The Green Building Initiative (GBI) today announced that, according to a recent study completed by Drexel University professor Jeffrey Beard, GBI’s Green Globes certification process is significantly less expensive to conduct and faster to complete than LEED certification, according to GBI president Jerry Yudelson.
“Green Globe certification currently gives the market a choice among certification systems and provides competition that helps improve results for users, resulting in more innovation and lower costs over time,” Yudelson said. “In this particular project, the cost savings to the University were on the order of $1.00 per square foot, a significant number for a large building.”
The final report, prepared by Beard, an associate professor in the ?Department of Construction Management at Drexel’s College of Engineering, is titled “A Study of Comparative Sustainability Certification Costs/Green Rating System Cost Comparison Study: LEED and Green Globes.” Beard’s research examined:
- Intrinsic hard costs – allocable on a line-by-line basis – for meeting criteria in each of the rating systems;
- Soft costs, whether accounted for as part of the indirect project costs or secondary soft costs that arose as a result of the project, but were otherwise allocated or absorbed; and
- Optional costs arising from implementation of the two green building rating systems.
The research was confined to the Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building at Drexel’s West Philadelphia campus, a five-story, 130,000-square-foot laboratory and classroom building that opened in 2011.
A key variance in the two rating systems that was revealed by the study was the cost of using each for the Papadakis building. The breakdown summarized in the university’s records indicates internal (staff time) costs at Drexel for administering both systems were more than $125,000 for LEED versus $9,000 for Green Globes. The report’s summary shows aggregate green building costs (i.e., hard cost premium, soft costs and optional costs for sustainability rating) nearly 15 percent higher for LEED than for Green Globes. The table below illustrates cost differences between LEED and Green Globes in several key areas of design, management and assessment.
Funding for the study came from the Green Building Initiative. However, Professor Beard conducted the research without any oversight from GBI, using timesheets and other records of administrative costs maintained by the project team and Drexel University.
The Papadakis Building received three Green Globes from GBI and a LEED Gold rating from the US Green Building Council. The architects were Toronto, Canada-based Diamond Schmitt Architects and H2L2 of Philadelphia. Turner Construction Company provided construction services.
About the Green Building Initiative™ - The GBI is a nonprofit organization and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Standards Developer dedicated to accelerating the adoption of green building practices. Founded in 2004, the organization is the sole U.S. provider of the Green Globes® and federal Guiding Principles Compliance building certification programs. To learn more about opportunities to become involved in the GBI, contact Jerry Yudelson, President,(jerry@thegbi.org), visit the GBI website,www.thegbi.org, or send an email to GBI's Marketing Director Shaina Sullivan (shaina@thegbi.org)
Related Stories
Multifamily Housing | Dec 20, 2022
Brooks + Scarpa-designed apartment provides affordable housing to young people aging out of support facilities
In Venice, Calif., the recently completed Rose Apartments provides affordable housing to young people who age out of youth facilities and often end up living on the street. Designed by Brooks + Scarpa, the four-story, 35-unit mixed-use apartment building will house transitional aged youths.
Coatings | Dec 20, 2022
The Pier Condominiums — What's old is new again!
When word was out that the condominium association was planning to carry out a refresh of the Pier Condominiums on Fort Norfolk, Hanbury jumped at the chance to remake what had become a tired, faded project.
Cladding and Facade Systems | Dec 20, 2022
Acoustic design considerations at the building envelope
Acentech's Ben Markham identifies the primary concerns with acoustic performance at the building envelope and offers proven solutions for mitigating acoustic issues.
Sponsored | Resiliency | Dec 14, 2022
Flood protection: What building owners need to know to protect their properties
This course from Walter P Moore examines numerous flood protection approaches and building owner needs before delving into the flood protection process. Determining the flood resilience of a property can provide a good understanding of risk associated costs.
Architects | Dec 14, 2022
Carol Ross Barney, FAIA, named 2023 AIA Gold Medal honoree
The Board of Directors and the Strategic Council of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) are honoring Carol Ross Barney, FAIA, with the 2023 Gold Medal. The Gold Medal honors an individual whose significant body of work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture.
Healthcare Facilities | Dec 14, 2022
In Flint, Mich., a new health center brings together children’s mental and physical health services
Families with children who experience behavioral health issues often have to travel to multiple care facilities to see multiple teams of specialists. In Flint, Mich., the new Center for Children’s Integrated Services at Genesee Health System (GHS), a public mental health provider, brings together all of the GHS children’s programs, including its behavioral health programs, under one roof. It provides families a single destination for their children’s mental healthcare.
Sponsored | Multifamily Housing | Dec 14, 2022
Urban housing revival: 3 creative multifamily housing renovations
This continuing education course from Bruner/Cott & Associates highlights three compelling projects that involve reimagining unlikely buildings for compelling multifamily housing developments.
Multifamily Housing | Dec 13, 2022
Top 106 multifamily housing kitchen and bath amenities – get the full report (FREE!)
Multifamily Design+Construction's inaugural “Kitchen+Bath Survey” of multifamily developers, architects, contractors, and others made it clear that supply chain problems are impacting multifamily housing projects.
Green | Dec 9, 2022
Reaching carbon neutrality in building portfolios ranks high for organizations
Reaching carbon neutrality with their building portfolios ranks high in importance among sustainability goals for organizations responding to a Honeywell/Reuters survey of senior executives at 187 large, multinational corporations. Nearly nine in 10 respondents (87%) say that achieving carbon neutrality in their building portfolio is either extremely (58%) or somewhat (29%) important in relation to their overall ESG goals. Only 4% of respondents called it unimportant.
Green | Dec 9, 2022
Newly formed Net Zero Built Environment Council aims to decarbonize the built world
Global management consulting firm McKinsey recently launched the Net Zero Built Environment Council, a cross-sector coalition of industry stakeholders aiming to decarbonize the built world. The council’s chief goal is to collaboratively create new pathways to cut greenhouse gas emissions from buildings.