Story link: http://www.goodnewsindia.com/index.php/Supplement/article/karan-grovers-building-is-green-platinum

A Karan Grover designed building in Hyderabad has won the Platinum rating from the US Green Building Council (USGBC). The CII - Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre in Hyderabad, designed by Grover that made the Platinum grade is only the first building outside the US to have done so --and in the US there are only three with such a grade. There is no higher ranking.

The USGBC criteria are classified under the following: Sustainability of the site, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environment quality and, innovation and design process. That’s a broad, deep and stringent set. Out of a possible 69 the Grover design has won 56 points. That in itself is cause for celebration.

But that’s not all. Nor has Grover newly adopted the green approach. His design for CII - ABB Centre for Quality outside Bangalore is already renowned for its green outlook. But what is significant about the Hyderabad building is not only is it ‘green’ but it is also dedicated to propagate environment consciousness among Indian industries. Using it, CII will promote awareness through round the year workshops and programmes.

A visit to CII’s Green Business Centre site is heartening because of the India rootedness of its approach. It talks of fly ash use, use of recycled materials like steel, wood, tiles, glass and sanitary ware, oil free, CFC free equipment, variable speed motors for blowers, pumps, elaborate use of sensors feeding back to controls and so on. There is a sensitivity that goes beyond just green buildings. There are a lot of downloadable ‘how-to’ documents on improving energy efficiencies in specific industries.

From GoodNewsIndia’s point of view, the implications are two-fold. For one, it is an unavoidable axiom that a race for industrialisation will severely damage the environment first before reaction sets in and correction begins. The CII initiative suggests that the low inflexion point may have been passed. With awareness among captains of industry, there is the prospect of India escaping the horrors that the West went through before it recovered.

For another, the poor always imitate the rich. If one sees splendid old houses pulled down everywhere to be replaced by boxy, concrete horrors, it is because the nouveau riche believe that that is the lifestyle of the rich. Now, if architects like Grover start to convert the wealthy and make them aware of environmental issues, the poor will return one day to esteem their time-tested ways of life that were nature friendly.

The award for the Grover building is significant from these points of view.

Various