Savjet za Ekološku Gradnju Crne Gore/ Montenegro Green Building Council
For information on Green Building Councils generally, visit the World Green Building Council website.
For more information on the Montenegro GBC, visit the website www.gbc.me
Current status of the GBC ME
An initiative by Colliers International sparked off a meeting in Nov 2008 of individuals and representatives of organisations concerned about the situation of property development in Montenegro. In the Spring of 2009, James and Anke were approached during a conference about property development and agreed to participate. James was later nominated to chair this group, which we called an Initiating Group. The World GBC is very specific about its requirements for membership, and the main task of the IG was to identify, approach and persuade key influential individuals who can help to form the Core Founding Group, the first stage in the path in the formation of a fully-fledged GBC.
Current members are a mix of internationals and locals. We receive strong support from the Government’s Office for Sustainable Development, as well as Colliers International. One of the most prestigious developments in the country, arguably the region, Porto Montenegro, is also very supportive and has become our first Platinum Member.
James’ aim is to involve as many Montenegrins as possible – after all this is their country – and a GBC is not sustainable without strong support from within the country.
We became a legal entity on 20 December 2010 as a Non-Governmental Organisation (the only format available for a not-for-profit organisation)thanks to the lawyer on our team, Slobodan Perovic. So the Initiating Group became the Members who in turn elected a Board, consisting of most of us. James became the President of the Board, and as we cannot afford any paid staff, finds himself doing all the work.
On 01 March 2011, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Office for Sustainable Development, and on 20 April did the same with the Ministry for Sustainable Development and Tourism – the successor to the Ministry for Spatial Planning and Environment following the changes in the Government consequent to Milo Djukanovic’s resignation as Prime Minister in mid December 2010.
In June 2011, we submitted our Expression of Interest to the World Green Building Council. This is the first step to become a formal member of the world association. Our application was approved by the World GBC Board, and we became a Prospective Member at the end of August. The next step in about 2 years’ time will be an Emerging Member, and again about 2 years later, full membership.
Building Rating Schemes
One of the main activities of a GBC is the development of a scheme for rating the environmental performance of buildings. The main ones are the American LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), the Australian Green Star, the Japanese CASBEE, and the British BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method). There are others – in Europe, the French have the Haute Qualité Environnementale and the Germans the DGNB (Deutsche Gütesiegel Nachhaltiges Bauen). The British Building Research Establishment is leading a drive to develop a common international standard, something which would benefit a a small country like Montenegro which would find it difficult to establish a rating system of its own.
The bulk of the major investors in this small country of Montenegro are foreign, eg Porto Montenegro in Tivat, Orascom on Lustica. We as the GBC ME have taken a policy decision that we will not prefer any one accreditation system over another as the investors will use the one they are accustomed to.