The Women of Vision Summit was momentous with its knowledge sharing sessions and was kicked by the welcome address from Binay Agrawal, Business Head, TempRite – South Asia sharing the background of the event and the theme of the International Women’s Day - “Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow” being the overall subject of deliberations.
Discussing the aspects of – “Sustainability at Crossroads: What’s Next”, the panel moderated by Apoorv Vij, Director – Technical Development, GBCI with speakers Akhil Ganatra, Managing Director, Clancy Global, Gurmit Singh Arora, National Chairman of CII – Indian Green Building Council & National President, Indian Plumbing Association, Jaya Dhindaw, Program Director - Integrated Urban Development, Planning and Resilience, WRI India, Namrata Mehra, Head of Design, & Customer Centricity, Vikhroli, Lead – Sustainability, Godrej Properties, Nihar Chheda, Vice President Strategy, Prince Pipes And Fittings Ltd and Suhasini Ayer, Principal Architect & Founder, Auroville Design Consultancy, spoke about how sustainability has taken a new meaning where an architect’s role needs further recognition.
Continuing with the event’s theme, the next panel discussion on Rethinking Building Design & Engineering in ‘New Normal’ was moderated by Shabnam Bassi, Fellow & Associate Director- TERI, and Secretary GRIHA Council and the speakers were, Madhurima Madhav, Scientist ‘D’ (Civil Engg.), Bureau Of Indian Standards, Samantha Sullivan, Innovation Project Manager, TempRite, Lubrizol, Sandeep Goel - Director - Proion Consultants, Shabbir Kanchwala, Senior Vice President, K Raheja Corp, Sujal Sheth- Director, Newage Fire Systems and Tejwant Navalkar, Executive Director, DFXSystems Pvt Ltd. They concurred that new materials and engineering systems need to be further explored to develop buildings that are sustainable, functional and easily maintainable over its life cycle.
RECOGNIZING WOMEN ACHIEVERS
Setting the tone of the awards evening was the special address by Cheree Aspelin, Vice President, HR and Chief Diversity Officer, The Lubrizol Corporation expressing her pleasure on hosting the women achievers being felicitated.
O’Neil Pinto, Senior Business Director – EMEAI, TempRite felicitated the women achievers and stated that being in presence of such inspirational women was indeed quite motivating for everyone present.
The award recipients were:
- Dr Ananya Gandotra, Head of Design, Engineering & Sustainability, Birla Estates
- Garvita Gulhati, Waterpreneur Founder & CEO, Waterpreneur, Why Waste
- Koyeli Dutt, Managing Director, Technico (India) National Chairperson, Surakshit Naari Program FSAI
- Manjula Thavarekere, Managing Director - Adithi MEP Consultants Pvt Ltd.
- Neelam Manjunath, Principal Architect, Manasaram Architects
- Rinki Mahato, First Women National Finalists at IndiaSkills2021 (Plumbing & Heating)
- Rupali Kelshikar, Co-Founder, Head of Commerce, Woloo
Concluding the event with a note of thanks to all the women achievers and speakers of the day Manish Jain- Segment Manager - Plumbing & Fire South Asia, Lubrizol Advanced Materials stated that while the discussions shared the common vision of men and women to work towards a sustainable tomorrow, the recipients of the award had set an example for other women in the field of building and construction industry.
