نظرة عامة

Economic Benefits of Adoption to Sustainability Practices

Benefits as Direct Savings on Resources

Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) Outline

• Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) is developed by GORD through several years of intense collaboration with the TC Chan Centre at the University of Pennsylvania, and School of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA and other reputed houses of expertise.
• GSAS was developed by drawing best practices adopted from 40 different rating systems known regionally and internationally.
• Primary objective of GSAS is to create a sustainable built environment that minimizes ecological impact while addressing the specific social and cultural needs and environment of the region.
• GSAS is the Middle East’s first integrated and performancebased sustainability assessment system for the built environment. The systematic assessment method is applied seamlessly from the macro to a micro scales encompassing urban design, infrastructure and buildings levels.

GSAS Development Process

Advantages of GSAS Approach

• Ground-up Approach

  Seamless integration between sustainability practices and regional requirements.

• Best Mix

  Combines the best features from the world’s most established sustainability rating systems.

• Performance-based

  A quantifiable and result-oriented rather than feature-oriented approach.

• Flexible

  Individual components are adaptable to any project of any scale without compromising the system integrity.

• Control

  Affords complete control over the development, customisation, deployment and future modifications or expansion of the rating system based on any set of specific requirements.

System Framework

GSAS Goals

Goals define values to be achieved to lower urbanization impacts on the environment and improves human well-being

[UC] The building’s planning shall incorporate urban considerations

[S] The building’s development in relation to the existing site conditions shall be controlled.

[E] The building’s depletion of fossil energy over its service life shall be controlled.

[W] The building’s impact on the overall water resource shall be controlled.

[M] The impact of the building’s use of materials on the environment shall be controlled.

[IE] The building’s indoor environment shall be controlled.

[CE] The building’s cultural and economic value shall be maintained or enhanced.

[MO] The building’s management and operations plan shall be defined.

8 GSAS Categories

[UC] Urban Connectivity

Consists of factors associated with the urban environment such as zoning, transportation networks and loadings. Loadings on the urban environment include traffic congestion and air, noise, and light pollution.

[S] Site

Consists of factors associated with land use such as land conservation or remediation and site selection, planning and development.

[E] Energy

Consists of factors associated with the energy demand of buildings, the efficiency of energy delivery, and the use of fossil energy sources that result in harmful emissions and pollution.

[W] Water

Consists of factors associated with water consumption and its associated burden on municipal supply and treatment systems.

8 GSAS Categories (2)

[M] Materials

Consists of factors associated with materials extraction, processing, manufacturing,distribution, use/re-use, and disposal.

[IE] Indoor Enviroment

Consists of factors associated with indoor environmental quality such as thermal comfort and air, acoustic, and light quality.

[CE] Culural & Economic Value

Consists of factors associated with cultural conservation and support of the local economy.

[MO] Management & operations

Consists of factors associated with building design management and operations, such as sub metering of energy usage, leak detection, and commissioning.

GSAS Categories & Weights

The comprehensive GSAS rating system measures and evaluates every project on eight key aspects or categories that have a direct impact on environmental stress mitigation. Each Category is assigned a weight based on Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The categories are then broken down into specific criteria that measure and define these individual issues. A score is then awarded to each criterion based on the level of compliance.

GSAS Criteria Commercial

GSAS Criteria Districts

System Weighting Methodology