OREANDA-NEWS. August 9, 2011. Tata Steel’s  commitment to society as an eco-conscious citizen was reaffirmed today with the  ground breaking ceremony of Phase-II of its Employee Housing Project at Kadma. This  is for the first time that a company’s housing complex is designed with an  environment focus and aimed to achieve ‘National Excellence’ status of LEED  (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification. The complex  has been built keeping in mind Tata Steel’s increasing task force at Jamshedpur  owing to its Brownfield expansion. This initiative adds to Tata Steel list of  several pioneering ventures towards environment conservation and employee  welfare.

The  housing complex is being built on the guidelines of Indian Green Building  Council (IGBC) Green Homes. It is the first rating programme developed in  India, exclusively for the residential sector and is based on accepted energy  and environmental principles which strikes a balance between known established  practices and emerging concepts. The system is designed to be comprehensive in  scope, yet simple in operation.

The  ground breaking ceremony was performed by Mr H M Nerurkar, Managing Director,  Tata Steel and Shri Raghunath Pandey, President, Tata Workers’ Union, in  presence of Mr Sanjiv Paul, Vice President (Corporate Services), Tata Steel; Mr  Manish Sharma, Managing Director, JUSCO and other officials of Tata Steel and  JUSCO and IVRCL.

Tata  Steel has always been a responsible corporate citizen in its approach to the  management of the environment having continuously adopted environment friendly  technologies in its operations as well as town management. While increasing its  steel making capacity from 6.8 to 10 mtpa over 2005-12, the need to balance the  load on environment as well as comfortably accommodate its increasing taskforce  has been one of its prime concerns. Consecutively, the Brownfield expansion  also called for an increase of employee housing. The housing project comprises  construction of 350 flats in Kadma,  adjacent to Green Enclave on land created by demolishing old quarters. An  additional set of 24 units of apartment for Senior Executives at K. S. Link  road, Kadma will also be a part of this comprehensive plan.

Addressing  the gathering, Mr Nerurkar said, “Tata  Steel’s expansion plans include a significant increase in its employee strength  which as well as a need to balance environment from all aspects. The complex is  the first one which has been planned not only to architectural perfections but  also to the best of environment safety standards. This is our first step  towards building green homes for our employees”. Shri Raghunath Pandey, on  the occasion, said, “I extend my  heartfelt thanks to the management of Tata Steel for approval of such a grand  and eco-friendly housing project for its employees.”

Mr  Sanjiv Paul, in his opening remarks, said, “This  is for the first time that a housing complex is being constructed on lines of  Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) Green Homes in this part of the country.  The project aims to accomplish 14 out of the several parameters under this  Certification. Moving on this line, therefore, Tata Steel can aim at 50 points  which will make this project eligible for Gold certification and a building of ‘National  Excellence”.

Tata  Steel's proactive initiatives as part of its Vision 2012 have ensured that the standards  it sets for itself to improve environmental performance are well beyond norms  and statutory duties. Tata Steel is looking at deriving following benefits from  this project:

15-20% savings in  water

10-15% savings in  electricity

Health and well being  of residents

Tata Steel has engaged the services of M/s. IVRCL  Infrastructure & Projects Ltd for this project at a calculated cost of Rs  104 crs. It has also engaged the services of the premier green initiative  consultant – EN3 (Engineering, Environment and Energy) – which integrates  engineering concepts with architectural visions to produce projects that are  seamless, that are in harmony with nature and those that are frugal on fading  energy resources.