With the launch of Blue Gold, the European Water Partnership (EWP) is creating a communication platform for the EWP, its members, the European water community, stakeholders and those interested in water at large.
Blue Gold is in important tool in achieving EWP's mission to be an action-oriented forum for all stakeholders including local, national and European governmental agencies, knowledge institutes, business, non-governmental organizations, public and private financial institutions, end-users and civil society groups. It constitutes a platform for exchanging views, finding solutions for water challenges in wider Europe and stimulating cooperation and partnerships.
Read more...
Thinking blue: Coastal projects in the Gulg
by Philippa Kennedy, The National
It was launched with a great fanfare in January. Nakheel took full-page advertisements in newspapers and magazines and spent a small fortune on roadside banners, billboards and beautifully ethereal television, radio and internet advertising trumpeting the company’s commitment to saving the coastlines of the UAE and the rest of the world.
“Think Blue”, they declared. Blue Communities “for a better coastal future.”
It’s billed as a long-term think-tank initiative that aims to create positive change for coastal developments. Nakheel promised to engage experts to develop standards that govern coastal communities with the objective of fostering different ways of thinking and acting. A budget of Dh500 million was pledged to the project.
“This is not about one firm or one country. It’s open to everyone who shares in our vision to create a better coastal future,” the advertisements pronounced solemnly.
Nobody could argue that it was not good idea but what did it all me Nobody could argue that it was not a good idea but what did it all mean?
Three months on, people were beginning to wonder what Nakheel was actually doing. Was it all a high profile and very expensive marketing exercise to make the developer look good? Can we actually buy into a Blue Community? What will we get for our money if we do?
The man with the answers is Abdulrahman Kalantar, managing director of The Design Group, the design and development arm of Nakheel, who was involved with the creation of what in essence is the company’s first Blue Community, The Palm Jumeirah.
According to him, Dh500 million is “just a beginning”. The massive advertising campaign is entirely separate. The funds will be used to fund research and development, to engage experts and to cover expenses in raising awareness along with monitoring and evaluating success. “The Blue Communities initiative is a call to action,” he said. “Before we talk about how the half billion is going to be spent it is important to go back to the beginning and talk about how the idea originated.”
By the “beginning” Kalantar, an electrical engineer, meant the days before Nakheel was Nakheel when it was still Jebel Ali Properties. The problem was the coastline. With a total length of 70 kms there simply wasn’t enough of it to accommodate the projected influx of both tourists and residents wanting home overlooking the sea. The company was tasked to find a way of creating more beaches. The original idea was to build a “doughnut” shaped island from reclaimed land, a revolutionary idea at the time, but when it was taken to Sheikh Mohammedbin Rashid al Maktoum, Vice-President of the UEA and Ruler of Dubai, he said quite simply that the 7 kms of beach it created wasn’t nearly enough.
The story is often repeated of how Sheikh Mohammed sketched a palm on a piece of paper, the fronds of which would give the ultimate amount of coastline possible, another 78 kms, and the idea of The Palm Jumeirah was born.
“It was the first time that anyone had attempted to reclaim such a large area of land. It was difficult for international firms to imagine the construction. When we started it was a learning curve,” said Kalantar who was involved in the day to day work on infrastructure and utilities.
“You can imagine the challenge. It was five years from dropping the first gram of sand into the water to the first residents moving in. People like me lived the dream and the execution. Today you can see more than 2000 people living there and enjoying their lives. It’s a reality. It’s an existing city in the middle of the sea.”
As their first Palm creation became a reality they realised they had a monumental success story on their hands. Two more palms at Jebel Ali and Deira were already underway and The World and finally The Universe were announced. Developers from all over the world were watching with interest and Nakheel (it means “Palm” in Arabic) began to understand the value of the experience they have accumulated.
“What we have discovered at Nakheel is that we have garnered a vast experience in terms of design, construction, logistics and utilities. When we announced projects such as The Palm Jebel Ali and The World, we decided we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. We were starting another type of journey which is the sustainability process from all we have learned.”
In a nutshell, that is what Blue Communities is all about – sharing the knowledge they have acquired with the rest of the world in order to help protect coastlines. “Our CEO Chris O’Donnell comes from a sustainability background. He was encouraging us to start thinking of how we can establish a plan of action across all of our projects. It was a strategic decision that all this knowledge should not be filed away and put in an office somewhere so he established The Design Group. We wanted to evaluate our success. We had to bring in an impartial body to rank and assess us along the lines of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes.”
Dow Jones turned them down, however, as they were not a publicly listed company.
So they decided to set up their own index. “Most of our strategic projects are waterfront projects. We have the knowledge and experience. We are pioneers in developing projects such as these so why can’t we launch our own index? We decided to call it Blue Communities because of the sea and because blue is more comprehensive than green.”
So what exactly were they going to do in a practical sense? Is the initiative about cleaning up beaches, or ridding the country of the ubiquitous plastic bag?
Said Kalantar: “Blue Communities is much broader and bigger than that. Basically it’s an initiative for design development and the management of coastal properties. It’s not only for Nakheel and not only for Dubai. After some time we will have a model where everybody who has underwater projects will learn from that model.
“We would like to set up a Blue Communities international association where members who are interested in that field will exchange knowledge. It’s all about protecting the water. It’s much bigger than cleaning a beach. It’s about raising awareness. I want it to grow naturally. It’s not just a marketing tool. The process was initiated a long time back. It’s the first time that the water is a strategic partner for a developer.”
The first key appointment was Dr Farouk El-Baz, a renowned scientist who worked on the Apollo Moon missions. Dr El-Baz is an expert on the climatic impact on environments, especially deserts and he will provide technical support, strategic planning and studies along with the latest research in the field. He will be instrumental in drawing up a global sustainability map and providing specific satellite pictures as a basis for work on future projects.
