Green Building Congress 2010

The construction industry in India is one of the largest economic activities contributing to the nation's development. India has been witnessing tremendous growth in building and construction sector for the past 5 years. As the sector is growing rapidly, preserving the environment poses a plethora of challenges and at the same time presents wonderful opportunities for various stakeholders. With the increase in income levels there are also changes in the life styles of various sections of the society. While this is a healthy trend, it is putting enormous pressure on the resource demand - like energy, water, materials, etc., Therefore, there is an imminent need to conserve natural resources used in building construction and operations. The stakeholders of the industry have a vital role to play in preserving the environment. The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) was formed in the year 2001 to address many of these aspects.

The IGBC is represented by all stakeholders of construction industry comprising of Corporate, Government, Nodal agencies, Architects, Designers, Institutions, Builders & Developers, Product manufacturers, Suppliers, Facility managers, etc.

The vision of the council is 'To usher in a green building movement in the country and to facilitate India become one of the world leaders in green buildings by 2010'.

With a modest beginning of 20,000 sq.ft of green footprint in the country in the year 2001, today (as in January 2010) about 490 green buildings with a footprint of over 330 million sq.ft are being constructed all over India. The Council's activities have enabled a market transformation with regard to green building concepts, materials and technologies. As the movement is advancing rapidly, there are tremendous opportunities and challenges ahead of us. Awareness & capacity building, affordability & availability of green building materials continue to be some of the challenges in facilitating the green building movement in the country. At the same time these challenges have been translated into tremendous opportunities for various stakeholders. The projected market potential for green building material and technologies is estimated to be 40 billion USD by the year 2012. Further opportunities would open up for the Indian manufacturers and consultants to offer product & services in other countries.

To advance the green building movement in the country, IGBC is organising India's flagship event on green buildings, Green Building Congress 2010 at Chennai, India. The event would host an international conference and exhibition of green building materials, products and equipment. About 200 products are expected to be on display at the exhibition. To enhance the capacity building in the country, the event would also have training workshops on Green Building and Energy Simulation.

This event will have participation of various countries such as Australia, Canada, Singapore, Sri Lanka, UAE, United States of America, UK etc..

Above all, the event would be an excellent platform for establishing new contacts, networking and exploring business opportunities.