Ras Al Khaimah Municipality has launched green building regulations “Barjeel”. This will make RAK the third emirate in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, to promote sustainability in the built environment. Barjeel, meaning wind tower, is a traditional architecture and it is often attributed as unique to the Arabian gulf.
Part of Ras al Khaimah energy efficiency and renewable energy strategy 2040, through “Barjeel” green building regulations, RAK Municipality aims to reduce energy consumption in new buildings by 30%. The participation in the “Barjeel” program is voluntary under the current phase I. However, to promote and encourage the participation, the RAK municipality is providing financial incentives in the form of reduced building permits.
Air leakage tests has been included for energy efficiency under fundamental green building regulations as well as comprehensive green building regulations. Hence this test would be applicable for government funded private villas and investment villas. Under the comprehensive green building regulations, the air leakage test would be applicable to the projects comprising of residential buildings, hospitality, commercial and public buildings.
The Barjeel regulations also offer guidelines for progressive sampling to test only a few samples for the projects comprising of identical multiple investment or government funded villas. This provides a flexibility to the stakeholders by learning the issues in one building and copying the remedies to the other buildings as well.
As part of the regulations it is required to submit the cross-section drawings of air barrier and extract of tender specifications or BOQ highlighting air leakage test requirement at design stage and actual air leakage test report at construction stage.
References
Barjeel – Ras Al Khaimah Green Building Regulations. Version 1, [online]. [Accessed on March. 2019]. Available at: http://www.mun.rak.ae/Documents/EER/Barjeel%20-%20Green%20Building%20Regulations.pdf
Amruta, K 2019, Barjeel- The New Green Building Regulations For Ras Al Khaimah, accessed 28 March 2019, <http://www.sustainabilitytribe.com/barjeel-the-new-green-building-regulations-for-ras-al-khaimah/>
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