About 30 built environment professionals, including Town Planning Officers, Architects, Builders and Engineers on the payroll of Lagos State will soon be certified as EDGE Experts to play critical roles in the process of certifying Green Buildings.
The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Tpl. Idris Salako, spoke on the development at the closing ceremony of the EDGE Experts training at Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja, pointing out that the 30 would-be EDGE Experts emerged through a painstaking selection process among 160 officers who participated in the sensitisation workshop.
Salako, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Engr. Abiola Kosegbe, noted that the successful officers were subsequently taken through a training process in preparation for the qualifying examination.
The Commissioner stated that the EDGE Expertise is a new skill area required to help developers design and construct buildings that meet the International Finance Corporation EDGE Green Building certification requirements.
His words: “The crop of officers being lined up for EDGE Experts certification is about to make a history of swelling the number of existing EDGE Experts in Nigeria. That we have only 28 EDGE Experts in the country speaks volume of the emerging nature of the field and the opportunities that abound”.
He said it is heartwarming that the Lagos State Public Service had again demonstrated excellence by producing the 30 officers, who are ready for the EDGE Experts qualifying examination.
“The implication is that the State will continue to be at the forefront of efforts to combat climate change in the built environment by compelling developers to always look in the direction of the public service of Lagos State for guidance in designing and constructing buildings that conserve energy, water and materials”, Salako asserted.
The training facilitator, Engr. Sunday Egbike, who is an EDGE Expert, explained that EDGE as a certification for Green Buildings offered operational and incremental savings as well as emission reduction in the building construction process.
EDGE, Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiency, is the International Finance Corporation’s initiative and Certification for Green Buildings. Most of the seven buildings with EDGE certification in Nigeria are located in Lagos State.
