Mumbai, India, 12 November 2021 – The Aga Hall Estate, an upcoming residential high-rise development project centrally located on a heritage site in South Mumbai, India, has earned EDGE Advanced Certification – the globally recognised benchmark for green building created by International Finance Corporation (IFC) – for designs that project energy savings of up to 45 percent, water savings of up to 50 percent and embodied energy (energy used in project creation) savings in the amount of up to 32 percent.

Originally the place of family residence of Aga Khan I, the site has evolved over a century and a half to include a community housing initiative and the Prince Aly Khan Hospital, with centres of excellence in oncology, cardiology and diagnostics. A transformative redevelopment is now planned for the Aga Hall Estate to offer 373 apartments of an international standard incorporating energy-efficient and environmentally sensitive features designed for multi-generational living.

Altaz Sundrani, a lifelong resident of Aga Hall Estate, said of the development project:

“Aga Hall Estate has been my home since childhood. I was born here. My parents were always at ease. As kids, the Estate provided a safe environment in which to grow up. My school was a stone’s throw away. I am very excited about the new development, especially with all the attention being given to common areas, safety and comfort, as well as to landscape and to minute details. With new school and hospital facilities, the Estate will certainly set a benchmark in this part of the city.”

The AKDN is committed to achieving net-zero carbon operations by 2030. Recognising that 85 percent of the direct greenhouse gas emissions from its operations come from operating the Network’s buildings, such as hospitals, schools, offices, community centres and university campuses, reducing emissions from buildings is critical to achieving this target.

To enable this, the AKDN developed a set of Green Building Guidelines, which sets out the minimum environmental requirements for new and existing buildings and outlines measures to reduce energy, water and material use adapted to AKDN’s operating contexts. The guidelines use the IFC EDGE (“Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies”) framework to assess construction projects, targeting at least EDGE Advanced standard. The Aga Hall Estate is one of the first and largest AKDN projects to implement these guidelines and achieve the certification.

The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) is partnering with IFC to accelerate wider adoption of green building practices. They are establishing a framework for greater collaboration in pursuit of their shared aspirations to move the construction industry on to a lower-carbon, more resource-efficient path. Projects such as the Aga Hall Estate exemplify this path.

“Some estimates suggest that more than half of the India of 2040 is yet to be built. Better and greener homes and buildings are essential to how we combat climate change in ways that tangibly improve peoples’ lives today and protect our habitat for generations to come,” said Onno Ruhl, General Manager of AKAH. “AKAH and the AKDN are proud to advance solutions for decarbonising the built environment in India and beyond.”

For more details contact:

Trushna Torche at trushna.torche@akdn.org

For information about EDGE

For information about AKAH