non-certified. This paper proposes a green building rating system designed for existing office buildings in Dubai, and derived from Al Sa’fat rating system for new buildings in terms of its structure and layout. International new buildings and existing building rating systems manuals for both BREEAM and LEED have been reviewed. In addition, existing green initiatives in Dubai and Al Sa’fat for new buildings has been reviewed, and a proposal has been generated based on the reviewed manuals. Multiple methods have been utilized to refine and test the system including surveys, interviews, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), case study and walkthrough audit. The surveys’ results are used to understand the importance of the rating system categories from public points of view. Survey results indicates that Building vitality is the most important category, followed by Energy, water, site, and materials respectively. Interviews results were used for the AHP process to create a weightage value for the categories. The result is 5 categories and total of 67 regulations among which nine regulations are prerequisites. Final proposal has 5 categories weighting as the following: 36.6% for Resource Effectiveness: Energy 500, 26.7% for Building Vitality 400, 18.6% for Resources Effectiveness: Water 600, 9.3% for Site & Ecology 300, and 8.8% for Materials and Waste 700. An Office Building case study (AWRostomani Head Office) in Port Saeed, Dubai, has been assessed using the proposed system and given a certification accordingly. The case study received a score of 62.32%, hence qualified for silver certification. The same case study has been assessed in terms of concept in LEED system to check the compatibility of the proposed system with International system, and proved compatibility in terms of comprehensiveness of regulations. Set minimum standards differ according to climate, region culture and the history of existing buildings.