Greenship Professional Training
Hi, green building enthusiast!
I’m Satrio Prakoso, Director and Principal Consultant at Sustainahaus. I just completed my Greenship Professional (GP) training and successfully PASSED both group presentation and writing exams. There are a few stories I would like to share which might be beneficial if you are interested in taking the GP training in the future. Without further ado, here’s the story:
Greenship Professional Accreditation
Greenship Professional is an advanced education of Greenship Associate (GA). You must have passed the GA training before eligible to take the GP training. The objective of GP training is to become a green building expert/practitioner that can perform an overall analysis of the opportunities and constraints on how a building can become GREEN based on the Greenship rating tool. To view a complete list of GPs, you can click here.
Greenship Professional Training
GP training is managed by GBC Indonesia. In 2023, GP training will be held three (3) times: May, August, and December. The course was delivered online for Batch 1/2023 in five (5) days that cover six (6) categories of Greenship: Appropriate Site Development, Energy Efficiency and Conservation, Water Conservation, Material Resources and Cycle, Indoor Health Comfort, and Building Environmental Management. At the end of the training, there is an option to participate in the OTTV, Building energy simulation, and Dialux 1-day workshop. Since I was responsible for the Energy part, I also took the workshop and found it quite helpful.
During the training, GBC Indonesia will list down all participants and separate them into several groups. In my case, there were a total of 34 participants. Most groups have 5 team members, except 1 group with only 4 people. Yup, you’re right. I am one of these unfortunate four people in that group (still wondering why though). The group is assigned a case study where they must design a building to achieve Greenship certification. The participant needs to coordinate with the group leader and determine which category will be under his/her responsibility. They have around 1 month to complete but will have an opportunity to consult with one of the assessors / green building consultants in the middle of preparation.
The GP training manager recommended to have 2-3 regular meetings a week and my group followed that order. We spent around 1-1.5 hours presenting what we have done in the past couple of days and providing feedback to each other. We also had a chance to actually visit the project and get to know other team members. (Dear Group 4 Batch 1/2023, it’s an honor to spend time with you regardless of what the results we had)
During the “mid-term consultation” with the GB consultant, we received feedback on what criteria needed to be reassessed until the final assessment or “sidang”. We perfected our slides and calculation for the sidang and submitted them on time to the GBC Indonesia studio.
Greenship Professional Exams
There are two exams: Sidang and the Written test.
On sidang day, there will be several assessors to review our case study. We started by presenting each category by a responsible team member and then had a Q&A session afterward. In my case, 4.5 hours (yep, you read it right, four and a half hours) were needed to complete the whole session. Once the sidang completed, we need to prepare for the written test in the next couple of days.
The written test was an open-book test with a total of 40 questions and 75 minutes to complete (if I’m not mistaken). Even though it’s an open book, the test was not easy. I repeat it’s not easy, therefore you cannot underestimate it. In my case, because I have two ongoing Greenship IS projects and have read the Greenship NB references a few times, I know how to find the answers. But I’m sure that If I am not exposed to such things, it will be difficult to answer those questions or will take adequate time to complete, at the very least. It’s wise to say that thorough preparation is needed. At least be familiar with all categories and criteria in Greenship NB (beyond what you’ve done in the project group) hence you know where you can find the information needed quickly.
Greenship Professional Results
After a period of time (3 weeks in my case), the result was sent to the participant’s email. I was beyond happy to read that I passed both exams. For me, it’s simply because of not wanting to get through those processes again: participating in 5 full days of training, 8-10 PM group meetings, juggling between leading Sustainahaus and preparing for the group exam, and the sidang itself.
After knowing the GP result, we start asking around about the other results and I would say the success rate is definitely not high in my batch. So I wish nothing but the best for all GP candidates that will take the extra mile to retake the next training batch and congratulate those who have passed the GP exams.
Personal Thoughts
As a green building professional who passed other certifications, I can say that the Greenship Professional training is “special”. LEED, EDGE, WELL, Fitwel, SEA, GRI CSP, and EDAP do not require a group exam. As long as you passed the written exam, you are assumed “understands” what the standard is all about. I respect how the GBC Indonesia founders and management determined key parameters to have “GP” behind the names and I hope the course will be improving over time.
And for me personally, I hope this GP status can bring assurance to Sustainahaus’ existing and potential clients that I and the organization are one of the experts in this niche and will be able to successfully navigate the client throughout the Greenship certification process.
For those who read it until this point, I would like to thank you and hope you find this article helpful for your upcoming/ongoing GP training. If you have any personal experience or opinion about the GP training, please add comments below. Thanks and hope you have a good day!
