GBC ME 2011 Significant Events – Sme-Consult-EU.com

Extracted from the Annual Report to Members by the GBC ME Board of Governors

01 March. Signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government’s Office for Sustainable Development (OSD). The MoU creates the environment for cooperation between the OSD and the GBC.

20 April. Signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry for Sustainable Development and Tourism. This took place at the Ecology Fair in Budva, where the Minister, HE Predrag Sekulić, was opening the Fair. Among the areas for future cooperation are consultation and cooperation in the preparation and adoption of new laws, regulations and strategic documents in the sector of the built environment, especially Building Codes and similar regulations; and promotion of the use of internationally based voluntary rating systems for assessing the sustainability of buildings at a higher level than that prescribed by the Building Codes or other regulations.

August. Granting of Prospective Member status by the World Green Building Council. The application involved submitting our Statutes (which have to conform to World GBC guidelines), an Expression of Interest Form which was 14 pages long and included curricula vitae of the Board members and their experience in establishing and running organisations; reasons justifying why we wanted to establish a GBC and much else; and supporting documents (eg the MoU s with the OSD and the Ministry).

23 September 2011. Seminar on Sustainable Building in Podgorica. This was timed to coincide with the 20^th anniversary of the Declaration of Montenegro as an Ecological State and the World GBC World Green Building Week. The seminar took place in the splendid conference room in the Rektorat of the University of Montenegro, and we are most grateful to the Rector and his staff for the use of their facilities. It was opened by Ms Ivana Vojinović, Deputy Minister at the Ministry for Sustainable Development and Tourism.
Speakers included Dr Consuelo Russelli of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB); Daniel Fügenschuh, architect for the new UN building in Podgorica, Ms Jelena Knezević, Adviser to the Minister for Sustainable Development and Tourism, Mr Branko Lukovac and Prof Dr Dušan Vuksanović. About 70 people attended including the Ambassadors of Austria, Italy and the United Kingdom. We are most grateful to the Boka Fund, Geomont doo and UNDP for their generous sponsorship.