Mahgoub and Al-Omaim...
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified building in Kuwait will start construction in 2008. As
announced in World Architecture News in May 2008, Kuwait Engineering Office was commissioned to design a tower
using sustainable design guidelines and tools outlined in the Green Building Rating System. “In addition to creating an
iconic 40-storey tower consisting primarily of high end offices and a hotel, KEO was given the task of achieving a LEED®
Gold from the US Green Building Council (USGBC). As well as meeting or exceeding a series of green requirements,
the tower employs a series of wind turbines and PV panels to provide a renewable source of energy. It is hoped that this
initiative starts a new trend towards applying a sustainable strategy by other developers and consultants.”^4
Kuwait started to apply building codes in the form of regulations and rules in 1955, and then in
1975 they released the first booklet that contains all the regulations in a systematic way. After
that the municipality started to change the rules from time to time, to follow the politics, econ-
omy, and the social changes. Kuwait municipality started to modify the regulation for the first
time in 1979 then the second time in 1985. Kuwait has started to construct tall buildings during
the 1970s with buildings of a maximum of 12 floors. But with the increase of demand and the
increase of security after the war against the regime of Saddam Husayn in Iraq in 2003, many
foreign companies were attracted to start businesses in Kuwait. Therefore, building codes were
modified to accommodate this need, and taller buildings started to rise.
The growing number of tall buildings under construction in Middle Eastern countries is alarm-
ing. Their impact on the human, natural, and built environment is not carefully assessed. The
sustainability of tall buildings and mega-projects should be guaranteed in order to avoid creat-
ing degraded and congested urban environments. Absence of explicit laws or regulations regard-
ing the implementation of sustainability in Kuwait’s building codes limits the application of sustainability strategy to the
personal interests of the owner or developer. Also, buildings can never be completely sustainable and green if they were
not placed in a green environment.
Kuwait City is not well adapted to certain ecological ideas that cater towards an environmental city; for example, the
electrical grid of Kuwait does not allow for the return of electrical surplus generated within the building. In addition,
recycling is not recognized in any form in the city, making it harder for individual buildings to apply waste management
strategies. Sustainable and green planning is a key factor for promoting sustainable building and achieving a compre-
hensive sustainable environment. Finally, building codes and regulations in Kuwait should reach out to urban design
and urban planning.
There is a need to develop a new rating system of sustainability for the region, either adapted from the original LEED or
invented from scratch, to serve Kuwait and the Gulf region. LEED caters to environments other than our local cities; the
points LEED considers green might not work as a sustainable factor in the Gulf region. For example, LEED promotes
- World Architecture News, May 14, 2008, http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com.
Figure 4: Sabah Al
Ahmad International
Financial Center, the
first buildings in Ku-
wait pre-certified for
LEED Gold status.