2. HISTORY & PREVIOUS STUDIESThe co

2. HISTORY & PREVIOUS STUDIES
The concept of sustainable development can be traced
back to the energy crisis (especially fossil oil) and the
environment pollution concern in the 1970s. The
classical definition of sustainable development was
defined in the Broundland’s Report 1987 as “a
development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs”. An
unprecedented sustainable construction movement is
reshaping the conventional construction sector around
in all aspects including planning/ programming,
design, construction, operation/ maintenance,
modification/ renovation, demolition/ deconstruction,
financing, insurance, policy, marketing, management,
etc.
In the past 15 years, sustainable construction was
approached in various ways and with different
priority in different countries. There are several terms
about this topic, such as green building, sustainable
building, sustainable construction, high performance
building, and so on, and these terms are often used
interchangeably. In fact, there are essential
differences in these terms. Sustainable construction
most comprehensively addressed the ecological,
social, and economic issues of a building in the
context of its community (Kibert 2007).
Sustainable/green buildings can be defined as the
facilities which are the outcomes of sustainable
construction for the purpose of promoting occupant
health and resource efficiency, minimizing the
impacts of the built environment on the natural
ecology system.
At present, the sustainable construction movement is
growing at an explosive rate in many countries
around the world. As a part of the sustainable/green
building delivery system, a series of sustainable/
green building rating systems have been developed by
some national or international research organizations.
The purposes of the majority of rating systems are:
(1) Assessing the performance of the outcomes of the
sustainable construction
(2) Guiding the entire process of the sustainable
construction to reach the three pillars of
sustainability (economic growth, ecological
balance, social progress and equity).
(3) Accelerating the evolution and transformation of
the traditional construction industry.
The mainstream green building rating systems include
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design), BREEAM (Building Research Establishment
Environmental Assessment Method), CASBEE
(Comprehensive Assessment System for Building
Environment Efficiency), Green Globes, HK-BEAM
(Hong Kong Building Environment Assessment
Method), BCA-GM (Building and Construction
Authority Green Mark) Singapore, Green Star etc.
In this paper, the comparison of several mainstream
sustainable rating systems has been done. It highlights
the similarities and differences among their
assessment tools based on different regions
respectively. Also some guidelines have been
established in this paper that would lead towards the
development of a new rating system for Saudi Arabia
and gulf region.
3. PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABLE
BUILDINGS
Buildings can be constructed following the principles
of sustainable building on different levels, in different
extent, and with different specifications. So far,
buildings that are labeled “ecological” typically fulfill
the requirements merely in certain areas. Buildings
with holistic approaches of sustainable building are
rarely seen yet. The building of the Environmental
Protection Agency in Germany is a predominant
example in which sustainable building principles
played a major role before, during and at the end of
the construction process. The decision for the site, the
choice of material, the heating system as well as the
innovative and intelligent ventilation system prove
that the architects and the building owner knew right
from the beginning that this building was designed
according to sustainability criteria. Now after
erection, the building serves not only as the head
quarter of the German EPA, but also functions as a