Al Ghurair Investment unveils sustainability plan for 3 years

ALKESH SHARMA
Emirates Business

‘Go Green’ is the new corporate mantra of enterprises worldwide in their eco-friendly pursuit to ensure a sustainable tomorrow. Following this green path, UAE-based Al Ghurair Investment — one of the largest diversified industrial enterprises in the Middle East — has unveiled its environmental and sustainability plan for the next three years.
Various entities, active under the umbrella of Al Ghurair Investment, have joined hands to continue their green activities, introducing many new innovative programmes in the upcoming months.
“It is our responsibility to save environment and to ensure a balance between natural ecology and business ecosystem. Working in this direction, we have introduced many sustainable activities in our ongoing projects to make sure we can rely more on renewable resources while reducing the overall carbon footprints,” said Badr Al Ghurair, CEO of Al Ghurair Construction – Al Ghurair Investment.
“Introducing mashrabiya aluminium sheet is one among our many initiatives. It reacts with heat and creates its own thermal expansion coefficient. We are also using high performance glass that reduces overall building costs and facilitates in enhancing operating savings through energy conservation,” he pointed out.
Badr Al Ghurair also emphasised upon intelligent usage of aluminium as he pointed out that upto 70 percent of aluminium used in buildings can be recycled through sustainable recycling projects.
Al Ghurair Investment enjoys global reach with its business roots stretching back half a century. Its core focus is on foods, construction, resources and properties, with additional segment participation in energy, printing, retail and education sectors.
Timur Ilgaz, General Manager of Al Ghurair Rayhaan Rotana, Dubai, stressed that his property has managed to save tonnes of energy by introducing various green initiatives in the last couple of years.
“We are one of the busiest properties in the region with 620 guest rooms and over 941 units. Energy consumption is one of the highest in our complex in the city but at the same time we have pioneered in the art of sustainability. Since 2014, we have changed around 35,000 lamps with LEDs and fruitful results are before everyone,” said Ilgaz.
Talking about the savings, Ilgaz said that his property has witnessed savings of upto 460 KW h per hour, 2300 KW h per day (considering around five-hour of operations of lights on an average per day), nearly 69,000 KW h per month and upto 839,500 KW h of savings per year.
“Our future green plans include introducing state-of-the-art water saving initiatives and installing motion sensors for controlling lights,” stated Ilgaz.
The new plans of Al Gurair Investment are following the National Initiative launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, for building a ‘green economy for sustainable development’.
“We supply green concrete to all our projects to-date. One of the main advantages is that it prevents the waste from entering the landfills. We are also making use of sewage water treatment plant that is an initiative for recycling water,” said Badr Al Ghurair.
Stephen Cheesebrough — representative of Sultan Al Ghurair, CEO of Al Ghurair Properties — Al Ghurair Investment said, “Around 23 new projects are coming up and all of them have keen focus on sustainability.”
Adil Toubia, Al Ghurair Investment Group CEO, said, “The Group is keen to follow the footsteps of the UAE leaders and their vision to ensure sustainable development while preserving the environment and reducing carbon footprint. The UAE government wants to ensure sustainable development while preserving the environment, and to achieve a perfect balance between economic and social development.”
Al Ghurair Investment is a member of the Dubai Chamber Sustainability Network and has led several initiatives and campaigns that aim to reduce the environmental impact by businesses operating in Dubai. The Group led the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” campaign for three years in a row.