The Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC) has extended the deadline for submissions to its annual MENA Green Building Awards to February 15. For the 2018 edition of the awards, the organising committee added four new professional categories catering to specific design and building elements, said a statement.

This year, the MENA Green Building Awards are endorsed by the World Green Building Council and is being organised in partnership with the Jordan Green Building Council and Lebanon Green Building Council. Additional participation is from the Palestine Green Building Council, Egypt Green Building Council, Kuwait Green Building Council and, for the first time, the Morocco Green Building Council.

“Recognising organisations in the region for their innovative and outstanding sustainable building principles and practices is extremely important to sustain the momentum as well as inspire their innovations for a greener future. The submissions that we have received for the awards have not only increased in number, but also the standards and quality are much higher signifying a shift in how the industry is implementing sustainable building practices. This has prompted us to expand the awards this year and include more categories as well as reach out to additional Green Building Councils from the region to create a larger platform that delivers meaningful change,” stated Saeed Al Abbar, chairman of EmiratesGBC.

Covering new buildings and retrofits as well as green products and services, the 19 professional award categories this year are: Green Building of the Year in six sub-categories: Commercial, Hotel, School, Residential, Public Building and Healthcare Building; Sustainable Building Design of the Year; Sustainable Urban/Community Development Design of the Year; Facility Management Organisation of the Year; Contractor of the Year; Developer of the Year: Green Building Material/Product: Energy Management, Indoor Air Quality, Conventional Construction Materials & Water Management; Green Building Research Award; Retrofit Project of the Year; Best Operations & Maintenance (existing buildings); and Training Initiative of the Year.

The short-listed applicants will be notified on April 19 and the winners will be announced at a gala dinner and awards ceremony to be held at Roda Al Murooj Downtown Dubai, on May 9. The awards will be audited by KPMG.