ALSAYER Earns GSAS Platinum Certification for State-of-the-art Fahaheel Service Center

19 Apr 2021

Towards Excellence in Sustainable Operations

Monitoring energy, Recycling waste & Maintaining optimum indoor environmental quality.

Aligning with the strategy to build an environment towards a sustainable future – a goal that also aligns with New Kuwait Vision 2035, ALSAYER Group’s Fahaheel Service Center in Kuwait has been awarded with Platinum rating for GSAS Operations Certification by the Gulf Organization for Research & Development (GORD).

Dr. Yousef Alhorr, Founding Chairman of GORD said, “We congratulate ALSAYER Group for lifting the bar yet again. The achievement represents their organizational commitment in line with the country’s growing appetite for environmentally responsible infrastructure. With GSAS Operations Certification, ALSAYER has demonstrated environmental leadership beyond construction and design. On a national level, the initiative is paving the path for others to follow suit.”

Speaking about the recent certification and ALSAYER’s efforts to promote sustainable environment, Mr. Mohamed Naser Al-Sayer, Executive Board Member and Chairman of Sustainability Committee at ALSAYER Group said “As part of our mission to achieve the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 in line with Kuwait National Development Plan 2035, ALSAYER Group Holding has been specially focused on designing and implementing coherent and balanced sustainable initiatives & taking serious actions toward optimizing its energy consumption, increase production of Solar Energy, minimizing its water use and wastewater & Waste Recycling on company buildings. I believe it’s our responsibility to promote awareness on sustainability internally and externally.”

Despite the challenges posed by the global pandemic, the future of green building development in the MENA region continues to look promising.

GSAS Operations certification was awarded in recognition of implementing sustainable measures such as:

• Capitalizing on the region’s abundant sunlight, the building’s roof houses a solar PV system with the capacity to generate 100 kW that is sufficient to meet 5% of the building’s annual energy needs. 
• Similarly, the building benefits from highly efficient glazing with double tinted glass and spacing inside.
• It boasts of variable refrigerant flow (VRF) cooling system. Fans delivering fresh and exhaust air to the building are also energy efficient, and so are the LED lighting fixtures across the facility.
• MEP systems within the building are continuously monitored to ensure energy efficiency.
• To reduce water consumption, the building is equipped with low-flow fixtures.
• In addition to above, sorting waste at the source and facilitating the recycling of paper, engine oil and scrap metals, ALSAYER Service Center is diverting a significant amount of waste from landfills.

In the past, other important projects of ALSAYER Group that has achieved GSAS Operations with Platinum rating are:  ALSAYER Head Office 1 in Free Trade Zone and ALSAYER Showroom located in Aswaq Al Qurain, Kuwait. Beyond the project, ALSAYER Group has also initiated an environmental policy with KPIs and is arranging awareness campaigns about sustainability for the local community in Kuwait.

The Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) is MENA’s first performance-based green buildings certification system aimed at improving the design, construction and operations of buildings while also addressing sustainability challenges specific to the region’s built environment. To date, more than 1000 buildings in addition to tens of parks, neighborhoods and districts infrastructure projects have been registered with GSAS, covering a built-up area of more than 229,272,241 square feet and 1.7 billion square feet of district master planning.

GSAS Operations (GSAS-OP) is one of the three certifications under GSAS framework. Specifically meant for post-occupancy stage, the certification is designed to recognize a project’s achievement in terms of sustainable operational practices. Unlike GSAS Design & Build and GSAS Construction Management, GSAS Operations deals with the environmental footprint of projects in post-construction stage. Accordingly, the achievements of projects are acknowledged through five certification ratings i.e., Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond with Diamond representing the highest score. This has meant that Al Sayer’s projects have achieved the second highest rating.