#IAMGREENARMY: Making Sustainable Urbanisation Possible

The colour of nature, green symbolises growth, harmony, and freshness. Embracing our bountiful nature’s offerings, Mahindra Lifespaces has taken multiple steps towards making sustainable urbanization possible. With the #IAMGREENARMY initiative, addressing the ever-increasing problem of depleting natural resources and climate change, we have adopted a 100% green portfolio approach with a sustainable housing portfolio.

The Green Army initiative was launched in 2014 to provide students the knowledge and practical skills on sustainable living. The initiative is a million caring citizens program aimed to produce a behavioural transformation of lifestyle in its participants, their friends, families, societies, and nearby communities. This initiative also aligns well with the government initiated Swachh Bharat Abhiyan which focuses on the basic principles of cleanliness and hygiene.

Since its inception, the Green Army has been able to reach over 350 schools, 70,000 students, and 280,000 citizens. This year alone, we have educated over 18,000 students in more than 90 schools and 70,000 citizens across Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai, Delhi, Gurugram, and Bengaluru on sustainable living and sustainable communities.

Progressing with the aim to increase sustainable footprint by designing climate responsive buildings, reducing the ‘heat island’ effect of urban areas, enhancing biodiversity and helping communities to adapt to the effects of climate change is what we identify ourselves with as green developers. At the same time, everyone associated with the Green Army will contribute their bit in climate change mitigation by conserving natural resources, reducing air pollution, and also restoring the rich ecosystem. With sustainable real estate being the need of the hour, our eco-friendly buildings in every project ensure we preserve and re-use our resources with efficiency.

The four pillars of our sustainability policy include:

• Sustainable Products: We maintain a 100% green-certified portfolio of projects across India
• Sustainable Sites: The welfare of the workforce, resource conservation, biodiversity, and climate change abatement are how we strive towards creating sustainable construction sites
• Sustainable Offices: We aim to create a safe, nurturing, and inspiring workplace for all our employees and stakeholders abiding by our sustainable development rules
• Sustainable Communities: We are committed towards driving a positive change in our communities through CSR interventions. We also endeavour to promote the sustainability agenda within our stakeholders, including our supply chain, to ensure we all understand the importance of sustainability and the way forward

Our green or sustainable product portfolio is 100% green certified and we aspire to get a Platinum rating by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC)/ 4-star GRIHA rating. The salient features of our green products are:

• Basic amenities within 1 km radius
• Universal design for accessibility
• Low flow fixtures, rainwater harvesting and recycling of water
• Landscape using native and drought tolerant species
• Passive design elements to reduce energy consumption
• Waste segregation and organic waste treatment
• Use of renewable energy
• Use of local materials and materials having recycled content
• Adequate daylight and natural ventilation
• Enhanced indoor air quality

Every project of Mahindra Lifespaces is designed keeping these sustainable features in mind. The right policies, technology, and creating awareness amongst consumers is what we hope to move forward with in order to build sustainable, green projects across several cities in India.

Along with our sustainable products and its features, our green architecture or green design approach to buildings enables healthy living and the efficient use of resources. With this sustainable approach in mind, we have been attempting to safeguard air, water and the earth by choosing eco-friendly building materials as well as construction practices.

These practices have led to up to 25% and 30% savings on electricity and water respectively. Our green product portfolio includes our mid-premium residential projects, Happinest series of projects, and Mahindra World City. The recent additions to our green-certified projects are Mahindra Centralis in Pune, Mahindra Roots in Kandivali, Mahindra Happinest Palghar, and Mahindra Vicino in Andheri.

Mahindra Lifespaces’ approach to development inculcates green design aspects that minimise harmful effects on the environment with healthier and more energy-efficient homes. We are committed to building and expanding our green army with eco-friendly spaces that are not only good for the environment but also our future.

Know more about #IAMGREENARMY and other sustainability initiatives implemented by Mahindra Lifespaces here. Because, to us, green is not just a colour, it’s a commitment.

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