40,000 LEED APs and Counting

During the past year, more than 15,000 design and construction professionals in the U.S. earned their green stripes by becoming accredited through the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Accredited Professionals program. Some 40,000 AEC professionals are now accredited through the USGBC, up from 25,000 last year, according to the Washington, D.C.-based organization.

Since 2004, BD+C has tracked the number of LEED APs within the nation’s largest AEC firms as part of its annual Giants 300 survey (see special pullout poster and accompanying charts starting on page 41). Of the 348 firms surveyed this year, 93% report having at least one LEED AP on staff, and 58% say they have 10 or more LEED APs.

For the third year running, Chicago-based Perkins+Will takes the top spot on BD+C’s top 50 Building Team LEED APs ranking, with 753 green building pros on staff. More than 300 P+W staffers became accredited during the past 12 months, the result of a corporate mandate, says communications manager Katie McGee.

Mithun, Seattle, has the highest percentage of LEED APs on staff. More than two-thirds (69.5%) of firm’s total staff is accredited. Perkins+Will (60.9%), LPA (59.2%), CUH2A (43.5%), and Gould Evans Associates (40.5%) round out the top five.

BD+C’s Top 50 Building Team LEED APs

Source: 2007 Giants 300 survey
Note: This ranking is based on firms that made the Giants 300 list.
1. Perkins+Will 753 1,236 60.9 2. Gensler 575 2,480 23.2 3. HOK 456 2,153 21.2 4. Stantec 277 5,977 4.6 5. The Turner Corp. 260 — — 6. SmithGroup 243 817 29.7 7. HDR Architecture 192 1,111 17.3 8. DPR Construction 185 676 27.4 9. CUH2A 161 370 43.5 10. HKS 155 1,148 13.5 11. Mithun 137 197 69.5 12. LPA 126 213 59.2 13. Skanska USA Building 125 — — 14. Leo A Daly 123 1,081 11.4 15. DLR Group 120 556 21.6 16. Gilbane Building Co. 118 1,800 6.6 17. Cannon Design 115 749 15.4 18. JE Dunn Construction Group 110 3,369 3.3 18. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill 110 1,280 8.6 20. NBBJ 109 728 15.0 21. Arup 105 8,500 1.2 22. Swinerton Inc. 103 1,280 8.0 23. DMJM H&N 96 1,297 7.4 24. Bovis Lend Lease 94 2,937 3.2 25. Callison 92 638 14.4 26. Moseley Architects 87 227 38.3 26. Webcor Builders 87 — — 28. Zimmer Gunsul Frasca 85 439 19.4 29. Gould Evans Associates 83 205 40.5 30. Perkins Eastman 80 722 11.1 31. Hammel, Green and Abrahamson 79 508 15.6 32. KlingStubbins 75 540 13.9 32. RTKL Associates 75 1,051 7.1 34. M. A. Mortenson Co. 74 1,234 6.0 35. STV Group 70 1,455 4.8 35. Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback 70 300 23.3 37. Flack + Kurtz 69 383 18.0 37. URS Corp. 69 29,308 0.2 39. Jacobs Engineering Group 68 — — 40. CH2M HILL 66 4,704 1.4 41. Affiliated Engineers 65 508 12.8 42. Hayes, Seay, Mattern & Mattern 63 650 9.7 43. RNL Design 62 185 33.5 44. Clark Group 61 2,945 2.1 44. HMC Architects 61 432 14.1 46. KPFF Consulting Engineers 60 853 7.0 47. Cooper Carry 58 287 20.2 48. Clark Nexsen 56 322 17.4 48. Holder Construction 56 377 14.9 50. Einhorn Yaffee Prescott 54 300 18.0 50. Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott 54 180 30.0