The first eco-friendly green business centre in the country - CII-Godrej Green Business Centre building in Hyderabad - is expected to be ready for occupation by October this year.
GBC, which has been registered with the United States Green Building Council for the rating under LEED (leadership in energy & environment design programme), has been trying to get the platinum rating reserved for green buildings.
The first LEED review for the building was over as the second review is expected to the held in September.
The only two buildings, which have achieved the platinum rating, are Chesaplake Bay Foundation Building at Washington and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
In all probability, the GBC will be the third such building in the world.
The GBC project is a joint initiative of Andhra Pradesh government, Godrej and the Confederation of Indian Industry with the United States Agency for International Development providing technical support.
The green features of the building include the use of eco-friendly fly ash bricks, fly ash cement, roof gardens, rain-water harvesting, water recycling techniques, wind towers, CFC free air-conditioning system, energy efficiency lighting system and on-site renewable energy generation through solar photo voltaic cells.
While Andhra Pradesh offered five acres of land free of cost for constructing the building, Godrej contributed Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million) for the construction, which started in August 2002.
The CII took on the role of overall coordination and implementation of all the activities of the centre. Some of the infrastructural facilities in the building are being provided by the USAID under their global development alliance programme.
The building is located at Madhapur village, about 1 km away from the hi-tech city.
The idea of establishing a green business centre was first proposed by the Confederation of Indian Industry when the former president of the United States Bill Clinton visited India in March 2000.
The idea was also reflected in the joint statement by the Indian and American governments on energy and environment.
Later, CII signed an agreement with the United States Energy Association for setting up a joint Indo-US private sector working group on clean energy and environment.
In line with the goal and objective of global development alliance (USAID's new business model designed to increase its effectiveness), CII proposed to start a project titled 'Establishing Green Business Centre in India.'
Prior to starting the construction, the CII took a delegation - which included the architect - to the US to see similar buildings in the country.
The construction of a green building requires an orchestrated effort on the part of the architect, builder, consultants and equipment suppliers.
All these strategic partners were trained on the concept of green building before starting the construction.
"This is a unique model of the public-private partnership," said Jamshyd N Godrej, chairman and managing director of Godrej and Boyce Manufacturing Co Ltd.
"GBC will be a centre of excellence for energy, environment and climate change activities in India," he said.
Meanwhile Raghupathy, senior advisor to CII on GBC said, "CII was keen to initiate green activities for the benefit of Andhra Pradesh and the nation at large. The CII felt that it should help its members to adopt clean energy and environment friendly solutions, since green initiative by corporates would have multiple benefits."
"The CII also felt that by adopting green concepts, industry can enhance its competitiveness and at the same time provide the benefits of clean air and healthy environment to the community," he added.
The motivation behind such an idea, according to Raghupathy, was "to demonstrate the concept so that the industry, government and other institutions would be sensitised to take up similar constructions although the concept of green building is still nascent in India."
"The construction of this building is different from other buildings in the sense that it is a model demonstration of energy efficiency and eco-friendly features," he said.
To the question whether the building would remain only as a demonstration piece, Godrej said, "The building will house the professionals and staff of CII-Godrej GBC. Various activities that will be offered from the centre are world-class energy efficiency, facilitating construction of green buildings, green audits, a technology centre, and green business incubation. The centre will also have a world-class information centre."
Godrej admitted that the construction of such a green building is costlier to the extent of 10-20 per cent, depending on the level of rating that one applies for, viz, LEED certified silver, gold and platinum.
For example, a simple LEED certified building is costlier by 6-8 per cent, while, a platinum rated building would be costlier by 15-20 per cent.
Though the initial cost is slightly higher, the economic benefits in terms of the operating cost are attractive and the investment will pay back in 2-5 years.
Besides, the builders say that "there are also intangible benefits like improved air quality, enhanced productivity of the occupants, lower absenteeism and above all a green corporate image."
According to CII, the construction of the building "has enthused many corporates" and some of them who are showing interest to register for the LEED rating include the ITC Group, Noida Power Distribution Company, ICICI and others.
