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Recap of the VGBC Annual Conference 2016

On Thursday 14th January 2016, green building professionals from across Vietnam and the region gathered in Ho Chi Minh City for the Vietnam Green Building Council’s 5th Annual Conference. With over 150 participants, the day-long event at the Duxton Hotel included an address from VGBC Chair – Ms Melissa Merryweather and presentations from distinguished guests including Mr Le Hoang Chau – Chairman, Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA), Mr Tran Quy Nang – Facility Manager, Green One United Nation House, Ms Tran Thi Hang – Vo Trong Nghia Architects, and Dr Ngo Viet Nam Son – Chairman, NgoViet Architects and Planners. The Conference also included a panel discussion with industry leaders on the market drivers of green building in Vietnam, and a first look at the new building rating tool LOTUS Homes in an afternoon workshop.

 

Vietnam Green Building Council’s 5th Annual Conference
 

Mr Le Hoang Chau, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA) marked his opening speech by pledging full support for the development of green building and calling for real estate developers and investors to pursue green building certification for their projects as a way to differentiate their green credentials.

Mr Le Hoang Chau – Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA)  

Ms Melissa Merryweather presented the VGBC conference address titled ‘VGBC Snapshot of 2015 and Vision for 2016’. Ms Merryweather announced that as of January 2016, the VGBC has gained Provisional Member status of the World Green Building Council. This is an exciting achievement for the VGBC and will unlock a number of doors within the global green building community. Ms Merryweather discussed a number of VGBC’s achievements in 2015 in the areas of advocacy and consultancy, green building rating system, certified projects, green building training and LOTUS AP accreditation. These achievements also included the registration of the first residential building to undergo LOTUS certification in Phuc Khang Corporation’s Diamond Lotus and the first Government building to undergo LOTUS certification in the Vietnam Securities Depository Centre.

Ms Merryweather went on to announce the new vision for the VGBC for 2016 – “Inclusiveness, Connectivity, Support, Simplification, Recognition and Accessibility” – and the exciting developments that are on the horizon for the organisation. The VGBC will also be pursuing new ways of connecting with the green building community and new ways of providing support; including a refreshed LOTUS AP Program, continuing education support, updates & briefings, hotline support and a Green Building Starter Pack. Ms Merryweather also stressed the goal of simplicity in certification tools and the need for increased accessibility to marketing material and case studies that can be used to promote the benefits green building.

 

 Ms Melissa Merryweather – VGBC Chair

Following the VGBC conference address, Mr Tran Quy Nang – Facility Manager, Green One UN House presented to the conference the ways that Green One UN House in Hanoi has achieved LOTUS Gold Provisional Certification and the strategies the building continues to implement to achieve full certification and continue to save on energy costs.

Mr Tran Quy Nang – Facility Manager of Green One UN House 

The Panel Discussion, titled ‘Market drivers of green building in Vietnam’, gathered industry leaders from the breadth of players in the green building market. The panel was comprised of Mr Marc Townsend – Managing Director, CBRE Vietnam; Mr Patrick Bivona – Green Building and Energy Efficiency Consultant, Artelia Group; Mr Vu Linh Quang – Sustainable Design Manager, ARDOR Architects, Ms Vuong Thi Ngoc Thai – Country Director, BCI Asia and Mr Ly Khanh Tam Thao – Ho Chi Minh City Department of Urban Planning and Architecture. The panel discussed a number of issues including how the Government can offer incentives, such as potential GFA bonuses to projects undergoing green building certification. The panel also discussed the opportunities for the next 12 months, focussing of the need for developers and investors to be engaged with green building. Mr Townsend stated that the aim for green building should be “to have, next year, this room full of developers and investors, not just service providers”.

Panelist: (left to right) Mr Patrick Bivona; Mr Vu Linh Quang; Ms Vuong Thi Ngoc Thai; Mr Marc Townsend; Mr Ly Khanh Tam Thao

 

The afternoon session began with Vo Trong Nghia Architects’ Ms Tran Thi Hang providing a case selection on how architectural design can achieve urban greenery. The presentation looked at how to incorporate landscaping into the design and function of buildings. Increasing the greenery within a project can lead to a number of positive outcomes including decreased energy usage of the building as well as an overall reduction in the urban heat island effect.

 Ms Tran Thi Hang – Vo Trong Nghia Architects

The formal presentations concluded with Dr Ngo Viet Nam Son’s presentation on the strategies of urban planning and architecture and sustainable development in Vietnam. This presentation focused on the need to provide transport orientated development and provide access to open space in an increasingly dense urban environment.

Dr Ngo Viet Nam Son – Chairman, NgoViet Architects and Planners

The final session of the day was dedicated to the launch of VGBC’s newest rating tool – LOTUS Homes. In the workshop, conference participants were given the first look at the rating tool specifically designed for single family homes in Vietnam. Audience members were given the opportunity to ask questions about the tool and provide feedback on credits, certification procedures and the user interface. LOTUS Homes has been designed as an easy-to-use rating tool that can be applied across a wide range of housing types and budgets.
 

LOTUS Homes with Xavier Leulliette – Technical Manager, VGBC

 

The workshop presented how the new tool has options for projects to follow a “prescriptive pathway” or a “performance pathway”. For the prescriptive pathway, the applicant enters the fixtures, fittings, materials or products required and the tool performs any necessary calculations. This makes it simple to follow and means it does not require technical input. With the performance pathway, an architect, builder or engineer is given more freedom as to how they will satisfy a credit but this approach requires more technical calculation and justification by a professional. This demonstrated how the tool can be applied across a range of projects and applicants can determine the best pathway to suite their project
 
The LOTUS Homes tool will be released for beta testing before Tet and the VGBC are calling for green building professionals, home builders and home owners to investigate the tool and provide feedback to the VGBC. The VGBC have also opened the call for Pilot projects to be the first to apply the tool and be the first homes certified as green buildings in Vietnam
 
The VGBC would like to thank the Gold Sponsors Saint Gobain and Phuc Khang Corporation and Event Partner GreenViet for their support of this event. The VGBC was very pleased with the large turn-out for the event and the broad range of participants, some having travelled internationally to attend the conference. The VGBC would like to give a special thanks to all the invited speakers and especially to the audience for making the day a huge success.

 
Please Click Here to download presentation files of speakers.

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