Which are "green" buildings in Serbia?

The Technology (IT) Park in Indjija was presented by Jelena Vitasovic from the company Mace, which participates in the project as an adviser, in association with the project bureau Arhipro, for the investor Embassy Techzones. She explained certain "green building" solutions and strategies applied by domestic experts to the complex of four separate buildings.

Water is saved by using rain water for flushing the toilets and watering the green areas, while the use of a "drop by drop" system and planting of autochthonous plants reduce the need for watering and artificial fertilizers. Users are guaranteed comfort thanks to individual light and temperature controls.

Offices will be lit by a natural light, while roofs and hard surfaces are specially processed in order not to absorb heat, thus less heating the environment. The artificial lighting is such that it does not pollute the environment and sky by its light, meaning that it does not endanger nocturnal animals and birds. Of course, the project also includes cooling, heating and venting systems in accordance with the energy efficiency needs.

Special attention is also paid to the materials used. The list of materials to be used in the construction includes a certified wood, materials with a low emission of volatile organic compounds that are damaging to people's health, as well as materials with recycled contents. It is also made sure that the project uses regional materials found in the radius of 800 km to the fullest possible extent in order to reduce energy consumption and pollution caused by transport.

In addition to three aforementioned companies, which are all members of the Green Building Council of Serbia, Energo Energy Efficiency Engineering, one of the founders and promoters of the Council, also participates in the IT Park project as a consultant for the LEED process.

The building of the U.S. Embassy, which is already under construction in Belgrade, was presented by Project Director Irving Fontaine. The guests of the round table were able to see the exclusive images of the embassy building, which should host 400 users once completed, as well as water, energy and material saving solutions that are characteristic for green buildings.

Aside from talking about the project, he also spoke about the efforts of the U.S. government to apply sustainable solutions to all facilities financed from the budget. Accordingly, all government buildings must possess a LEED Gold certification for their green building design.

Just like the previous lecturer, Fontaine pointed to the importance of planned and controlled starting of all systems within these buildings (commissioning). In that way, it is guaranteed that a building has all consumption and quality characteristics listed in the project.

The other important factor of "green buildings" is the education of users, which should ensure correct use and maintenance of buildings, because the initial green characteristics would without the right management stop producing a real effect, which is why the green building standards define strategies for the period of use of facilities.

The new headquarters of Banca Intesa was presented by Miroslav Zivkovic, head of the Property Management Service. This project is also registered for certification by LEED protocol for green buildings, while special attention is paid to the comfort of users and creation of an inspiring working environment in the center of New Belgrade.

(the future look of Banca Intesa's headquarters)

The round table was also attended by Jean-Luc Saporito, a special guest from abroad and a representative of the company Prologis, which runs the properties worth over USD 44 billion. He presented a logistics center built near Torino in Italy, which already received a LEED Gold certification and became the first certified green building in Italy. Speaking about his experiences and problems he experienced while preparing the project for certification, he said the following:

- We had to make sure that the contractor would respect everything we planned in order to receive a LEED certification. That is why the tender documentation read that the contractor for the job worth about EUR 5 million would have to pay EUR 2 million fines if the points we counted on were lost due to the contractor's errors in the process of construction and certification.

"Green building" increases the value of a building by 7.5 percent, reduces operational costs by 8 percent, cuts the emission of CO2 by 30 percent, water consumption by 40 percent, electricity consumption by up to 50 percent, while the quantity of waste is reduced by 70 percent. Tenants and users of "green" buildings are healthier and happier, but they are also freed from paying a significant share of costs, both direct (energy, water) and indirect ones (better productivity, better health condition, etc.).