Sustainability in Dubai

He describes the building as "perfectly normal highly glazed facade" This description is an understatement to say the least. The majority of clients in this region want fully glazed buildings. RMJM was able to convince its client of the environmental benefits of an energy efficient building form (as detailed in the article) and have designed the building to suit. The overall tower glazing is 48%. The crucial east and west elevations have 42% glazing. This building is neither "normal" nor "highly glazed" for a residential tower in this region.

Mr Bellew goes on to say there was no "attempt at external shading". On the contrary, RMJM has incorporated a second external concrete skin on the entire east and west facades (excluding penthouses), which effectively shade the majority of the glazing on the two longer/critical walls. In addition the majority of windows are recessed into the building structure, which increases the shading effect.

The letter states that systems selected were "old fashioned even". I disagree; energy efficient water cooled chillers, vav systems and variable flow chilled water systems are not old fashioned. These systems were selected because they are right for the project and the local environment. Just because a system has been used for many years does not make it old fashioned nor render it redundant.

Mr Bellew comments "by a quick calculation (cooling loads) are in excess of 90 W/m² which would hardly seem groundbreaking". This statement may be true for UK buildings, but is definitely not correct when considering Middle East projects. The actual overall cooling load for the building is approximately 110 W/m² (excluding car park area), which is an excellent value when viewed against the benchmark 140-180 W/m² common in the Middle East.

With natural/mixed mode ventilation being a non-starter (during summer), opportunities for rainwater collection/free cooling extremely limited, absence of recycled materials in the local market, project budgets 20-25% of those for similar sized projects in London, local client perceptions, etc; producing truly sustainable buildings (as envisaged in the UK), is difficult.

Mr Bellew's views on delivering truly sustainable buildings must be applauded, however the majority of his comments are wide of the mark and take no account whatsoever of regional conditions. Global issues require global thinking. Confining ones self to a UK mindset when discussing overseas projects, does not work.

Surely our primary aim must be for all commercial projects to be engineered to the highest standard, incorporating energy efficient, innovative and sustainable features, as the client/budget will allow, while still maintaining the cost-effectiveness of the development. That's exactly what you get with our project, and is perhaps the most important reason why this article was published in BSj.