LEED Certification

In 1998, the US Green Building Council created guidelines for building “green” in order to officially recognize qualified buildings as “green”. LEED has become synonymous with responsible building. Certification is based on a scoring system; with levels of certification ranging from “Certified” to “Platinum” (a project needs a total of 26 points to be “Certified”). Points are awarded in six different categories: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Innovation & Design Process. The process starts in the earliest stages of planning, so in order to ultimately achieve certification, developers, architects, builders and occupants need to share a common vision; it’s a holistic approach in every sense of the term. For more information on LEED, visit www.usgbc.org.