Architect Reza Kabul, President, ARK Reza Kabul Architects expressed that sustainability comes with benefits and a premium, but most clients are averse to going ahead with the sustainability as it comes with the additional cost.
Dr. h.c Mario Schmidt, Managing Director, Lingel Windows & Doors Technologies Private Limited stated that it’s all about creating an awareness on the quick RoI that one can get through savings. “There are glazing systems that save electricity and maintenance cost. This is a challenge and it is for architects and product manufacturers to address.”
Arpita Roy Luthra Head Marketing – Boards & Panels, Everest Industries Ltd shared her view, “In commercial, retail, hospitality and healthcare properties there is lot of acceptance of drywall construction. In the residential segment, it is a challenge because people have an age-old belief system that dry walls are not durable. So as an organisation we are educating the end-consumers on its safety and security benefits such as fire rating and durability. To an end customer what is important is the safety and security and we are playing on that card.”
Namrata Mehra, Head - Design, & Customer Centricity, Vikhroli, Lead – Sustainability, Godrej Properties stated, “we need to have a more comprehensive approach towards sustainability, looking at it from operations side rather than product side. We created sustainability manuals as part of marketing communication and handover manuals for buyers. Education is a continuous process.”
Shabbir Kanchwala- Chief Sustainability officer & Senior Vice President- Project Coordination, K Raheja Corp added, K.Raheja Corp was the first company to sign MoU with CII -IGBC to construct green buildings across the country. We look at life-cycle analysis of the product. Despite the challenges, India has the second largest green building projects in the world.”
Samrat Kulkarni, Technical Design Consultant-VMZINC India- Innovation shared that using sustainable products is the best way to ease environment damage during retrofitting of existing buildings. Given the life-cycle of the material such as VMZ, it is more sustainable to use for retrofit projects.
THE WAY FORWARD
As per architect Reza Kabul, there is a need to adopt modular construction in India that saves raw material and creates lesser carbon emissions. Apart from innovation in eco-friendly products, retrofitting of existing buildings should also be considered to reduce energy consumption and to make them sustainable.
According to Shabbir Kanchwala, in India there is no real alternative to RCC as there are a lot of challenges in steel other than the cost. In terms of modular and pre-fab construction the minimum construction area required is around 12-15 lakh sq ft at one particular location for breakeven.
Dr. h.c Mario Schmidt agreed that India is a price sensitive market. But if manufacturers can show value of the product and tangible return on their investment, they can create a market. Resolving valid problems and ensuring payback and taking customer feedback where they seek improvement is the way forward.
Namrata Mehra concurred that what the customer wants and the acceptance are two important factors. "From a product use perspective, we look at material viability and standardisation. Think about a sample apartment which has all the finishes explaining their benefits."
Samrat Kulkarni gave an example, “VM Zinc is made of 17% recycled material needing less energy. It melts at 420-degree Celsius and has life expectancy for 1800 years. Being a non-ferrous material, it does not corrode and with a natural finishes, it keeps oxidizing and gives different look over a period of time.”
Arpita Roy Luthra, said, “We are propagating drywall construction as it saves a lot of energy, resources, water and construction time is almost 4X faster. There is a resonance among the builders and the architects and they are increasingly steering towards accepting these kinds of products. We do face a challenge when it comes to the contractors. Developed countries have seen the merit of drywall construction. It is slow and steady process of acceptance but there are conscious customers who really want to adopt this.”
FUNDAMENTALLY REAL-ESTATE GLOBALLY CONSUMES ALMOST 30% OF ALL RAW PRODUCTS, USES 40% OF ALL ENERGY AND RELEASES 33% OF ALL EMISSIONS. THAT’S A LOT FOR ANY INDUSTRY TO BE ACCOUNTABLE AND RESPONSIBLE.
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