Qatalum is a founding member of the Council, and as one of the leading companies in the region in advocacy for green buildings, Qatalum was a key member at this distinguished event. The Annual Appreciation Dinner is held by the Council to celebrate the achievements, acknowledge and appreciate the members’ commitment and contribution in making the year a success.
The alignment of the aims of the QGBC with those of Qatalum explains why the company was a key part of the Council’s founding. The QGBC aims to increase awareness and knowledge of green building practices, building capacity of industry professionals through on-going professional development and research. Its efforts extend to supporting the adoption, legislation & implementation of green building practice & standards.
As a founding member (and with Qatalum DCEO Khalid Mohammed Laram as a QGBC board member), Qatalum seeks to play a pro-active and industry-leading role in the promotion of renewable energy, sustainable building, and the policy environment conducive to those goals.
The company’s research and innovation is shared; Qatalum works with industry experts and authorities to research current practices and identify knowledge gaps and opportunities for improvement and innovation in Qatar’s built environment; and Qatalum works with experts to define a set of environmental and green building best practice guidelines based on recognized practices and systems.
Qatalum also believes in creating a green building and sustainability culture within the industry and the community, through education and communication and providing the industry professionals with expert training on sustainability and green building practices. This also means creating awareness in the community about the benefits, opportunities and practices of sustainability – and actively involving the community as participants and stakeholders in the sustainable growth of the country while promoting human, social and economic growth at the individual and community levels.
Much of this work done internally can be seen in Qatalum’s inaugural 2011 Sustainability Report. Entitled “Our Sustainable Journey”, the report detailed the company’s approach, perspective and progress on several sustainability indicators, in line with the vision of the QGBC.
The importance of green building is seen throughout, but the report details specific measures taken to mitigate Qatalum’s ecological footprint. The report argues that the company’s operations “emphasise efficiency as the first method of achieving environmental protection: greater efficiency will lead to ‘greener’ operations”. Innovation in design, engineering and architecture – the central focus of the QGBC, is a central part of this - as is water conservation and waste management, with sharing of techniques and guidelines to minimise water consumption and manage all types of waste produced by Qatalum’s operations and facilities.
At the end of the Dinner, DCEO Khalid Mohammed Laram said: “One of things we in Qatalum’s management team are most proud of is our key role in setting up the QGBC, and to see how it has developed since. Innovation and sharing of best practice in green building technologies, regulations, investment and materials is so important for Qatar and Qatalum alike. We are therefore delighted to be here, to have the chance to share ideas with other stakeholders and to learn how the Aluminium industry can better incorporate these innovations into our work”.
