New sustainable landscape development and management credential launched

Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) launched a new credential for landscape architects and sustainability professionals on Oct. 1.

The SITES Accredited Professional (SITES AP) establishes a common framework to define sustainable landscape design and development, and provides landscape professionals with the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, expertise, and commitment to the profession, the organization says. The accreditation emphasizes a metrics-based approach to important concepts like ecosystem services and green infrastructure so that developers and owners can make informed land use decisions.

SITES was developed by a collaboration of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and the United States Botanic Garden. The rating system can be applied to development projects on sites with or without buildings, and draws on the experience gained from a two-year pilot program involving more than 100 projects. Today, 47 projects have achieved SITES certification under the pilot.

The first sponsored testing opportunity for the SITES AP exam was held on Oct. 3, 2016, during the annual Greenbuild International Conference and Expo. An additional testing opportunity will be held on Oct. 25, 2016, during the 2016 ASLA Annual Meeting and Expo in New Orleans. To register for the SITES AP exam, visit sitesonline.usgbc.org.

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.