DC Pro Engineering, a pioneering UAE based Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) consultancy, has played a leading role in reshaping regulations for future buildings in Dubai.
The MEP and green building design specialists volunteered its highly skilled engineers for a series of workshops by Dubai Municipality to enhance its ‘Sa’fat’ regulation, a system first implemented by the municipality 2016 to rate new buildings on the implementation of green building designs to improve sustainability levels across the construction sector. Under the system, buildings that do not meet at least a bronze rating are refused permits.
The series of workshops invited leading consultants and engineers within the industry to discuss and debate how to strengthen the current code, which is aligned with the UAE’s Vision 2021 focusing on preservation of the environment and ensuring sustainable development.
DC Pro Engineering’s Senior Mechanical Engineer Waleed Ishreim attended the workshop series, lending his expertise to the scheme. Following completion of the workshops, the consultants took an examination to assess their knowledge of the Sa’fat system and green buildings design. Ishreim’s knowledge and skills were rewarded when he secured top marks in the assessment.
Commenting on the workshops, Ishreim said: “DC PRO Engineering is committed to positively contributing to the construction industry through encouraging energy efficiency and sustainability trends in the UAE. Our workforce was built on strong foundations of delivering responsible designs that consider the importance of energy and water resources as well as the environment around us. Therefore, we felt that it was a must to give our recommendations to enhance the ‘Sa’fat’ code.”
The Dubai Green Building Classification Code (Sa’fat), is one of the key tactics adopted by Dubai Municipality to reduce energy and water demand by 30 per cent by 2030. It encourages the conversion and retrofitting of existing buildings into green ones. The building regulations programme represents one of eight Demand Side Management (DSM) strategy initiatives that was established by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy. ‘Sa’fat’ forms a complete approach standard that provides guidance to the building industry to achieve these goals through Ecology and Planning, Building vitality, and resource effectiveness.
“Sa’fat certification has added a lot to my qualifications and increased my awareness of green building technologies. People spend 90 per cent of their lives indoors and I felt a need to participate to make buildings more environment healthy, which will have a positive impact on human health.” added Ishreim.
‘Sa’fat’ is a unique scheme that enables Dubai Municipality to recognize the qualified engineers in the field of green buildings and sustainability.
“Participation in the scheme enables DC PRO Engineering to maintain its presence among the MEP consultants leaders in the UAE and the region with the delivery of high- quality designs for MEP systems by introducing energy efficient design and incorporating the latest green building technologies,” added George Berbari, DC PRO Engineering founder and CEO.
“It will also add to the expertise that the firm is currently including the building service design and district cooling such as renewable energy systems design, sustainability consulting, energy modelling, energy management and auditing, and measurement and verification.”
Sa’fat means date palm fronds in Arabic and refers to the traditional Arabic system of using palm fronds as roofing to keep the interior cool. It was a symbol of construction and also represents the local environment because all parts of the palm tree were utilised for various purposes.