Organo’s Naandi Honoured Twice in WorldGBC Asia Pacific Leadership in Green Building Awards

Singapore, September 6, 2018: Naandi, a 73-villa rural-urban (rurban) eco-community project in Hyderabad, India has won the Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance Award in the residential category and the Advancing Net Zero Special Recognition as part of the World Green Building Council’s (WorldGBC) Asia Pacific Leadership in Green Building Awards. Naandi, a 73-villa rural-urban (rurban) eco-community project in Hyderabad, India has won the Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance Award in the residential category and the Advancing Net Zero Special Recognition as part of the World Green Building Council’s (WorldGBC) Asia Pacific Leadership in Green Building Awards. The biennial awards programme celebrates iconic green buildings, up-and-coming innovators and inspiring companies driving change and creating a better future throughout the Asia Pacific region. Naandi won both the Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance Award in the residential category, an accolade that rewards companies that push boundaries, integrate sustainability into their business models and make an outstanding contribution to a sustainable built environment, and the Advancing Net Zero Special Recognition prize, which highlights projects that have demonstrated an ambitious and holistic solution for achieving net zero operational carbon emissions, in line with the aims of WorldGBC’s Advancing Net Zero project. Organo is a company founded on the idea of environmentally conscious living whose aim for the Naandi project was to make the development a closed loop community by using an innovative credit system for the seven strands of sustainability: Food, Water, Energy, Earth, Air, Shelter and People. The Naandi project has achieved carbon neutrality via the following measures: Solar PV and biogas driven by micro-grid distribution with on-grid support system and a community passive cooling system based on earth-air tunnel draft technology 100% grey-water recycling community, rainwater capturing and responsive hydro-engineering to optimize the site’s natural water cycling performance High degree of self-reliance in food production Enrichment of bio-diverse flora and fauna Community education: training of local craftsmen during construction, training of neighbouring farmers, converting them to organic farming and successfully teaming them as FPOs. Involving local population in delivering community operational services. Create a conducive environment for community members to take part in the local skill development Use of local and sustainable materials for realizing most aspects of the design All parts of the green infrastructure technology have output measured at a fine resolution and have led to adjustments, for example, the move from low tech to higher tech cooling systems; the optimization of the earth-air system; monitoring the recovery of water table across the site and experimental inter and companion-cropping systems. The jurors were Peter Graham, Executive Director, Global Building Performance Network; Prof Christopher John Webster, Dean, Faculty of Architecture, Hong Kong University, and Ar. Jahangir Khan, President, ARCAsia. Award juror Professor Christopher John Webster, Dean, Faculty of Architecture at Hong Kong University said, “Naandi is a truly inspiring project and something of a national and international icon. As impressive as the design and realization itself is the attention to detail, transparency and honesty in collecting performance data, making the data public and responding to them by highly responsive and creative problem-solving. It is a truly world-leading example of sustainable innovation.” Joelle Chen, Regional Head of WorldGBC’s Asia Pacific Network said, “Our Green Building Councils in the Asia Pacific Regional Network work with some of the most pioneering companies and innovators on green building. Organo has demonstrated outstanding leadership in sustainable development. Not only from the innovative and highly contextualized way by which they sought local green building solutions to achieve net zero carbon, but also the way they involved the local craftsmen and community is an exemplar of sustainable living. They have set a high bar for others to follow and are the deserved winners of the Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance Award and the Advancing Net Zero Special Recognition.” Nagesh Battula, Founder of Organo said, “Organo was started to re-establish a conscientious connection with the way we produce and consume resources as a community. Our goal is to create replicable community development models built on triple bottom line success and net-zero thinking. Naandi, our first step towards this direction, has been manifested with all our heart and it gives us immense joy to be recognised at this prestigious global event. This recognition continues to remind us of our core philosophy of Samvriddhi (prosperity for all) and the enormous work that lies ahead - of aligning and collaborating holistically with all stakeholders (community members, neighbours, staff, partners, experts) towards shared prosperity and sustainable growth.” Organo fought off competition from two other finalists in each category to be crowned champions of the Asia Pacific Leadership in Green Building Awards for 2018 at a ceremony hosted by the Singapore Green Building Council, during its annual Gala Dinner in Singapore on Thursday 6 September 2018. Notes to editors: The World Green Building Council’s Asia Pacific Leadership in Green Building Awards are biennial awards, which were first held in 2014. They showcase and celebrate the achievements of companies pushing the envelope on sustainable buildings in the region. Green building projects and companies were nominated by the 15 Green Building Councils which make up the WorldGBC’s Asia Pacific Regional Network. The 2018 winners are: Naandi, India - Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance Award – Residential category; with Special Recognition, Advancing Net Zero Barangaroo South, Australia - Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance Award – Commercial category Aorangi House, New Zealand - Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance Award – Commercial category Green One United Nation House, Vietnam - Leadership in Sustainable Design & Performance Award – Institutional category Swire Properties Limited, Hong Kong - Business Leadership in Sustainability Award; with Special Recognition, Better Places for People Mary Chan, DLN Architects Limited, Hong Kong - Women in Green Building Leadership Award The Leadership in Sustainable Design and Performance Award is presented to pioneering green building projects that set new benchmarks for sustainability. There are three sub-category winners for residential, commercial and institutional buildings. The Business Leadership in Sustainability Award rewards companies that push boundaries, integrate sustainability into their business models and make an outstanding contribution to a sustainable built environment. The Women in Green Building Leadership Award is a new award for 2018 presented to an inspiring female leader in the green building movement. In a traditionally male-dominated industry, WorldGBC wants to recognise the pivotal role that women play in nurturing and activating their communities and delivering change. This year, to reflect the growing momentum of the World Green Building Council’s global projects Advancing Net Zero and Better Places for People, the awards included recognitions for businesses and projects that have gone above and beyond. The Advancing Net Zero Special Recognition highlights projects that have demonstrated an ambitious and holistic solution to achieving net zero operational carbon emissions; and the Better Places for People Special Recognition spotlights companies that have truly embraced health and wellbeing practices. Green building projects and companies were nominated by the 15 Green Building Councils which make up the WorldGBC’s Asia Pacific Regional Network. The 16 finalists were announced in July 2018. (Business Wire India)