JEDDAH – The GCC projects industry is taking sustainability seriously, making it a key component in developing some of the region's most notable and recognizable projects. Among these projects include Oman-based Octal, the world's largest producer of PET resin and sheet on a single site and a global leader in the packaging industry; the UAE's Siemens Head Office Project owned by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (nominated by Al Fara'a Contracting Group) and the King Saud University (KSU) Girls Campus Project owned by the King Saud University (nominated by Schneider Electric Saudi Arabia). These projects were recently shortlisted for the Lafarge Sustainable Project of the Year category of the 2013 MEED Quality Awards for Projects, in association with Ernst & Young, the only GCC-wide awards program that recognizes completed quality projects. The regional awards will be announced at the annual MEED Quality Awards for Projects, in association with Ernst & Young, on May 14, 2013 at the Jumeirah at Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi. OCTAL's sustainable operations use groundbreaking technology and proprietary production methods to produce PET resin and PET sheet to achieve the lowest carbon footprint in the world. Using the company's, unique-to-the-world direct-to-sheet process, DPETTM technology, OCTAL has eliminated five energy-intensive stages of the conventional sheet production process. With this unique technology, and compared to conventional technologies, OCTAL's production process consumes 65 percent less purchased electricity and 28 percent less thermal energy, resulting in 18 percent lower global warming potential and a 30 percent lower cradle-to-gate environmental footprint. The unprecedented environmental advantages of DPETTM has encouraged local, regional and international heavyweights to use OCTAL's proprietary packaging material, creating a ripple effect that gradually reduces the global carbon footprint of the packaging industry. Impact on local water resources is also minimized with 100 percent of the water used derived from urban wastewater. Eighty percent of the water is then recovered and recycled in the manufacturing system or used to irrigate the green belt of predominately native plants around the facility. “Sustainability has and always will rank high in our technology selection and process design and to be recognized by the MEED Quality Awards for Projects is a testament to our transparent and forward-thinking approach. We believe that the purpose of business is to create a better world which is why we built a packaging materials company that is committed to far-reaching sustainability goals,” said Nicholas Barakat, CEO, OCTAL. "Lafarge Group believes that sustained economic growth cannot occur without social progress, environmental protection and respect for local communities. We want to play our part in the improvement of towns and cities, helping people to access better quality housing at a cost they can afford, with a lesser impact on nature. With a true belief in innovation, Lafarge has established the world's largest R&D center of its kind and has dedicated a serious budget to develop innovative products and solutions to support our stakeholders' needs. Lafarge commends these outstanding projects from Oman, the UAE and Saudi Arabia for making a commitment to formulate sustainability as a solid part of their respective projects from the onset and hope that this will be the norm for the construction industry as a whole. Lafarge is delighted to be a part of a program that recognizes sustainable projects which contribute to building better cities throughout the region. I would like to congratulate the finalists for their achievements, ‘building projects to the benefit of the living environments that surround us all',” said Ahmad Heshamt, CEO, Lafarge GCC. Other categories being contested in the 2013 MEED Quality Awards for Projects, in association with Ernst & Young, include: Mashreq Oil & Gas Project of the Year, Industrial Project of the Year, Power and Water Desalination Project of the Year, Water Reuse Project of the Year, Leisure and Tourism Project of the Year, Transport Project of the Year, Social Project of the Year, Building Project of the Year, and Small Project of the Year. Thirty of the highest quality projects in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have already been declared National Winners in the first phase of judging; and are now competing for the regional awards. – SG
