USGBC, American Chemistry Council join forces to advance LEED

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the American Chemistry Council (ACC) announced a new initiative designed to ensure the use of sustainable and environmentally protective products in buildings by applying technical and science-based approaches to the LEED green building program. This new initiative acknowledges USGBC’s success in leading the transformation of the built environment and sets up a pathway to take advantage of the materials science expertise of ACC and its members.

“USGBC and ACC share the goal of advancing sustainability in the built environment, and we will work together to take advantage of our collective strength and experience,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair, USGBC. “The looming impacts of climate change and the possibilities of improving human health and wellbeing favor collaboration and engagement as key strategies. The goal is forward progress.”

ACC President and CEO Cal Dooley noted, “Modern energy efficiency gains, building safety advances and carbon footprint reductions would not be possible without the products of chemistry. From windows to insulation, adhesives to flooring, chemistry provides solutions that enable the energy efficient and sustainable buildings that consumers expect in today’s world.

By combining USGBC, a leader of the green building movement, with the scientific know-how of ACC, we can develop a path to stronger, science-based standards that achieve measurable progress in sustainability.”

LEED is regularly updated through a rigorous development process that includes public comments, technical review and balloting. USGBC and ACC will work within that framework to incorporate state-of-the-art safety, sustainability and life-cycle based approaches to LEED. LEED has facilitated advances in building technologies, integrated design and operating practices, as well as the tremendous growth of the green building sector, which supports or creates 7.9 million jobs across all 50 states and contributes $554 billion to the U.S. economy annually.

The American business of chemistry employs nearly 800,000 Americans and supports nearly 25 percent of the U.S. GDP. Chemistry-based plastic building and construction materials saved 467.2 trillion BTUs of energy over alternative construction materials – enough energy saved over the course of a year to meet the average annual energy needs of 4.6 million U.S. households. Energy savings made possible by innovations in chemistry in homes in the U.S. prevented nearly 283 million tons of CO2 emissions in 2010—equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions of 50 million passenger vehicles.

In April 2010, the Building Team of Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio, Stanley D. Lindsey & Associates, Leppard Johnson & Associates, and Choate Interior Construction restored the 16-story, 310,537-sf building into the Residences at the John Marshall, a new mixed-use facility offering apartments, street-level retail, a catering kitchen, and two restored ballrooms.

A former movie house, the Allen Theatre was built in 1921 to seat more than 3,00

| Oct 4, 2012

2012 Reconstruction Awards Silver Winner: Allen Theatre at PlayhouseSquare, Cleveland, Ohio

The $30 million project resulted in three new theatres in the existing 81,500-sf space and a 44,000-sf contiguous addition: the Allen Theatre, the Second Stage, and the Helen Rosenfeld Lewis Bialosky Lab Theatre.

The Building Team preserved more than 65,000 glass blocks, which, if laid end to

| Oct 4, 2012

2012 Reconstruction Awards Gold Winner: Wake Forest Biotech Place, Winston-Salem, N.C.

Reconstruction centered on Building 91.1, a historic (1937) five-story former machine shop, with its distinctive façade of glass blocks, many of which were damaged. The Building Team repointed, relocated, or replaced 65,869 glass blocks.

Gallery forum at the Rice Fergus Miller Office & Studio, Bremerton, Wash. The Bu

| Oct 4, 2012

2012 Reconstruction Awards Gold Winner: Rice Fergus Miller Office & Studio, Bremerton, Wash.

Rice Fergus Miller bought a vacant and derelict Sears Auto and converted the 30,000 gsf space into the most energy-efficient commercial building in the Pacific Northwest on a construction budget of around $100/sf.

The historic naval facility at NAS Pensacola, Fla., required extensive renovatio

| Oct 4, 2012

2012 Reconstruction Award Platinum Winner: Building 1500, Naval Air Station Pensacola Pensacola, Fla.

The Building Team, led by local firms Caldwell Associates Architects and Greenhut Construction, had to tackle several difficult problems to make the historic building meet current Defense Department standards having to do with anti-terrorism, force protection, blast-proofing, and progressive collapse.

City Hall, as viewed through historic City Hall Park . Designed by architects Jo

| Oct 4, 2012

2012 Reconstruction Awards Platinum Winner: City Hall, New York, N.Y.

New York's City Hall last received a major renovation nearly a century ago. Four years ago, a Building Team led by construction manager Hill International took on the monumental task of restoring City Hall for another couple of hundred years of active service.

| Oct 4, 2012

BD+C's 29th Annual Reconstruction Awards

Presenting 11 projects that represent the best efforts of distinguished Building Teams in historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and renovation and addition projects.

To date, $5.2 billion worth of live projects have used MySmartPlans, including m

| Oct 4, 2012

Electronic power tool builds project transparency

As building projects have grown in scope and complexity, so, too, has the task of document management. A new online tool is helping Building Teams meet that demand.

HMC volunteers install planters in a vertical garden wall at the Second Harvest

| Oct 4, 2012

HMC Architects in service to the community

HMC employees give back to their communities through toy drives and fundraising efforts like CANstruction, which benefits local food banks.

Currently Reading

USGBC, American Chemistry Council join forces to advance LEED

Tags

| Oct 5, 2012

| Oct 5, 2012

| Oct 4, 2012

| Oct 4, 2012

| Oct 4, 2012

| Oct 4, 2012

| Oct 4, 2012

| Oct 4, 2012

| Oct 4, 2012

| Oct 4, 2012

Most Popular Content

Magazine Subscription

Get our Newsletters

Follow BD+C: