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San Diego Daily Transcript

November 11, 2008

The next wave of LEED certification -- Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance

By LAURA C. RODORMER, Swinerton Management & Consulting

The first big wave in the green building industry began in 2000 when the U.S. Green Building Council launched the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for New Construction ( LEED NC ). It took another four years to develop a pilot LEED rating system for the current portfolio of buildings -- LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED EB). After several years of working with the LEED EB system and refining it to provide the sought-after value, the new LEED Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance was launched in February.

LEED NC brought to the forefront the importance of integrated design strategies and technologies to create high-efficiency building systems that reduce costs, improve indoor environments for occupants, and reduce the overall impact on the environment. But how do you accomplish those same goals in an existing building that is not designed for maximum efficiency, for views to the outside or located near public transit? The teams at the U.S. Green Building Council have been working on this challenge for years with industry experts in the marketplace. The result of the focus and effort on this issue is the LEED EB: O&M rating system.

Like the other LEED rating systems, LEED EB: O&M consists of five sustainability categories -- sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality. LEED EB: O&M focuses on, as the title suggests, the operations and maintenance of commercial and institutional whole-buildings. Several improvements are worth noting in changes from LEED EB to LEED EB: O&M: nine prerequisites instead of 13, more robust energy and water efficiency credits, and increased emphasis on operational best practices.

Over the last eight years the building industry has seen a tremendous response from the policy community with regard to incentives and mandates for green building practices and certification. To date, policies have predominantly focused on new construction, as LEED NC was the first tool in the market, and because new construction can be influenced by such policy. Various incentive and mandate programs resulted in more LEED-registered buildings in the pipeline, and states, counties and cities anticipate the benefits of reduction in resources and cost.

For example, if a city knows that all new construction will have to achieve a specific energy efficiency standard, the city will have the tools to plan for the future demand -- a more defined quantity, as opposed to having to plan for unknown demand.

With regard to the existing building market, we have yet to see such influx of policy programs to help drive the LEED EB: O&M market. But that will change as elected officials begin to understand that green building is attainable and benefits the local economy by reducing environmental impacts, deferring costs and creating environments where employee retention and production improves -- all of which add to the environmental, economic and social fabric of a community.

In addition to policy pushing the green building market, nonprofit membership organizations like the Urban Land Institute (ULI) are striving to keep ahead of the wave to empower its membership with tools to thrive in the current marketplace. Chris Day, vice president of corporate business development at Swinerton Management & Consulting, will be among the featured speakers at the upcoming ULI San Diego/Tijuana 6th Annual Trends Conference to provide reflection and optimism for trends in the construction industry. Specifically, he will discuss the opportunistic environment with green building -- especially for the existing building marketplace.

Swinerton's Green Consulting Division believes the existing building market is the next wave in the green building industry. Looking around at the portfolios of buildings across the county, there is a tremendous opportunity to improve buildings in operation today. Improving the energy and water efficiency of existing buildings would be a fantastic feat; but to also include the operations of a building -- whereby occupant comfort is improved, less toxic chemicals are used indoors and outdoors, plans are developed to maximize efficiencies, product-content is considered for all purchases, data is monitored to improve building operations -- would be an accomplishment that reaches far beyond the property boundaries.

Early 2008, Swinerton launched a marketing collaborative called the Enhanced Building Performance Group (EBPG) with two other national leaders in green building consulting, Simon & Associates Inc. and BuildingWise LLC.

Simon & Associates, established in 1994, is responsible for the first LEED Gold-certified project in California and is currently working on the largest LEED registered project in the . The nation's fourth largest green builder, Swinerton boasts 30 LEED projects and 219 LEED accredited professionals on staff. BuildingWise offers LEED-EB expertise and has administered certification reviews for the first 35 LEED-EB projects in the .

Each firm in the EBPG team operates with a full range of green building consulting services. As a collaborative, the group will concentrate on implementing the LEED for Existing Building : Operations & Maintenance rating system.

The goal of EBPG is to assist clients in achieving increased performance, improved returns and commitment to environmental leadership with their existing building projects. The group enters the market at a crucial time when green initiatives are more than just a vision -- they now have practical, efficient and economical implications.

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Rodormer is the green consulting division manager for Swinerton Management & Consulting.