Colombia. The Minister of Housing, City and Territory, Luis Felipe Henao (image), announced the issuance of the Sustainable Construction regulation, aimed at establishing the parameters and technical guidelines related to the efficient use of water and energy resources in new buildings.
The objective of this regulation is to achieve savings of up to 45% in water and energy consumption by incorporating environmental sustainability parameters in the design and construction of new buildings in the country.
According to the Minister, "in Latin America, Colombia is a pioneer in committing to the transformation towards sustainable development. The standard, which will be mandatory from June 2016, establishes percentages of savings in water and energy that will reduce the costs of users in utility payments," he said.
"In free housing the regulation will be mandatory and we hope that in this first year the builders will adopt it because the other year it will be mandatory for everyone."
The issuance of this regulation is the product of a process of cooperation between the Ministry of Housing City and Territory, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group supported by the Embassy of Switzerland, through the Secretariat of State for Economic Affairs of Switzerland (SECO) and the Colombian Chamber of Construction (Camacol).
