Abu Dhabi's Urban Planning Council has awarded Pearl-Qualified Professional (PQP) credentials to 186 candidates after they completed the Pearl Rating Systems (PRS) training programme and exam.

The newly PQP-qualified professionals, primarily architects, engineers and urban planners, can now officially apply the PRS for communities or buildings to assist in facilitating the certification process of each development and providing quality assurance to documents prior to application submission for planning and building permit approval from the UPC.

Estidama, the Arabic word for sustainability, is a sustainable programme designed specifically for the hot climate and arid environment of the Middle East region, and regulated by Abu Dhabi's Urban Planning Council. The Pearl Rating System, one of the first initiatives of the Estidama programme, is a framework for sustainable design, construction and operation of communities, buildings and villas. Since September 2010, the Pearl Rating System has been incorporated into the planning approval and permitting processes for all new projects in the emirate.

A number of these PQP-qualified professionals will come together at the 5th Annual Cost-Effective Sustainable Design & Construction Middle East, along with representatives from Abu Dhabi's Urban Planning Council, Department of Municipal Affairs and Masdar City; to evaluate how effectively the PRS regulations have been incorporated and received by the construction sector six months after Estidama hit the market.

Gary Moss, director of specialist services at Davis Langdon will host a specialised workshop at this event for architects and consultants to help measure the true cost of a building project in terms of its sustainability. Life Cycle Costing is a critical aspect of sustainable building projects and must be carried out in order to achieve relevant Estidama credits. Davis Langdon are experts in their field and worked closely with the UPC to develop the relevant Estidama credits.

Nizar Kamouna, senior project manager at KEO Consultants, a PQP qualified professional who has personal experience of applying the PRS to a project, has put together an interactive, hands-on workshop that will benefit stakeholders throughout the supply chain in order to pass on his commercially viable solutions for shared challenges associated with the regulations.

In association with the Emirates Green Building Council, Lebanon Green Building Council and United Nations Environment Programme, IQPC Middle East will be hosting this summit at Le Royal Meridien in Abu Dhabi from May 22 to 25.-TradeArabia News Service