by jbs022710 a3 — March 1, 2010—The Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) has announced a conference for building industry professionals and national and local government officials who want to promote green building practices in Africa.
UN-Habitat’s Conference on Promoting Green Building Rating Systems in Africa will be held at the United Nations Complex in Nairobi, Kenya May 4-6, 2010.
GBCSA notes that, although green building councils exist in a number of countries around the world, with the exception of South Africa the councils and their rating systems have experienced little espousal or implementation in Africa to-date.
The conference is intended to encourage the spread of green building practices throughout Africa by promoting the use of appropriate green building rating systems. More specifically, drawing on relevant, real-life experiences and using expert speakers, panel discussions and interactive forums, the conference will:
- Familiarize participants from across the African continent with the nuts and bolts of setting up and operating successful green building councils;
- Help participants to explore other models for advancing green building practices, to find the approaches that work best in the African context; and
- Assist interested parties to form a network, to support each other in navigating through the several step process of establishing a GBC, or otherwise developing or adopting green building rating tools.
Attendance for the free conference is through application and invitation only, for builders, architects, engineers, building owners, facilities managers, etc., who have relevant building industry experience and interest in spearheading green building practices in their communities. Limited subsidies are available for travel and accommodation costs. Applications will be accepted electronically between March 3 and April 2, 2010.
