What is GRIHA?

GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) is a green

building ‘design evaluation system’. It is a rating tool that facilitates
assessment of the performance of buildings based on nationally accepted
conditions or benchmarks.
GRIHA evaluates the holistic performance of a building corresponding to
the environment, over its entire life cycle. Thus, obtaining a standard for
what a ‘green building’ is.

Mission
The main ideology behind the organisation is to minimize building’s resource
consumption. Also, it aims to reduce waste generation and overall ecological impacts
under certain limitations and ratings norms.
GRIHA attempts to minimize a building’s resource consumption, waste generation, and
overall environmental impact by comparing them to certain nationally acceptable limits
and benchmarks. It does so, adopting the Five ‘R’ philosophy of sustainable
development, namely
1. Refuse – to blindly adopt international trends, materials, technologies, products, etc.
Specially in areas where local substitutes/equivalents are available
2. Reduce – the dependence on high energy products, systems, processes, etc.
3. Reuse – materials, products, traditional technologies, so as to reduce the costs
incurred in designing buildings as well as in operating them
4. Recycle – all possible wastes generated from the building site, during construction,
operation and demolition
5. Reinvent – engineering systems, designs, and practices such that India creates
global examples that the world can follow rather than us following international
examples.
Going by the old adage ‘What gets measured, gets managed, GRIHA attempts to
quantify aspects, It is taken from an ancient Indian document which is among the oldest
extant texts of any language in the world – the Rig Veda.
Features of GRIHA
The rating system was developed to aid the design and assess new buildings. The
GRIHA rating system takes into account the provisions of the National Building Code
2005; the Energy Conservation Building Code 2007 announced by BEE (Bureau of
Energy Efficiency) and other IS codes.
GRIHA facilitates design, construction, the operation of a green building and in turn,
measures “greenness” of a building.

Source: nhb.org.in
Features of a GRIHA Certified buildings:

 Save Minimum 25% -50% less water than conventional buildings.

 Use less water for construction
 Follow mandatory provisions of ECBC (In case of air conditioned
buildings)
 Reduce energy consumption by minimum 10% -50% in comparison
to conventional buildings.
 Provide 1% equivalent, connected load of lighting and HVAC through
renewable energy for non-residential projects.
 Recycle waste water and reuse at least 25%-75% of treated water.
 Segregate and resource recovery from waste in such a manner that
only that minimal or zero waste goes to landfill

Recognition and Benefits From The Government of India

The Indian Government recognises the efforts of the green building
developers. It has announced great offers for green builders in certain parts
of the country.
The developers coming up with new construction projects in the jurisdiction
of Pune Municipal Corporation will get the following discounts on the
premium charges payable to the corporation, as per the star rating awarded
by GRIHA Council

Jaipur Development Authority, a body constituted under Jaipur

Development Authority Act 1982 (Act. 25) under the Department of Urban
Development and Housing, Government of Rajasthan has notified that the
buildings constructed in plot area more than 5,000 m2 will be eligible for an
additional 5% floor area ratio (FAR) free of charge if they get 4 or 5 star
rating from GRIHA.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development, Government of
Punjab has notified that an additional 5% floor area ratio free of charges
shall be permissible to buildings that provide relevant certificates from the
Bureau of Energy Efficiency or from GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated
Habitat Assessment). This notification has been issued under the Punjab
Regional and Town Planning and Development Act, 1995 towards ensuring
resource optimization in the built environment.
The benefits of owning a GRIHA certified building

 Reduced energy consumption without sacrificing the comfort levels

 Reduced destruction of natural areas, habitats, and biodiversity, and
reduced soil loss from erosion, and other such destructive
occurrences
 Reduced air and water pollution
 Reduced water consumption
 Limited waste generation due to recycling and reuse
 Reduced pollution loads
 Increased user productivity
 Enhanced image and marketability
The Rating System

Criteria for GRIHA Certification

The buildings will be evaluated and rated in a three-tier process. The
preliminary evaluation will be conducted by a team of professionals and
experts. The expert team will evaluate the project and award points.
The criteria fall under one of the below major categories:

1. Conservation and efficient utilization of resources

2. Health and well-being

The pie-graph shows the pointing system followed by GRIHA

It is 4 step process-
1. Check out the Eligibility: except for the industrial complexes, all buildings such
as offices, retail malls, institutions, hotels, hospitals, health-care facilities,
residences, and multi-family high-rise buildings – in the pre-design & design
stage are eligible for certification under GRIHA.
2. Registration: A project has to be registered by filling in an online registration The
registration process includes access to the essential information related to rating,
application form, list of submissions, score points, and the weightage system.
3. Evaluation: Project evaluation happens over Pre documentation stage & post
documentation stage by the team of experts. Once the necessary documentation
is uploaded, and systems commissioned on site, the building is evaluated and
rated.
4. Rating: The final score is presented to the National Advisory Committee
comprising eminent personalities and renowned professionals in the field, for
approval and award of the final rating.

Some of The GRIHA Certified Projects in India

GRIHA

AARTI KAMAT
B.ARCH 2ND YEAR