U.S. Green Building Council seeks comment on new program
Washington Business Journal - by Tierney Plumb Staff Reporter
The U.S. Green Building Council opened its first public comment period for its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system for neighborhood development.
The program — a collaboration between the USGBC, the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Natural Resources Defense Council — is the first national certification system for green neighborhood design and development that brings buildings together in a neighborhood.
It provides guidelines on better location, design and construction of residential, commercial and mixed-use development.
The USGBC began pilot testing the program early last year and accepted nearly 240 pilot projects. Eighteen projects in the D.C. area were among those selected.
Project sizes range from the entire community being built North of Massachusetts Avenue to single-building projects such as Solea, the 60,700-square foot residential-retail project in Columbia Heights. A handful of the other chosen projects are in Rockville and Fort Belvoir.
The rating system will evaluate projects on criteria related to smart location and linkage to the community at large, neighborhood pattern and design and green construction and technology.
“What was once a rating system solely designed for commercial construction, LEED is now evolving beyond single buildings to address development at the neighborhood scale,” said Sophie Lambert, Director of LEED for Neighborhood Development, U.S. Green Building Council, in a statement.
Public comment will run until Jan. 5.
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