Architects to build new views

Verband Beratender Ingenieure (VBI) has combined with the Vietnamese government, the Ministry of Construction, the German embassy in Vietnam and construction-related associations to implement the project on Vietnam’s sustainable development in architecture and construction, with solutions for energy saving, new energy and green building.

Financially backed by the German Ministry of Economics and Technology, the project would improve capacity for 1,600 local engineers and architects, companies and architectural associations over the next two years.

“The project, the first of its kind in Vietnam, aims to give local urban and architectural planners the best ways to approach the world’s most modern technologies and experience in designing, constructing, operating and managing urban works in an environmentally friendly manner,” said Klaus Rollenhagen, managing director of VBI.

Specifically, the project would focus in providing knowledge and experience in designing urban buildings with systems of energy saving and environmental protection for local urban and architectural developers, and help them in how to seek foreign partners and meet their contracts.

Winfried Heusler, vice chairman of Schüeco International KG - specialised in providing solar energy solutions for buildings, said that Germany was one of the best in the world at environmental protection technologies. “We want to share what we have with Vietnam’s partners,” Heusler said.

“Vietnam’s urban planning and construction of buildings remain problematic, because almost local managers, companies, architects and engineers are weak in designing works with energy saving and renewable energy usage systems,” said Le Thi Bich Thuan, vice head of the Ministry of Construction’s Vietnam Institute of Architecture, Urban and Rural Planning (VIAP).

“As a result, Vietnam’s urban areas’ carbon dioxide emissions are surging, which is undermining the country’s socio-economic development,” Thuan said.

According to the experts, in Vietnam, buildings can save 10-40 per cent of their energy.

They said that the energy used by a building was higher than that used by a factory, because the building included many systems such as air conditioning (occupying 40-60 per cent of the total energy consumed), lighting (occupying 15-20 per cent of the total energy consumed), office equipment (10-15 per cent), escalators and other supporting systems.

“Thus, how to use energy in buildings effectively is an urgent need for the government in its efforts to cope with climate change and build a low carbon economy, and for buildings to reduce operation costs,” said Pham Khanh Toan, vice head of the Ministry of Construction’s International Cooperation Department.