The Rating System: Habitat in Points

The concept of green building that is so popular in the world has not received proper recognition in Russia. We have almost no certified buildings, and until recently there was no national green standard or rating system of building assessment. At the moment there are two certification systems and the new green building National Standard in the country. We asked the president of the Independent Association “AVOK”, the associate member of the Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences, Head of the Moscow Institute of Architecture Department, professor Yuri Tabunschikov to dwell on whether these systems are going to be in demand and how to encourage their further development.

Professor Tabunschikov, how can one determine whether a building is green?

So far many people do not understand what a green building is. What is it? Is it a new type of construction or a rating system of habitat assessment? In fact, I strongly believe that this is a rating system. The idea of how to build as cheaply as possible and to sell at the highest price possible is eternal. It is clear how one can build cheaply: we are always building something but we do not fully understand why they sell at a much higher price. For instance, an apartment is for sale, but we seldom know whether there is parking in the building or if the designers applied green technologies. The rating system is created for the investor or the buyer to understand what they get. In other words, certain criteria are established and according to them, the building receives a grade – let’s say A, B, C, D; then it becomes clear what class this or that building belongs to.

Such systems exist in practically all countries of the world; and they are familiar to everyone. First of all, they are surely LEED, BREEAM and DGNB. But we need to have our own rating system because it must take into account the conditions we have in Russia. If such a system is being developed in an African country, it is water saving that is considered in the first place. In Europe they are now actively engaged in energy efficiency and the implementation of alternative energy sources - so there they will consider these factors as top priority. I am in no way trying to diminish the importance of LEED and other international systems that have many reference books written on how to achieve high performance, how to design a building, how to preserve the environment, but we need to have our own system.

What are Russian architects doing to create the rating system?

We have created a system that satisfied the requirements of the National Construction Union. It includes ten categories that take into account the comfort and quality of the environment, the quality of the architecture and design, the comfort and the ecology of the internal environment, the reasonability of water consumption, etc. And I can tell you that anyone can in fact create such a system if one spends on its development a year, as we did it. But there are things that can only be done by professionals, for instance, to summarize all indicators that concern energy efficiency, water consumption, the quality of the internal environment, and etc., starting from what they should be and how they are supposed to change. They should also be able to define how many points the building will receive if it complies with a certain criterion. In other words, you will get some points for a certain level of energy efficiency and different points for a lower level of energy efficiency. This is what makes the rating system value.

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Interviewed by Alevtina Sorokina