Emirates Green Building Council has announced the inaugural EGBC Awards to honour excellence in sustainable built environments and to recognise innovative ideas that contribute to a ‘green' construction sector in the UAE and the Middle East and North Africa region.

Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC) is an independent forum aimed at conserving the environment by strengthening and promoting green building practices.

The first EGBC Awards will be presented in eight categories with seven honours for organisations that demonstrate clear implementation of sustainable design, construction and operation of buildings or structures. One award, the Dr Owainati Student Award, will be presented to university students for innovative and inspiring ideas that will contribute to sustainable development in the construction and building industry.

Adnan Sharafi, EmiratesGBC Chairman, said: "Across the Middle East and North Africa region, the construction sector is placing greater emphasis on sustainability, in line with the development goals of governments that focus on the environment and efficient use of energy resources. This is particularly reflected in the ‘green economy for sustainable development' strategy announced by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai."

"Over the past years, EmiratesGBC has been aggressively promoting awareness on creating sustainable built environments, and we see tangible results in the strong interest of stakeholders and implementation across the construction and building sector supply chain. We are therefore introducing the EGBC Awards to honour these green champions and inspire them and others to continue the good work they do for the benefit of the environment, community and future generations. The objective of the Awards is to also create a strong benchmark against which green best practices can be evaluated and measured," he added.

The inaugural EGBC Awards will be presented in the following categories: Operational Green Building Award; Carbon Savings/Reduction Programme of the Year Award; Green Building System Award; Green Building Material/Product Award; Green Building Research Award; Training Initiative of the Year Award; Refurbishment of the Year Award; and the Dr Owainati Student Award.

The awards effectively cover every aspect of green building development – from design consideration for new buildings to retrofitting older buildings as well as new research on environment-friendly buildings. "With buildings accounting for a large component of energy use as well as greenhouse gas emissions, incorporating sustainable building practices is imperative for reducing the ecological footprint and promoting energy use efficiency. EGBC Awards will therefore honour best practices across the industry supply chain," explained Mr. Sharafi.

Submissions for the awards can be made online at: http://emiratesgbc.org/congress/congress-awards; last date for submissions is October 10, 2013. The site also provides more details and submission requirements.

The award winners will be announced at the second annual EmiratesGBC Congress to be held in December 2013.