You will be surprised to know? The areas valued maximum for the sale or purchase of Real Estate are the greenest parts of a city – And i.e. applicable across the globe. But why? For one simple reason these areas offer the best quality of life (with respect to cooler climates, clean air, ample ground water, ample wind-flow, natural lighting, rich flora and fauna, recreation, etc.)
Sadly, for the past few decades we have been designing buildings that typically work towards detaching the internal from the external environment – resulting in massive energy consumption. This trend demands active resolution, because of its negative environmental impact and to create a good future for the upcoming generations, our towns, cities and our country.
To provide the best quality of life to the inhabitants, a building needs to efficiently consume resources for its construction and operation. In our country, a well-planned and designed building structure is constructed out of concrete and bricks, having a life of up to 100 years. During this span, a building structure typically consumes natural resources and generates waste in unthinkable quantities. This is a serious issue, a building needs to reduce their waste generation and resource consumption with immediate effect.
For the past few years, the expression ‘Green Buildings’ is uninterruptedly monopolizing limelight in the media. Simply put, Green Buildings are structures which ensure efficient use of natural resources like building materials, water, energy and other resources with minimal generation of non-degradable waste. But Who Decides A Green Building Is Really Green?
This is decided against the predefined rating systems. In India, the below mentioned are the primary Rating systems.
- GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment)
- BEE (Bureau of Energy Efficiency)
- IGBC (Indian Green Building Council)
- LEED India (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design)
In this blog we will be exclusively discussing the GRIHA Rating system.
griha
GRIHA – Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment
griha rating
GRIHA is India’s own Green Building rating system conjointly developed by TERI and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India.
This is a green building design evaluation system where building structures are rated in a 3-tier process. Typically, the process begins with online submission of documents based on prescribed criteria followed by physical on-site visit and evaluation of the structure by a team of experts and professionals from GRIHA Secretariat.
griha rating
Benefits of GRIHA
Green building
Few of the benefits of having a building structure GRIHA certified are:
- Reduced energy consumption without surrendering the comfort levels
- Reduced devastation of natural areas, habitats, and biodiversity
- reduced soil loss from erosion
- Reduced air and water pollution
- Reduced water consumption
- Limited waste generation due to recycling and reuse
- Reduced pollution loads
- Increased productivity
- Enhanced market image
On a broader scale, the GRIHA system, along with the activities and processes will benefit the community at large with the improvement in the environment by reducing energy consumption, reducing GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions, and saving the natural resources.
Types GRIHA RAting
GRIHA Variants
GRIHA V 2015
1. Griha
The GRIHA V 2015 rating system comprises of 31 criteria categorized under several sections like Site Planning, Construction Management, Occupant Comfort and Wellbeing, Sustainable Building Materials, Performance Monitoring and Validation, and Innovation.
GRIHA is a 100-point system consisting of few core points, which are compulsory, while the rest are optional. Different levels of certification (one star to five stars) are awarded based on the number of points earned. The minimum points required for certification are 25.
All buildings, which are in the design stage and have built up area more than 2,500 m2, are eligible for certification under GRIHA. Building types include, but are not limited to:
- Offices
- Retail spaces
- Institutional buildings
- Hotels,
- hospital
- healthcare facilities
- residences
- multi-family high-rise buildings
The Criteria and their weightage can be viewed here.
Griha Precertification
2. Griha Precertification
In accord with the Office Memorandum by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), Government of India, GRIHA Council has planned a procedure which enables fast track environmental clearance through GRIHA pre-certification. Except for industrial complexes, all buildings – offices, retail malls, institutions, hotels, hospitals, health-care facilities, residences and multifamily high-rise buildings – in the buy Gabapentin powder Pre-Design/ Design Stage are eligible for pre – certification under GRIHA.
Svagriha
3. Svagriha
Jointly developed by GRIHA Council and TERI. SVAGRIHA (Small Versatile Affordable GRIHA) is an expressively easy, fast, and more affordable green building rating system. This rating system has been typically designed as a variant of GRIHA precisely for projects with built-up area less than 2500 sqm. SVAGRIHA can help in the design and rating of:
- Individual Residences
- Small Offices
- Commercial Buildings
- Institutional Buildings
The rating comprises only 14 criteria analyzed using software tool, comprising simplified calculators. The Criteria and their weightage can be viewed here.
Svagriha Precertification
4. Svagriha Precertification
Coming Soon! At this moment there is no information on this Certification on the GRIHA Website.
Griha AH
5. Griha For Affordable Housing
In an aim to take sustainability to the masses, GRIHA developed this variant which is the PMAY. With this rating numerous low-income households would be able to reduce its operational costs, GHG emissions and improve resource efficiency. This rating evaluates the overall performance of the residences holistically over its entire life cycle. It provides a definitive standard for what constitutes a ‘green building’ as it is a dedicated assessment cum rating tool, and a pre-fed calculator-based system.
All the upcoming projects which have approval/sanction letter issued by government agency (Central/State) confirming that the project is being developed as per Toluca Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana ( PMAY) are eligible for GRIHA AH rating.
The Criteria and their weightage can be viewed here.
Existin Building
6. Griha For Existing Buildings
This rating system is a 100-point system containing of 12 different criteria categorized under 7 sections like as Site Parameters, Maintenance & Housekeeping, Energy, Water, Human Health & Comfort, Social Aspects, and Bonus points. Six of these 12 criteria are mandatory, while the rest are optional.
All operational buildings which have a built-up area greater than 2,500 sq. m. are eligible this certification. The typology of buildings includes
- Offices
- retail spaces
- institutional buildings
- hotels
- hospital buildings
- healthcare facilities
- residences
- multi-family high-rise buildings
The Criteria and their weightage can be viewed here.
Day Schools
7. Griha For Day Schools
Coming Soon! At this moment there is no information on this Certification on the GRIHA Website.
Griha LD
8. Griha For Large Developments
The need to create a framework to assess the environmental performance of larger developments was the thought behind developing this rating system. GRIHA Council along with TERI has developed a rating system for large developments titled – GRIHA LD (Large Developments). The intent of GRIHA LD is to provide a consolidated framework for assessment of environmental impacts of large-scale developments, i.e. The singular units which together make up cities neighborhood/townships.
All projects with a Total site area greater than or equal to 50 hectares are eligible for this rating. Click here to register your project Register.
Griha For Cities
9. Griha For Cities
The GRIHA for CITIES rating has been structured as a framework for sustainable development of a city, to be achieved by measuring ‘greenness’ of existing as well as proposed cities. Qualitative and quantitative criteria have been integrated in the rating to cover diverse aspects of sustainable development. The rating sets performance benchmarks for key resources such as energy, water and waste; and evaluates the project’s performance in areas such as smart governance, social wellbeing, and transportation. Learn More.
Read More – Brief Overview on How can You Get Your Building Rated?
Who Rates Green Buildings
Who Rates The buildings?
GRIHA RATED
Design and development of Green Infrastructure demands large pool of qualified professionals in all parts of the country. To enable the active dissemination of knowledge and skills necessary for designing new green buildings, GRIHA Council organizes a series of open registration workshops across the country. These workshops are aimed at practicing professionals who are working on Green Building projects and are interested in GRIHA certification. Exams are held at the conclusion of the workshops to certify trainers who could further take up similar programmes in their region.
Professionals with considerable experience in Green Buildings are also encouraged to become GRIHA evaluators. The pool of evaluators spread across the country is engaged in the review process of GRIHA projects.
Information collected & curated from GRIHA India website
Article is authored by a Building Expert from Wienerberger India
For an expert advice, drop a word at our email id gosmartbricks@gmail.com
