2015 to be the year of green
building in emerging markets
E
co-friendly building practices date back
to the beginning of the 20th century, with
Frank Lloyd Wright’s organic architecture
and historic buildings like Falling Water. Now,
examples of the green building trend can be found
the world over.
According to the World Green Building Trends
survey by the McGraw Hill Construction, 51
percent of companies anticipate that more than 60
percent of their works will be green by 2015. The
research shows that green building now makes good
business sense.
Moreover, the accelerating green trend is not
limited by geography but spreading throughout the
global construction marketplace. Many countries
that are listed on Lamudi, a global property portal
focusing on the emerging markets, now feature a
high selection of eco-friendly properties.
One example is the Clearpoint Residencies
near Colombo, Sri Lanka. Dubbed the world’s
tallest vertical garden, the development is due to
be completed in April 2016. The entire facade is
covered in planted terraces and mango trees, not
just as decoration but to reduce the heat level in the
building, by lowering exposure to direct sunlight and
providing fresher air. The plants will act as a sound
barrier, provide shade, and cleanse the surrounding
air. As a consequence, the amount spent on air
conditioning can be reduced.
In April, Lamudi published research that showed
the extent to which the green building trend is
sweeping the emerging markets. On the Lamudi
platform, cities like Karachi (Pakistan), Dhaka
(Bangladesh) Amman ( Jordan) or Yangon, the
largest city of Myanmar, top the emerging markets
for eco-friendly homes.
These cities have the highest number of properties
for sale or rent offering green features, including a
high energy efficiency rating, solar panels, water
tanks and greywater systems. The Pakistani city of
Karachi, for instance, now has more than 8200 ecofriendly properties listed on the website.
Paul Philipp Hermann, Co-Founder and
Managing Director at Lamudi, said: “Throughout
this year, we have seen the trend toward eco-friendly
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Commercial Handbook 2016
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