Redefining Green

As I walk towards Rangs Properties Limited (RPL) on Bir Uttam Mir Shawkat Sarak, the Rangs Babylonia building catches my eye. Babylonia sticks out in a city of grey, covered in green; it almost feels refreshing to look at.

RPL has been engaged in green architecture for the last four to five years. While trends are often seen a vital to any real estate company, RPL prefers to avoid going with the trend. Instead, their goal is to bring sustainability into their buildings, and it seems they are the ones setting the trend.

I sat down with Mashid Rahman, Managing Director of RPL to get a better understanding of their green journey.

How did Rangs get started with this green initiative?

Well, a little while back, I remember reading about an initiative in the World Economic Forum (WEF), where Mexico built vertical gardens along the side of their flyovers. It was very interesting, and I realized how there isn't space to grow horizontally in Bangladesh, but there was a potential for vertical growth. So, we tried implementing that into our buildings. We created the green fence, where we set up a fence of plants even before construction begins. And then, after construction, we also have vertical greenery along the length of our buildings. For example, we did a stunning vertical green at one of our projects named Lake Placid situated at Gulshan. We have been doing the same thing for Ranks FC Properties Ltd. (RFPL), our other concern at Chattogram. Recently we have replicated vertical green at a beautiful residence named Memory 71 at Panchlaish, Chattogram.

Where do you think RPL's initiative really stands out?

Well, firstly, no one else is doing this right now in Bangladesh. And our approach to green architecture is unique. We have focused on sustainability, which led to us using geotextile in our green fence, which is more sustainable, leak-proof and 40% cheaper than what is normally used in such a fence. As Dhaka sees record high temperatures, our buildings will be 3-4 degrees cooler from the plants. Certain plants also help prevent mosquitoes and other insects. I also think that as green is a cooler colour also makes our buildings very relaxing to look at.

Where do you hope to see RPL in the future?

We think there's a lot of potentials that real-estate companies can look to, mostly on the green side of things. I think a big success for us will be when other companies start their own green architecture taking influence from us. I want to take Dhaka from being this concrete jungle to the green Dhaka of my own childhood.