Creating green industrial parks in India

Buro Happold’s Thomas Kraubitz, a senior consultant based in Berlin, recently represented Buro Happold and the German Green Building Council (DGNB) as the principal resource for several training programmes on the topic “Environmental Friendly Siting and Site Master Planning of New and Existing Industrial Parks” at Auroville and Gandhinagar, India.

Planning of new industrial parks is one of the core topics of the Indo German Environment Partnership (IGEP). Together with the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), Auroville Consulting and under the cooperation between the Gujarat Cleaner Production Centre (GCPC) and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), the IGEP organized a series of training programmes. These programmes were conducted for planners, architects and engineers from private sector, town planning boards, research organizations as well as academic institutes, government officials from pollution control boards and industrial development corporations from different states of India.

Thomas presented Buro Happold’s expertise on creating new and updating existing industrial districts. He delivered  insight into the working group on industrial districts and his involvement in creating the first certification system for industrial districts under the DGNB umbrella.

The purpose of the training, was to provide local authorities and planning professionals with tools and a framework for creating green industrial parks. After the training, the Gujarat Province has set up two working groups to apply the gained experience for current projects. Buro Happold will stay involved in the project and is currently reviewing the guidelines for GIP Jadcherla.

The methodology of the programme was a mix of interactive presentations, field visits of innovative applications of concepts within Auroville and Ahmedabad, well as hands on exercises to understand green planning principles and the need for  integrated approaches. Several projects from Germany and India were showcased focusing on successful business and operating models that try to combine the best from both worlds.