The green building movement has gathered pace with its registered base recently crossing the magical 3 billion sq ft mark. With this milestone, India has become the second-largest country with such a large footprint after the US.

The CII Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), which has pioneered the concept since the setting up of the first platinum-rated green building, the CII Green Building Centre in the IT hub of Hyderabad in 2003, is now seeking to make it more relevant for ordinary citizens.

S. Raghupathy, Executive Director of CII-IGBC, told BusinessLine, “We are evolving a code for affordable housing. There is a perception that green buildings are only meant for those flush with funds. We are seeking to break that perception. The idea is to ensure that even affordable projects are able to have a proper green building at say ?1,000 to ?1,200 per sq ft of built up space.”

According to Prem C Jain, Chairman of IGBC, even the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has plans to adopt IGBC recommendations in their guidelines for design, construction and maintenance of affordable housing............Read more

Source web page: The Hindu