ESTIDAMA has unveiled the most recent version of the highly ambitious Pearl Rating System (PRS), the Arab world’s first sustainability rating mechanism established last year to assess sustainability performance of buildings, communities and villas.

Estidama is a programme managed by the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council (UPC) to promote sustainability and enhance living conditions in the emirate under the ambit of Abu Dhabi Vision 2030.
The PRS is a programme encompassing a Pearl Building Rating System (PBRS), a Pearl Community Rating System (PCRS) and a Pearl Villa Rating System (PVRS), introducing rating practices across the design and construction phases of development projects. The system provides a set of measurable guidelines for rating sustainability performance of communities, buildings, and large-scale developments of villas, across Estidama’s four pillars of economy, environment, society and culture.
The system comprises seven categories: integrated development process, natural systems, livable communities and buildings, water, energy materials and innovating practice. For each category, there are mandatory and optional credits as well as weights with maximum credit points delivered to each.
The PBRS will apply to general buildings, offices, retail, multi-residential buildings, schools and mixed-use projects whereas the PCRS addresses developments supporting a minimum permanent residential population of 1,000 people. For developments designed to accommodate up to 30,000 people, the system asks for division into individual districts each requiring a separate application.
The PRS will cover three levels. Pearl Design Rating is engaged at the design phase of the project and is relevant until construction is complete. Following that, Pearl Construction Rating is introduced for two years post a project’s completion. Pearl Operational Rating then assesses the operational performance of an existing development and takes effect for a minimum of two years after completion and when a development has reached a minimum occupancy of 80 per cent.
The PBRS and the PCRS are applied at the design and construction stages of the process to ensure the sustainability targets are being addressed through all stages of the project.
At the assessment level, however, two other actors are involved: the Pearl assessor from Estidama who receives and assesses the submission documents and the Pearl-qualified professional who is from the design team and who constitutes the interface between the design and construction phases. Throughout the assessment phase, the Estidama website provides a resource of knowledge and updates as well as to source the relevant UPC policy documents for both systems.
Developers and design consultants in Abu Dhabi will have opportunities to be trained by Estidama experts on how to apply the EPRS in designing their developments and rating their sustainability performance. Developments will receive a ranking from one Pearl to five with five being the highest Pearl rating a development can achieve after a detailed submission to an Estidama assessor. Training sessions will be announced on the Estidama website.