The Landmark Group office tower in Dubai Marina has received Leed (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Certification from the US Green Building Council in the new construction type category.

There are 15 Leed Platinum and 86 Leed Gold projects in the UAE under various Leed rating systems. Landmark is now among 16 buildings in Dubai who have received Gold Leed Building Design and Construction: New Construction.

The certification under “Leed Building Design and Construction (BD+C): New Construction, Ver 3” was given to Landmark Tower which was designed and constructed as a high-performance building.

Rajesh Garg, the group chief financial officer, said: "The Leed certification is testimony to Landmark Group’s commitment to creating a sustainable environment. As a group, we have undertaken many programmes to further enhance our operating efficiency and to reduce our environmental footprint."

"With the Leed certification, we intend to further implement green practices in every aspect of our operations," he noted.

According to Garg, the tower has an overall carbon footprint savings of 1,332 tonnes per annum. Typical buildings power consumption ranges between 160 Kwh/sq m - 200 Kwh/sq m compared to Landmark's consumption of 113 Kwh/sq m/year.

"Water consumption in the tower is also 40 per cent lower than International Plumbing Council standards. High quality double layered clinical grade MERV 13 filters further improve the air quality as they remove bacteria, allergens and odour used to maintain the indoor air quality," he explained.

Garg pointed out that additional technology to reduce energy consumption included automated lighting controlling systems with daylight harvesting and intelligent elevators with energy regenerative motors.

These have been installed so that as they are being used, the elevators produce energy and feed back in to the building gridm, he stated.

The building has also been constructed keeping in mind accessibility with handicap-friendly measures and dedicated carpool and cycle parking, he added.-TradeArabia News Service