On March 1, regulations came into force that require, in the first phase, green high-rise residential buildings, commercial construction of 5,000 square meters and public construction of 1,000 square meters. Minister of Environmental Protection, Tamar Zandberg: “Green construction will benefit the general public, reduce economic disparities and establish long-term climatic resilience of the space built in the State of Israel in the coming decades”
Posted on: 3.3.22 19:22
On Tuesday of this week, March 1, regulations came into force that make green voluntary construction binding.
The regulations, which come into force in two stages, now apply to any application for a building permit for the construction of a new structure. The first pulse applies to large-scale construction applications, and will require green multi-story residential construction, commercial construction of 5,000 square meters and public construction of 1,000 square meters.
In the second phase, which will take effect in September 2023, the obligation will be extended to all saturated residential buildings (a building with six or more apartments) and to any commercial building from 1,000 square meters.
The regulations, of course, also allow real estate developers to offer more improved specifications of buildings in green construction. They also allow planning institutions, including local committees, to demand more advanced requirements.
Minister of Environmental Protection, Tamar Zandberg: “The step of adopting binding green construction, led by the ministry in cooperation with the Planning Director, places the State of Israel at the forefront of countries taking practical steps to prepare for the climate crisis and reduce the negative effects of economic activity on green construction. “The public will reduce economic disparities and establish long-term climatic resilience of the space built in the State of Israel in the coming decades. Green construction is expected to contribute 25 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the economy, ensure financial savings for all tenants and every business and encourage climatic innovation and energy independence of buildings.”
Galit Cohen, Director General of the Ministry of Environmental Protection: “Green construction will advance the ministry’s and the economy’s goals in the transition to a circular and low-carbon economy and will cut off the growth that characterizes the construction market from the negative environmental damage that accompanies it today. It is exciting that after more than a decade, we, in the Ministry of Environmental Protection, are promoting the standard, which has become a vision and a reality. “
Green construction ensures the design of buildings with improved thermal insulation and natural ventilation that moderates high and low temperatures and allows for residence and activity in a built environment even in a period of climatic change. Green construction reduces dependence on energy and air conditioning systems and achieves significant and long-term savings in the operating costs of buildings for households and the business sector by 40-20 percent.
Green construction was established in Israeli Standard T.I. 5281 and was intended to reduce the negative effects of the construction process and the use of buildings on the environment. The standard is divided into nine areas for which indices have been established that distinguish what green construction is.
Similar to parallel standards in the world, the standard is based on a method of accumulating points due to and meeting threshold conditions from different fields: energy, land, water, materials, health and welfare, waste, transportation, management and innovation.
An updated and modern standard, published back in 2011, applies to most types of buildings in Israel under new construction (residential, office, commercial, public, education, health and tourism), as well as buildings that are undergoing renovation. The standard was extensively updated in 2016 and is also expected to be updated in 2022. On March 3, 2020, the National Planning and Building Council approved a regulation requiring the construction of new buildings according to the standard, starting in 2022.
Billing for green construction in every new construction is a first and significant step, along with a number of other steps, in the State of Israel’s preparation for the climate crisis, which affects man and the built environment in which he lives, and operates in several aspects: frequent weather changes, summer and winter peak days. And suddenness that will increase dependence on energy sources that will be at higher risk.
Green building is a systemic approach that addresses many of the challenges in advance and gives buildings increased resilience that helps prepare for climate change. In addition, green construction encourages the use of water-efficient vegetation and requires the absorption of urban rain in the areas of buildings, in order to enrich groundwater. This use helps with extreme rainfall events, prevention of flooding and destruction of infrastructure – phenomena that will increase in the coming years in the world and in Israel, with the increase in the frequency of predicted climatic events.
The good news about the entry into force of the national regulation is that high-quality green construction will be built in the coming years in all areas of the country in a uniform manner and independent of one plan or another. To date, the construction of thousands of green-built apartments and hundreds of thousands of square meters of office, commercial and public space has been completed.