Green vs. grey

Can you imagine a city where the buildings are green and not grey? The International GreenBuild Conference is the place where this was shared and presented as possible.

The first International GreenBuild Conference in Serbia was held on 24^th of November 2011 in Belgrade. Green specialists gathered to share their visions, knowledge and experiences about this growing industry. Guest speakers from Australia, Austria, England, Italy, the Netherlands and Serbia discussed about sustainable building, BREEAM and LEED certification, green urbanism and financial aspects of green building.

The Conference was organized by ecoist.rs – a civil society organization that partnered up with NALED– National Alliance for Local Economic Development.

The Importance of Synergy

With the power of words and images, Vitaverde marked the significant role of synergy in project management and of involving all stakeholders to get things done. We gave some examples of synergy in our projects and how it was helpful and necessary to achieve the common final goal. An animation showed metaphorically that only if all participants are involved and synergize, the result will be above expectation.

At the end of the conference, the speakers took part in a panel discussion to share their passion for and attitude towards being and building green.

Urban Oasis

Could there possibly be an urban oasis in our era? Students from all over Serbia believe so. That’s why they suggested their own oasis by participating in the Urban Oasis Contest. The contest had three categories:

1. Green roof
2. External vertical garden
3. Internal vertical garden.

Hans Buster was one of the jury members who chose the best entry in each category. The winners were announced at the Conference and except for a prize, their oasis will be considered to be realized next year. This contest proved that young people have become more aware of the importance and the meaning of green building.

“Healthy, Sustainable Spaces”

All stakeholders and guest speakers pointed out the significance of green and sustainable building. In this GreenGrey polemic you realize that there are such healthy spaces around and even IN a building. So let’s build a healthier & happier tomorrow, where green wins the battle.