Industry groups agree to streamline green building tool coordination and development

Major building industry groups the International Code Council (ICC), ASHRAE, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES), and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) have agreed to collaborate on the development of Standard 189.1, the International Green Construction Code (IgCC), and the LEED green building program.

The groups aim to create a comprehensive framework for jurisdictions looking to implement and adopt green building regulations and codes and/or provide incentives for voluntary programs such as LEED. The agreement outlines the development, maintenance, and implementation of new versions of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES/USGBC Standard 189.1, Standard for the Design of High-Performance, Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, and the IgCC, which will be combined into one regulatory tool. The agreement sets out to align the LEED program with the new code to ensure a streamlined, effective set of regulatory and above-code options for states and communities.

“This agreement, which underscores the AIA’s dedication to sustainable design and construction, should lead to more rapid adoption of responsible approaches by designers, builders, developers and a host of other building industry groups,” said AIA CEO Robert Ivy, FAIA.

“ASHRAE sees this as a move forward in green building, reducing fragmentation of compliance documents for users who are pressing toward a more sustainable environment,” ASHRAE President Tom Phoenix said.

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New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.