To expand the sky modelling study under the Mahindra TERI Centre of Excellence (MTCoE) project and strengthen the TERI-SGRI collaboration, the TERI team, including Mr. Sanjay Seth, Senior Director of the Sustainable Infrastructure Program at TERI and CEO of GRIHA Council visited Saint Gobain research facilities at Chennai on 11th May 2023. A constructive discussion was held with the Saint-Gobain Indian leadership team, including Mr. Santhanam B, CEO of the Asia-Pacific & India Region of Saint-Gobain. In an endeavour to decarbonize the Indian building sector and climate, we stressed expanding our research collaboration in the areas such as indoor comfort (thermal, acoustic, air filtration) along with the key focus on light & sustainable construction practices.

Mr. Sanjay Seth, Senior Director, Sustainable Buildings, TERI attended the 2023 GCCA- Global Cement and Concrete Association CEO Gathering and Leaders Conference in Zurich, Switzerland. He was a speaker in the session "Essential role of concrete in the built environment" on 13th June 2023 and gave an overview of building climate-resilient pathways. The deliberations were around the theme of how cement and concrete are essential to foster development and its role in delivering a sustainable and resilient world, along with the challenges on its carbon

Mr. Sanjay Seth, Senior Director, Sustainable Buildings, TERI attended the World Circular Economy Forum WCEF 2023’s opening session on ‘Global Ideas with a Nordic Twist’ in Helsinki. The session set the prologue to assess the progress made in the transition to a nature-positive circular economy. Interesting conversations happened around global resource use, focusing sustainable resource management and ways to implore upscaling circular solutions.

Sustainable Buildings, TERI organised a roundtable discussion on ‘Towards the Development of a National Guiding Framework on Sustainable Cooling & Thermal Comfort’ on 8th June 2023 at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The focused group discussion had key experts from central government, academia, industry and World Bank to discuss the different approaches on how India can accelerate the adoption of efficient and innovative cooling solutions, and boost the resilience of urban systems and their people.

GRIHA Council conducted a three full-day training program on GRIHA V.2019 from 24th May to 26th May 2023. Professionals from the Sustainable Buildings division team, TERI participated in the training program along with various other professionals from domains such as architects, engineers, and green building professionals.

The three-day workshop was divided into nine different sessions, and each session focused on the different criteria in the new GRIHA manual i.e., V.2019, for New Construction buildings. The session included a detailed description of each criterion for a better understanding of concepts, documentation, and the rating certification process. During the session, there were calculation practices and various site examples were demonstrated, along with the interactive doubt session at the end, which played an important role in better understanding of each criterion. The workshop also gave an overview to appear for the GRIHA Certified Professional and Evaluator examination.

Various dignitaries along with their teams visited the MTCoE lab to understand the on-going testing of opaque and transparent construction materials utilising cutting-edge tools and technology. The TERI team provided a walk-through tour of the CoE along with a demonstration and got acquainted with the various sustainability principles and design strategies espoused by the CoE building.

The divisional retreat for the "Sustainable Infrastructure Programme" took place from May 3rd–5th, 2023, at the Alaya Resort in Jim Corbett National Park. Team members from the Sustainable Buildings, Transport & Urban Governance, and GRIHA Council attended the retreat. Presentations and discussions about various ongoing projects as well as upcoming work were part of the retreat.