Sabah Art Gallery Strives to Go Green

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry hopes to see the state Art Gallery Conservation Centre to be the first Green Building Index (GBI) certified building in the state when it is completed.

The RM16 million state-funded project commenced on July 1 last year and is slated for completion on Dec 28, 2011, but the project is currently seven percent behind schedule due to the weather and might face one to three months delay.

Masidi said Sabah Art Gallery, which is temporarily sited at Sabah Museum, is expected to move into the new building within two to three months after its completion.

The building will have four levels with 33,000 square feet of space, and will house a conservation and artwork storage, exhibition galleries, office, a library and meeting facilities, among others. 

Read more on: http://borneocolours.com/component/content/article/59-news/3071-sabah-art-gallery-strives-to-go-green

Green Sabah says: It is good to hear that Sabah will have its own first Green Building Index (GBI) certified building soon. Although the project is a bit behind the schedule, we just hope that everything will be well. The Art Gallery Conservation Centre is a good place to promote the artworks of our talented artists besides conserving them. This place will be one of the tourism attraction in the future and also can be art education centre for the students. It's interesting isn't it?

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Sabah developers interested on green buildings

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah developers are keen to participate in green building development after getting a clearer picture of the costs involved.

Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association president Datuk Susan Wong said it was ready to promote and en-courage green building development which would save on energy and other costs in the long run.

“Green building involves all sorts of technology. For example, heat can be reduced considerably with the orientation of a building to avoid facing the sun and with large windows,” said Wong.

At the recent opening of the International Property Exhibition, Wong had called for a reduction in Green Building Index (GBI) certification fees.

Yesterday, however, she said the fees were fair, adding that she was initially misguided on the GBI certification fee formula and that the RM5,000 and above charge were for bungalows.

Wong said the fee for a typical 172 sq meters double-storey terrace house was as low as RM100.

“For development of 1,000 units of double-storey terrace houses, the fee would be as low as RM65 per unit. For a 500-unit housing development, the GBI certification fee is RM90 per unit while the fee is RM200 each for those between 50 to 100 units,” she said.

She said developers in the state were keen to have their projects certified as green buildings due to the growing demand. 

 

Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/5/15/nation/20110515093346&sec=nation

 

Green Sabah says: Developers must be well-informed with the advantages of green building in order to promote green building development. Besides imposing the GBI certification fee, there should be an approach for green roof as well.

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