of zero and near-zero buildings becoming more widespread is something we should expect to happen sooner rather than later .
“ It ’ s something we need to achieve ,” he says , passionately . “ Under the auspices of the Paris climate change agreement … we need to be , by 2050 , effectively getting to net zero . That ’ s not very far away , so that ’ s one thing that needs to happen . But I think where there ’ s a need , the industry is able to innovate to meet that need . I think it ’ s definitely feasible ( that the construction zero and near-zero buildings will become more widespread ). We ’ re working on prototype designs , and we ’ ve proven it from the technical feasibility perspective . Now we ’ re trying to optimise it to be costeffective so we can demonstrate it as commercially feasible as well .”
Fire and life safety Perhaps one of the most obvious themes is fire safety after a number of high-profile façade fires globally . Al Abbar says it ’ s vital for developers to manage their liability and safeguard their investments , both when it comes to new projects and existing
“ THE HISTORIC PRACTICES OF ALLOWING MEP CONTRACTORS TO CARRY OUT THEIR OWN TESTING AND
COMMISSIONING IS LIKE ASKING
SCHOOL CHILDREN TO
MARK THEIR OWN EXAM PAPERS ”
– Saeed Al Abbar , Managing Director , AESG
developments . He also believes it will become increasingly necessary for fire and life safety teams to work together with façade teams to ensure that the façade designs themselves follow best practices for fire safety .
“ The façade does present a fire risk for the building ,” says Al Abbar . “ Now there ’ s been a number of highprofile unfortunate incidents , it ’ s come to the fore and created a lot
10 February 2018