“He lives in the States and comes to Dubai once a month. He is always able to be contacted and he provides us with technical support. If I want satellite images for new projects in order for me to start my engineering work, he provides me with this material. He saves me a lot of time. Dr El-Baz was there when Sheikh Mohammed said ‘Why don’t we do it this way?’ People asked it if he wanted a hand but he said he wanted a palm.”
In March the company announced the opening of a specialised marine biology laboratory in conjunction with the Environment Health & Safety (EHS) the regulatory arm of Trakhees – Ports, Customs & Free Zone Corporation. The laboratory will operate as part of the United Nations University’s International Network on Water, Environment and Health’s (UNU-INWEH) programme. Called ‘Stategic Management of Marine Ecosystem in Nakheel Projects,’ it was launched in December 2006.
The programme aims to design and implement a long-term monitoring and management program for the marine environments surrounding the company’s projects and to provide informed guidance on marine environmental management. The laboratory will provide analytical capacity to support underwater activities.
Sophisticated monitoring equipment is already being used to measure water quality before, during and after a major project is created. Kalantar insists that experience with The Palm Jumeirah has shown that the water quality and marine life is better than it was before the project started. “Our agreement with the United Nations University is a long term one in terms of ecological monitoring systems. They go and install instruments under the water to read the quality of the water. They started work last year and the first results are excellent. We have before and after pictures of the seabed. Before, you can hardly see a plant. Now they are photographing species that have never been in that area before, new marine inhabitants that are not only reinstating the seabed but which have made it better.”
He explained how large sections of coral were removed and transferred to a safe place further into the sea. Also, instead of using solid slabs of concrete to build the protective breakwaters, natural rocks are used where water can flow through the gaps. It’s more expensive but provides a better platform for marine life.
He admits, however, that there will always be a period of disruption during the initial stages of reclamation “There’s always a transient period. Everyone knows that. But it passes. The sediment settles and the water quality grows back. We have never seen turtles on beaches in Dubai. Now they are there along with whale sharks and other species new to the area.”
He points to other areas where more eco-friendly technology has been used instead of traditional methods. With air conditioning, for example, the traditional way is based on air cooling where electricity substations have to be built, miles of cable laid and more power needs to be generated. The latest technology used on the Palm Jumeirah involves air conditioning through chilled water that runs through underground pipes. The chiller plant needs water to cool it but instead of buying all this extra water from the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, another revolutionary ideas has been implemented.
Kalantar explained: “If you take the sewage from The Palm and enter it into a sewage treatment plant then a polishing plant to purify it, the liquid that comes out is the same quality and has the same clinical components as drinking water. We don’t use it as drinking water though. If you are doing something like that, you want to be sure, you don’t want to take risks. Drinking water comes from DEWA. It’s used for the district cooling plants, for fire fighting and irrigation. There is a unique model operation on Palm Jumeirah that has been reviewed by consultants. The uniqueness is in linking all the technology.”
To keep sea water moving and circulating around beach areas on the fronds of the palm, lidos have been created under which pumps were installed. It’s almost like an outdoor jacuzzi although without the bubbling effect.
One of the biggest challenges for developers was the growth of the project after the initial plans had been announced. Work was ongoing throughout so that the infrastructure and utilities could keep pace with demands from third party developers for more hotel rooms and homes. “The parameters were changing the whole time. It was a growing project and we had to have a flexible smart system that could grow with the demand.”
Another initiative, a reaction to establishment of international standards as regards asbestos, was to use glass reinforced ethylene piping rather than asbestos piping. “The price is double but we are absorbing the price to show our commitment. If other countries are not using asbestos cement any more, we go with international standards. We don’t want to take the risk.”
Renewable energy is high on the list or priorities and the company is already using solar energy to heat water where possible and studying the practicality of building completely solar powered homes. Planners are also looking into ways to encourage people to use public transport.
Said Mr Kalantar: “In addition to having a monorail we are looking at having bicycles to go from one station to another. We are also considering walking zones or shielded areas where vehicles will be banned. Of course the weather doesn’t help but some people like the heat. We will of course be developing marine transportation with the establishment of water taxis and small boats. We want to reduce the dependence on using vehicles and reducing the carbon footprint.”
Third party developers building on the Palms must sign up to these ideals otherwise they simply don’t get the contracts.
This year it’s all about raising awareness about the Blue Communities initiative. As it grows, Nakheel hopes it will be taken over by an independent international body. Kalantar is not daunted at what many might perceive as an uphill struggle, trying to change people’s patterns of behaviour as regards the coastal environment.
“Once upon a time there was a man called Mr Green and he started building green businesses. There was a single person that started this and he drove the change across the world. It’s not difficult to drive a change. Blue is much more comprehensive. It influences people’s behaviour.”
“There are three pillars of the initiative. The first involves community prosperity. We want to establish an entity called Nakheel Foundation where we fund non-profitable programmes to make sure that people can get the basic living standards like potable water. For example in Darfur in the Sudan. Dr El-Baz has discovered by means of the same satellite technology used by Nasa that there is a big underground lake of water under Darfur and yet people are dying there.
“The second involves water rights and we are going to write a protocol about water rights, whether it’s about reclamation or how to use natural resources.
“Finally, shared investment. We want the people who live in the communities to drive the change. The challenge is to change behaviour. For example there is a move at Ibn Battuta mall to encourage shops not to use plastic bags. The supermarket Geant has started charging for bags. These things make an enormous difference.”
With demand for waterfront projects exceeding even the most optimistic forecast of developers and no sign of a slowing down many might say it’s not before time.
(0) Comments • (3) Trackbacks • Permalink