GSAS Design & Build

For new building and infrastructure projects, to evaluate the sustainability performance.

With global political discourse shifting in favor of sustainability, transitioning to green buildings is a now a question of when, not if. GSAS Design & Build (GSAS-D&B) validates that your project is designed and built with special consideration for the environment. By assessing, documenting and monitoring the environmental performance of your project, this third-party certification helps you reduce your project’s carbon footprint while also adding transparency and integrity to your project’s sustainability claims. For today’s informed client base, a green building certification works as a stamp of approval validating the sustainability credentials claimed by your project.

GSAS-D&B certification requires measurements of relevant parameters and aspects in accordance with accepted practices, considering the impacts the building can mitigate. The sustainability issues covered under this certification are related to categories of Urban Connectivity, Site, Energy, Water, Materials, Indoor Environment, Cultural & Economic Value and Management & Operations.

View GSAS Certifications & Project Life Cycle Flowchart

Read GSAS Technical Guide

All projects seeking GSAS Design & Build certification must appoint an authorized GSAS Service Providers that acquire the following:

  • GSAS Service Provider License – Design & Build
  • GSAS-D&B CGP License
  • GSAS Energy Assessment Certificate

Stage 1: Provisional Design & Build Certification

This provisional certification is achieved by obtaining the Provisional Design & Build Certificate in the form of Letter of Conformance (LOC) following the design phase.

View GSAS Design & Build Certification Process

Stage 2: Conformance To Design Audit (CDA)

During the construction phase, the project must meet the requirements of Conformance to Design Audit (CDA) to qualify for the final certification.

View GSAS Design & Build Certification Process

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    GSAS Districts Scheme

    District scheme is used for evaluating the planning and design of an urban developments that work to improve the welfare of people and their communities by creating more convenient, equitable, healthful, efficient, and attractive places for present and future generations.

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    GSAS Neighborhood Scheme

    Neighborhood scheme is used to assess a zone within a district. It may comprise of different building typologies designed for a specific functionality or use. The assessment of some categories for the main building will be based on the scheme relevant to the main use, i.e. commercial, educational or hospitality and all other buildings will inherit the scores achieved by the main building.

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    GSAS Parks Scheme

    Parks scheme is used to assess the ecological impacts of new and existing parks, including its onsite amenities, such as landscape areas, walkways, and picnic spaces, as well as any minor service facilities including restrooms, storage sheds, or small information centers. It is used for the design assessment of different types of parks including mini park, community park, district park, large urban and zoos.

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    GSAS Offices Scheme

    Offices scheme is used to assess buildings developed for business and/or merchandising purposes, such as offices, conference rooms, foyers, retail spaces, and ancillary areas.

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    GSAS Commercial Scheme

    Commercial scheme is used to assess and rate the environmental performance of new core and shell construction covering basic building elements such as structure, envelope and mechanical systems, and where the infill of the building is wholly or partly not designed, such as shopping malls, retail shops, enclosed and strip malls.

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    GSAS Homes Scheme

    Homes scheme is used for the assessment of residential homes, such as single-family villas or attached or detached houses.

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    GSAS Residential Scheme

    Residential scheme is used to assess multiunit apartments, condominium buildings and high-rise buildings.

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    GSAS Mosque Scheme

    Mosques scheme is used to assess congregational worship areas and ancillary buildings such as the Imam house.

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    GSAS Hospitality Scheme

    Hospitality scheme is used to assess hospitality buildings, such as hotels, resorts and hotel apartments. This building type includes variety of spaces or zones; such as guest rooms, lobbies, banquet halls, offices, conference halls, dining areas and kitchens, fitness centers, retails spaces and ancillary areas.

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    GSAS Light Industry Scheme

    Light Industry scheme is used to assess warehouses and workshops. The assessment does not consider the production line or process hosted by such facilities.

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    GSAS Education Scheme

    Education scheme is used to assess education facilities. Typical building types include kindergartens, schools, colleges, universities and research institutes. This building type includes various spaces or zones; such as classrooms, libraries, auditoriums, cafeterias, kitchens, offices and other spaces that are part of academic buildings, such as research laboratories.

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    GSAS Sports Scheme

    Sports scheme is used to assess sport buildings or venues that are designed to host a sporting event and support activities for athletes or competitors, support staff and spectators, whether indoor or outdoor air-conditioned or non-air-conditioned stadiums.

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    GSAS Railways Scheme

    Railways scheme is used to assess and rate the sustainability and ecological impacts of railway station buildings. Station types include underground, at-grade and elevated stations. Main station building includes spaces or zones that serve various functions of a railway station such as; platform, concourse, offices, station control rooms, ticketing, retail, food/beverage areas and ancillary areas.

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    GSAS Healthcare Scheme

    Healthcare scheme is used to assess healthcare buildings. The building type includes specialist hospitals, general hospitals, out-patient hospitals, primary care health centers and especially bio-medical research laboratories.

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    GSAS Interior Scheme

    Interior scheme is used to assess the building finishing works, i.e. fit outs. Fit-out is a term used to describe the process of making interior spaces and servicing of the building to meet the specific needs of an incoming occupier.

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    GSAS Renovation Scheme

    Renovation scheme is used to assess and rate the sustainability impact of the major renovations on an existing building of any type, where more than 50% of the building is renovated or retrofitted. The scheme provisions take into consideration the constraints that an existing building is subject to in terms of location, site, form and structure.

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    GSAS Bespoke Scheme

    Bespoke scheme is used to assess building types which are not covered and do not fit by the schemes described above. The scheme covers car parks, museums, data centers and any other non-conventional building types.

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    GSAS Energy Center SEER

    GSAS SEER Tool™ is a unique tool used developed by GORD to assess energy centers through calculating the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER). SEER is the ratio of the total amount of cooling energy provided, divided by the total energy input to the cooling plant within the year.