GRIHA 5-Star Certification for Hospitals

By Arunima Rajan

All you need to know about 5-Star GRIHA rating for hospitals.

Do Indian hospitals have a massive opportunity from energy savings? According to a CII report on Energy Efficient Hospitals, hospitals can lessen 10 percent of its energy consumption, if energy saving measures are utilised along with clever architectural planning.

There are three primary green rating systems in India.

"In India, we have IGBC (Indian Green Building Council), GRIHA (green rating for integrated habitat assessment) and Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED). Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) is India's rating scheme formulated concurrently by TERI and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India.

"GRIHA is a green building design evaluation method where structures are ranked in a three-tier process. The process commences with the online submission of records as per designated guidelines, accompanied by a site visitation and evaluation of the structure by a team of specialists and experts from the GRIHA Secretariat," explains Satish Kamble, General Manager, MEP Services, Hosmac.

Registration and Evaluation Process

GRIHA appraises a building out of 30 criteria and awards points on a scale of 100 percentile. A project must achieve at least 25 points and comply with all mandatory criterion to earn GRIHA certification. Details of all 30 criterion are elaborated in GRIHA Manuals available freely on GRIHA official website.

Online registration

The project team can begin the enrolment process by filling an EOI Form on the GRIHA website. Registration is completed after payment of registration fees by the project team. Post successful registration, the project team is provided with a username and password for filling documents on the GRIHA online panel.

Rating renewal

There are two ways to renew the rating, and the project gets to enjoy the perks of being called a rated building. Renewal can be done either by submitting an audit data report (for three consecutive years) or by enrolling the project for GRIHA EB rating to maintain its certification for the next cycle of 5 years.

Registration Fee for GRIHA

Ar. Ankit Bhalla, Deputy Manager, Technical GRIHA Council, points out that the registration fee for GRIHA is the same for all typologies of buildings, whether it's a hospital, office, school, residential or a hotel project. The registration fee depends on the total built-up area of the building. "For small hospitals with less than 2500 sq meters, we have set up SVAGRIHA certification. The registration fees for SVAGRIHA projects vary from Rs 30,000 to Rs100,000. For bigger hospitals, it's around Rs 3.5 lakh for a 5000 sq m built-up area. For buildings bigger than this, an additional Rs 4.25/sq.meter is charged. For new large scale campus projects, like a new AIIMS or a new JIPMER institutes, where the site area is above 50 hectares, there's another GRIHA variant titled as GRIHA for Large Developments. For large projects, site area is considered, and it costs somewhere around Rs 7,00,000 for masterplan and phase1 rating," he adds.

How much does it cost to build a 5-star rating GRIHA building?

According to Ar. Ankit Bhalla, one of the most important factors to consider is whether a building is air-conditioned or not air-conditioned. "In GRIHA, what we look at, is how well the building is performing to the benchmark numbers or the standards defined numbers. It is not correct to say that if a particular five-star building is there, it will necessarily be expensive. The cost is dependent upon how you have designed the building and how well are you operating and maintaining the building. For non-air-conditioned buildings, the construction cost is around Rs 2000-2500 per sq. feet. And for air-conditioned hospitals, it's around Rs 4000-4500 per sq. feet. The operational costs and building costs of a hospital is dependent on the local micro climate. An air-conditioned hospital will consume more energy in Ahmedabad than Bangalore if not designed well."

Who rates the hospitals?

Third Party Evaluators of GRIHA Council assess the respective sections of project documents assigned to them and  share their evaluation with point assessment to council, based on which the GRIHA Council awards the desired rating to the project.

Challenges and Opportunities for Indian Hospitals

Ar. Ankit Bhalla also pointed out that energy optimization is easily possible nowadays with advancement in energy efficient technologies. "Hospitals cater to patients, and making sure that their comfort level does not get compromised is a major challenge for hospitals. Some hospital spaces need daylight, somewhere you need diffused light, and somewhere you don't want even one ray of sunlight to enter. Unique requirements make it very challenging. Hospitals also need to maintain a specific temperature band for different rooms; that's also another challenge. Especially for general wards, each patient might have different thermal comfort requirements. The indoor air-quality factor is also another challenge, especially for hospitals, where there are a lot of pollutants in the air outside the hospital," he adds.

GRIHA Pre-certification

Under the Office Memorandum by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF), the Government of India, GRIHA Council has proposed a procedure that will enable fast track environmental clearance through GRIHA pre-certification. All new construction projects with a built-up area of more than 2500 m2 (excluding parking, basement area, and typical buildings) are eligible for pre-certification under GRIHA V2019.

SVAGRIHA

For small hospitals, we can go with SVA GRIHA. It is applicable only for projects which are less than 2500 sq. m built-up area. Any building, except for a factory building, are accepted under the SVAGRIHA rating system.

Mamta Rawat, Partner Conserve Consultants Private Limited, notes that good indoor conditions help patients recover faster. "According to a TERI report certain key features of green structures like better access to sunlight and access to sights of good scenery, sound indoor thermal support and optimal indoor air quality help in faster healing of inmates. Additionally, environmentally mindful exercises in hospitals would guarantee that the well-being of inhabitants is a preference. Furthermore, by decreasing the pollution from the construction, the hospital also commits to promoting people's environmental conditions in its vicinity. Therefore a green hospital provides good care for both people living within it as well as outside it. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, is constructing six new AIIMS across India along similar lines as the AIIMS at New Delhi. All six upcoming AIIMS across India (Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh) are registered with the GRIHA rating system and are being designed and constructed to achieve a minimum of 3-star GRIHA rating," she concludes.