5th Meeting of GSO TC17 Convenes in Doha

Doha, April 09 (QNA) - The 5th meeting of the GCC Technical Committee on Sustainable Building Standards (GSO TC17) has convened in Doha. The event was attended by representatives from the Gulf Standardization Organization (GSO), the General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and the national standardization bodies of the GCC member states.

Attended by representatives of the GCC states, alongside a representative from the Republic of Yemen, the deliberations centered on the key priorities for 2025. These included a review of newly proposed Gulf standards falling within the committee's scope of work concerning the sustainability of building design, construction, and operation across all building types.

The meeting reaffirmed the shared commitment of the GCC member states to advancing sustainable development initiatives through collaboration and innovation in a way that meets the aspirations of the Gulf peoples.

The event wrapped up with the Chairman of GORD and head of GSO TC17, Dr. Yousef bin Mohammed Alhorr, emphasizing that GORD has fostered its commitment within the system of GCC states through pursuing numerous standard specifications and technical guidelines pertinent to sustainable buildings aimed at achieving an urban environment that is both enduring and adaptable to climate change.

Having been held in person and virtually at GORD's premises in the Qatar Science and Technology Park, the two-day meeting issued myriad recommendations to adopt a new package of standard specifications and technical guidelines that shall be shared with the member states for further perusal and provision of technical feedback, thereby paving the way for the accomplishment of the remaining essential technical procedures for the approval of the priority standardization projects.

By and large, GSO TC17 is affiliated with GSO and is meant for advancing and adopting standard specifications related to sustainable buildings in the region. The State of Qatar assumes both the chairmanship and secretariat of this committee, which is enjoined to devise and adopt standard specifications for environmentally compatible green buildings, primarily standards that facilitate a reduction in energy consumption by up to 30 percent.

These specifications encompass material properties, technical stipulations, testing methods, and terminology, alongside the formulation of a unified Gulf framework for the requisites and criteria underpinning the evaluation of green buildings.

GORD, on the other hand, is a non-profit institution active in the realm of environmental sustainability across the Middle East and North Africa. It seeks to support the transformation of societies, institutional frameworks, and the built environment toward sustainability, while also bolstering innovation and capacity development to enable low-carbon sustainable growth for present and future generations.

Meanwhile, GSO functions as a regional standardization body comprising the GCC member states, along with the Republic of Yemen. It is enjoined to unify a wide diversity of standardization activities, oversee their implementation, and ensure adherence, in collaboration with the national standardization bodies of the member states. (QNA)