IGBC Certification: India's own green building rating, from registration to plaque.

IGBC awards four levels based on the points a project earns: Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The threshold for each level is set by the rating system the project registers under, so the same point score can mean different levels across systems. The target level should be fixed early, because it drives design decisions rather than following them.

Pre-certification is awarded on the basis of design intent, before or during construction, and is commonly sought by developers who need a credential to market a project. Final certification is awarded after construction on the basis of what was actually built and installed. Pre-certification does not guarantee the final level: if the built project departs from the design case, the level can change.

All three are green building rating systems, but they are run by different bodies against different benchmarks. IGBC is operated by the Confederation of Indian Industry, GRIHA by the GRIHA Council under TERI and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, and LEED by the US Green Building Council with certification through GBCI. IGBC and GRIHA are calibrated to Indian codes and climate; LEED is an international system. A project chooses one according to who it must satisfy: a client mandate, a government requirement, or an international investor.

IGBC maintains separate systems for new buildings, residential homes and societies, existing buildings, factory buildings, warehouses, healthcare, schools, townships, villages and cities, among others. The right one follows from the building's use and stage: a running facility goes under an existing-buildings system, not the new-buildings one. Choosing wrongly at registration is an avoidable and expensive correction.

Green building certification is voluntary as a national requirement, but it is frequently made effectively compulsory by others, several states and urban local bodies offer additional FAR or incentives against a rating, public-sector tenders may specify a level, and corporate tenants and lenders increasingly require it. The obligation usually comes from the client, the state incentive scheme or the investor, not from a central rule.

No. The Energy Conservation Building Code is an energy code adopted and enforced by states through their building bye-laws; a rating system is a voluntary certification. Rating systems reference and often build on ECBC for their energy credits, so the work overlaps, but demonstrating ECBC compliance to the local authority remains a separate obligation.

At concept design. Orientation, envelope, glazing, massing and services selection determine most of the credits available, and those choices are made early. A consultant engaged after design freeze is limited to documenting what already exists and buying back credits with equipment, which usually costs more and achieves less.

The building receives its certification and plaque at the awarded level. Some IGBC systems for existing and operating buildings require periodic recertification, since performance in operation, not design intent: is what they measure. For a new building, the practical next step is ensuring that operation matches the design case that earned the rating.