Sustainability and Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA), High-Rise Buildings

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a process of evaluating the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development, not taking into account interrelated socio-economic, cultural, and human health impacts, both beneficial and adverse (Cleveland and Morris 2009). According to the UNEP, the SEA is defined as a tool used to identify the environmental, social, and economic impacts of a project prior to decision-making. It aims to predict environmental impacts at an early stage in project planning and design, find ways and means to reduce adverse impacts, shape projects to suit the local environment, and present the predictions and options to decision-makers (Conventional on Biological Diversity (CBD) 2005).

Hotels and the wider accommodation sectors represent one of the most important sub-sectors of the travel and tourism industry. There is no recent detailed data on the size of the hotel sector but it can be reasonably estimated at the level of over 360,000 facilities and 30 million beds worldwide (Conventional on Biological Diversity (CBD) 2005; H & RA 2000). Premises located in Europe account for almost 50 % of the overall global market (H & RA 2000). Hotels provide accommodation to half of all national and international visitors, which, in Europe alone, account for 160200 million international visitors per year (Institution of Civil Years 2015). Due to the high level of resource utilisation (energy, water, consumables) in hotel facilities, the environmental footprint of hotels is typically larger than those of other types of buildings of similar size (World Tourism Organization (WTO) 2003). In this section, an SEA is conducted for Hilton Ramses hotel in Cairo. It will also be pursued with its broader definitions considering the economic and social issues in high-rise buildings’ energy consumption and GHG emissions. The objectives of the SEA of Hilton Ramses hotel are summarised in the following three points:

1. Environment assessment: energy consumption (embodied energy, operational

energy), water consumption, transportation impact.

• 2. Economic impact assessment: revenues per night, construction materials.
• 3. Social impact assessment: society welfare (job opportunities), and social