The British Council Lahore’s Green and LEED-certified Library Building

Abstract

Subject Area

Project Management, Business Ethics.

Study Level

This case is suitable to be used in advanced undergraduate and MBA/MSc level.

Case Overview

The case highlights the challenges of adopting the green concept by British Council Lahore. The British Council Lahore’s new Library aimed at providing modern twentieth-century library services to the educational community in Lahore was completed in August 2016 and became one of the earliest and highest rated Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Building Design and Construction (BD + C): new construction-certified building in Pakistan. The library building was a stellar outcome of design and innovation, rating high on water use reduction, energy efficiency, use of wastewater technology, sustainable site design, use of green materials and resources, high indoor environmental quality, and innovation. The architect was Raza Ali Dada, the lead architect and partner of the prestigious architectural firm Nayyar Ali Dada & Associates (NADA). It is January 2016, and he faces the problem of a serious impasse with the client (British Council) because of a difference of understanding safety and design priorities of the green project. This may be due to possible inaccurate assessment of component costs by NADA and be caused by the client’s inflexibility with security features of the building. Operational and stakeholder processes that assist and hinder the adoption of green building design in a country like Pakistan can be seen in play in the context. The impasses can, at worse, result in the loss of the entire business from the British Council, or at best, serious delays in project delivery, which would reflect very badly on NADA’s ability to handle construction projects. How can Raza proceed with the negotiations? How can the client be won over before the impasse turned into schedule delays that the firm could not afford?

Expected Learning Outcomes

The learning objectives of this case are as follows:

• to introduce students to the “Green Building” concept and LEED certification and its various levels;

• to highlight the operational and strategic processes that can assist the adoption of green infrastructure in Pakistan; and

• to illustrate challenges associated with the adoption of responsible building design in emerging economies with constrained resources and poor awareness of the need for greener infrastructure among industry clients.

Citation

Waheed, Z. (2019), "The British Council Lahore’s Green and LEED-certified Library Building", Quoquab, F. and Mohammad, J. (Ed.) Green Behavior and Corporate Social Responsibility in Asia, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 17-25. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78756-683-520191004