BAHRAIN is among the countries with the highest energy consumption rates and greenhouse gas emissions per capita, according to international studies.
The reports attribute the pattern to extremely high summer temperatures, poorly designed buildings, significant reliance on fossil fuels for energy production, severe water scarcity and the expansion of buildings due to population growth, rapid urbanisation, industrialisation and commercialisation.
Bahrain University engineering college architecture and design department lecturer Dr Dalia Shams’ paper, entitled ‘Using Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation to assess the sustainability of New Educational Building Designs’, cites the international reports, dated 2021, highlighting that when combined with the kingdom’s fast-growing educational sector and subsequent building expansion, attention to sustainable designs is called for.
Additionally, no index has been specifically developed to assess the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability in buildings in Bahrain.
As part of her research, conducted under the supervision of the university’s architecture and urbanism associate professor and quality assurance and accreditation director Dr Fay Alkhalifa, Dr Shams designed the Sustainability Building Assessment Tool (SBAT) to assess the sustainability of educational building designs to ensure more economically, environmentally and socially viable structures in the kingdom.
MS rankings of the indicators
The analytical tool comprises 21 critical indicators, which are assessed during the design phase to ascertain to what extent the design is ‘sustainable’.
“I was researching on sustainability within buildings and discovered international standards, which might not be suitable for all countries. It is ideal to have an assessment tool for every country or at least every region,” Dr Shams, who attained her PhD in engineering management from Bahrain University this year, told the GDN.
“In any country, residential buildings are the main ones but there were already many papers discussing that so I decided to focus on educational buildings.
“I got the mostly repeated indicators from all these standards and selected the ones more related to educational buildings and to the design stage because I was creating a tool to help the designers,” the Sanad resident added.
Dr Shams shortlisted the indicators based on an extensive study of numerous international sustainable building rating systems and literature. They are categorised under three criteria: Site and Transportation, which can be used to identify suitable site locations for educational buildings and assess site designs; Health and Wellbeing, which focuses on the internal environment like ventilation and lighting; and Resources and Materials, which takes into account energy and water conservation strategies and material efficiency.
An online survey was conducted as part of the study, where 364 built environment professionals and academics ranked the indicators in order of local importance, which decided their weightage in the index. For instance, Security and Safety ranked first and Recycled and Reused Material came last.
During the design phase, the indicators will be assessed on a five-point scale, with one being ‘not fulfilled’ and five being ‘very fulfilled’ and based on specific calculations thereafter, it can be ascertained up to what percentage the design is accommodating the SBAT.
Dr Shams
Dr Shams’ paper cited a report by UN Environment Programme, dated 2021, which highlighted that, globally, buildings are responsible for 36 per cent of the energy utilised and 37pc of the energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.
In Bahrain, attention to educational buildings is essential, as it constitutes a pivotal sector in the kingdom’s economic development strategy, the paper highlighted.
Additionally, expanding urbanisation and population growth, the increase in international education in Bahrain, and the need for new educational buildings to replace the old has led to an enormous expansion in structures, resulting in a rapid increase in energy and resource demand, thereby necessitating an urgent solution.
The SBAT offers scope for change at the design level, which is optimal and saves costs.
Bahrain is committed to the UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs), with sustainability being one of the fundamental principles upon which the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030 is based.
Last month, Sustainable Development assistant under-secretary Dana Hamzah participated in a summit on ‘A Sustainable, Inclusive and Resilient Global Economy: Implementing Commitments of Financing Development’ in New York, on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly High-Level Week, where she highlighted the country’s pioneering steps in financing sustainable development.
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