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Awareness Workshop on the newly approved Rwanda Green Building Minimum Compliance System for Architects

Kigali, Rwanda – On 11th July 2019, GGGI initiated awareness dialogue for the construction industry stakeholders on the newly approved Rwanda Green Building Minimum Compliance System at the Rwanda Institute of Architects (RIA) Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Workshop. The workshop was organized by RIA in partnership with the City of Kigali (COK), Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA) and Rwanda Green Building Organization (RwGBO). The awareness session is in line with the implementation of Rwanda Green Building Minimum Compliance System by RHA supported by GGGI and RwGBO.

Participants at the workshop

Participants of the event included representatives from regional, national and local governments, private sector, international organizations, representatives of non-governmental and community-based organizations, academia, research and training institutes.

RIA established in 2012, is a professional body with a mission to regulating, scaling and promoting core values of the profession of architecture and allied professions in Rwanda. The theme of the workshop was ‘Informing the Green Future of the Profession of Architecture’. The objective of the event was to sensitize architects on the green revolution in architecture and inform architects and allied partners about the upcoming government requirement for green building in Rwanda and equip them with adequate knowledge to comply.

During the workshop the presenters representing various architectural associations across the African continent, academia and leading architectural practices in Rwanda focused on the role and contribution of architects in developing green cities, evolving expertise in green and sustainable technologies, use of low embodied energy construction materials and Kigali city master plan updates.  GGGI’s Senior Officer Mr. Dheeraj Arrabothu, gave an overview of the Rwanda Green Building Minimum Compliance System. The development of the Green Building Compliance System was led by RHA in collaboration with the Building Construction Authority (BCA) of Singapore, GGGI, and RwGBO including civil society networks and other stakeholders that took part in the development of the system. The Green Building Minimum Compliance is a point-based system to help building owners and developers choose indicators based on the applicability to the building type, usage and the benefits associated. The Green Building Minimum Compliance System would be applicable for new, large-scale commercial buildings, public buildings, assembly buildings, health facilities and educational buildings. New large-scale commercial and public buildings shall achieve 60 points out of the 190 points available to comply with the requirement of Rwanda Green Building Minimum Compliance system.

For GGGI and partners RHA and RwGBO, this awareness session was an introduction to upcoming nationwide dissemination to build the capacities of building design and construction professionals, government personnel involved in building permitts and inspection, construction industry stakeholders to implement the minimum compliance system. Going forward, GGGI will continue to support partner RHA in the implementation of the green building minimum compliance system by providing technical support to the green building training programs including dissemination of minimum compliance excel-based templates that GGGI has developed.

Agenda of the workshop

To access Rwanda Green Building Minimum Compliance System, please follow the link: https://gggi.org/report/rwanda-green-building-minimum-compliance-system/