flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Drexel University case study report: Green Globes cheaper, faster than LEED

Drexel University case study report: Green Globes cheaper, faster than LEED

Report based solely on a case study of the Papadakis lab/classroom building on the Drexel campus, opened in 2011.


By The Green Building Initiative | May 13, 2014
A study based on the construction of the Papadakis building at Drexel University
A study based on the construction of the Papadakis building at Drexel University gave Green Globes an advantage in costs and spe

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:

  1. Intrinsic hard costs – allocable on a line-by-line basis – for meeting criteria in each of the rating systems;
  2. 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
  3. 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

| Sep 15, 2022

Monthly construction input prices dip in August

Construction input prices decreased 1.4% in August compared to the previous month, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index data released today.

| Sep 15, 2022

First LEED Platinum, net zero and net zero water synagogue opens

Kol Emeth Center, the world’s first LEED Platinum, net zero and net zero water synagogue, opened recently in Palo Alto, Calif.

| Sep 14, 2022

Fires on Amazon warehouse roofs seemingly caused by faulty PV installations

Amazon has made installing solar panels on rooftops a key part of its ESG strategy, but a series of events last year show how challenging greening up major facilities can be.

| Sep 14, 2022

Indian tribe’s new educational campus supports culturally appropriate education

The Kenaitze Indian Tribe recently opened the Kahtnuht’ana Duhdeldiht Campus (Kenai River People’s Learning Place), a new education center in Kenai, Alaska.

| Sep 13, 2022

California building codes now allow high-rise mass-timber buildings

California recently enacted new building codes that allow for high-rise mass-timber buildings to be constructed in the state.

| Sep 13, 2022

Orange County opens civic center complex—one of California’s largest P3 projects

Orange County’s recently opened County Administration North (CAN) building caps an urban center development that constitutes one of California’s largest ever P3 projects.

Laboratories | Sep 12, 2022

Lab space scarcity propels construction demand in life sciences sector

In its 2021 Life Sciences Real Estate Outlook, JLL predicted that access to talent would be a primary concern for an industry sector that had been growing by leaps and bounds. A year later, talent still guides real estate decisions. But market conditions of a different sort were cooling the biotech field: namely, investors that have soured on startups which underperformed after going public. What this means for new construction and renovation going forward is unpredictable, as the drivers behind life sciences’ surge are still palpable.

| Sep 12, 2022

Staff at New York City architecture firm is first in U.S. to unionize

Staff at New York City architecture firm is first in U.S. to unionize.

| Sep 12, 2022

San Antonio’s new courthouse aims to provide safety and security while also welcoming the public

The San Antonio Federal Courthouse, which opened earlier this year, replaces a courthouse that had been constructed as a pavilion for the 1968 World’s Fair. 

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category



Urban Planning

The magic of L.A.’s Melrose Mile

Great streets are generally not initially curated or willed into being. Rather, they emerge organically from unintentional synergies of commercial, business, cultural and economic drivers. L.A.’s Melrose Avenue is a prime example. 


Curtain Wall

7 steps to investigating curtain wall leaks

It is common for significant curtain wall leakage to involve multiple variables. Therefore, a comprehensive multi-faceted investigation is required to determine the origin of leakage, according to building enclosure consultants Richard Aeck and John A. Rudisill with Rimkus. 

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021