NEW DELHI: Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd. (MLDL) and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) launched the first-ever Centre of Excellence (CoE) to boost energy-efficient real estate in India.

Energy-efficient building stock in India stands at less than 5% today; the CoE will leverage state-of-the art research techniques, tools and performance measurement solutions to boost the development of green buildings in India.

This joint research initiative will focus on developing open-source and science-based solutions for India’s real estate sector.

The CoE will aim at developing a robust and coherent database for market-ready, scalable and energy-efficient materials and technologies. It will also work towards preparing policy briefs for Central and State Ministries to promote ‘green’ development that can transform India’s housing industry and thereby help reduce the country’s carbon footprint.

Research output will be validated on the field prior to dissemination of databases, guidelines and standards to the real estate and building materials industry. The research output, which will be available in the public domain, will aim at wider adoption of its recommendations by developers, architects and individual home owners.

Inaugurating the CoE, Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group, stated, “India has the opportunity to be the world’s largest laboratory for doing things differently – be it the future of urbanisation, or mobility, or climate change. The Mahindra – TERI CoE embodies our focus on sustainability beyond just business – towards creating a larger urban stakeholder ecosystem that can power a transformative ‘green shift’ across India’s cities and towns.”

Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI, emphasised the need for cost effective, greener yet cheaper building technologies and materials suitable to Indian climatic conditions, that also provide better comfort and ensure low energy consumption. He said that the information and knowledge sharing enabled by the Mahindra – TERI Centre of Excellence would facilitate developers to make informed decisions towards resource-efficient designs. Dr. Mathur emphasized that the research undertaken at the CoE would be a huge step towards enabling the developer community to upscale the supply of green buildings.

Anita Arjundas, Managing Director, Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited, added, “As a pioneer of sustainable urban development in India, we believe that lasting and widespread innovation demands a collaborative approach encompassing multiple stakeholder communities. The Mahindra – TERI CoE will positively influence the Indian construction industry to develop innovative and sustainable solutions, thereby building a robust green supply chain ecosystem.”

The CoE will adopt a tiered approach to implement, review and ensure deliverables. A Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), comprising industry leaders and practitioners, will provide technical oversight to research activities.

The newly launched CoE in Gurugram is SVA-GRIHA 5-star rated and incorporates various sustainability principles and design strategies espoused by the CoE.