AIArchitect, March 22, 2004 - AIA Expo2004: The Architectural Marketplace

03/2004

USGBC’s LEED™ for Existing Buildings Rating System Open for Public Comment Until March 30

Creekside Village Community Center, Buffalo, by RobsonWoese Inc. and Lauer Manguso & Associates, is the first building in western New York to achieve a LEED Gold standard.

The U.S. Green Building Council has released for public comment the LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) Rating System, which targets the 26 billion gross square feet of existing commercial building space with environmental benchmarks for optimizing building operations and maintenance. Comments are due by 5:00 p.m. PST, March 30.

The 90 existing building projects representing more than 17 million gross square feet in the U.S. and Canada participating in the LEED-EB pilot program include a wide range of corporate, nonprofit, and government owners. The current draft of the rating system incorporates feedback from those pilot projects, including lessons learned and more than 180 Credit Interpretation Rulings. USGBC is requesting public comment to “elicit constructive feedback from the broadest perspective in order to create the most effective and practical green operations and maintenance standard for the marketplace.”

Respondents should submit comments via an online form available on the USGBC Web site.

Following the comment period, USGBC will post online a summary document showing how comments were treated for the next draft going to USGBC members for balloting. A timeline for the various steps in the balloting process and planned release of the product to the market will also be posted at that time. Official release of the rating system is expected by summer 2004.

Visit the USGBC Web site for more information.

The LEED Green Building Rating System™ is a voluntary third-party rating system in which credits are earned for satisfying specified green building criteria. Projects are evaluated within six environmental categories: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Innovation in Design. Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels of green building certification are awarded based on the total credits earned. The LEED standard has been adopted nationwide by federal agencies, state and local governments, and interested private companies as the industry standard of measurement for green building.