Green Building Certification Oversight and Guidance
During the early Planning Stage of a building project, we are typically engaged to provide a diverse set of services, depending on the project scale and certification goals:
- Site Assessment to identify compliance issues and challenges; such as wastewater treatment and greywater reuse, waste management (solid waste conversion to energy), transportation strategies, solar access, wind conditions, and natural resource assessment;
- Site Planning Assessment to ensure certification compliance, specifically for Community Rating System certification
- Building Design Assessment to ensure certification compliance, specifically for building envelopes, MEP systems, and building products and technologies
- Landscape Design Assessment to ensure certification compliance, specifically for irrigation systems, use of greywater, flora species options, wind barriers, and shading
- Interior Design Assessment to ensure certification compliance, specifically for flooring, finishes and coatings, lighting, appliances, fixtures, furniture, and equipment
- Project Team workshop sessions to familiarize the key team members with Certification requirements, processing, submittal forms, and responsibilities
- Implementation of Integrated Design Process (IDP)
- Writing the Sustainability sections RFP’s for all Project Consultant and Team roles
- Writing the Sustainability sections for all project TENDERS to ensure compliance.
- Managing & Facilitating the Certification Process under the required rating system (ESTIDAMA, LEED, QSAS)
- Managing & Directing the Owner, Design & Construction Teams throughout the Certification process
- Tracking and reporting Certification progress to the client and Team
A. Green Building Design Oversight and Guidance:
Our services extend to the Design Process itself, where we provide oversight and guidance to ensure compliance with green building certification standards, to reduce situations where ‘variations’ occur due to misinterpretation by project teams or failure of the design team to address certification requirements, and to expedite the design schedule by paying close attention to certification compliance issues from Day 1. We accomplish this by:
- Representing the Owner/Client at crucial Design Team meetings
- Serving the Architect and Engineer at design sessions where mistakes are often made in compliance challenges or issues
- On behalf of the Owner/Client:
- Schematic Design (SD) Sustainability Review
- Design Development (DD) Sustainability Review
- Construction Documentation (CD) Sustainability Review
- In Support of the Design and Engineering Team:
- Preparing Consultant RFP’s sections covering Certification compliance
- Incorporating Certification compliance sections in Project Documents & Specifications
- Incorporating Certification compliance sections in Project Tenders
B. Existing Building Sustainability Guidelines:
Existing buildings that did not begin with Green Building concepts or attain Certification standards face significant challenges. We offer services to improve overall building performance, which results in cost savings in Operations & Maintenance, staff turnover; as well as achieve competitive advantages in the market:
- Assessment of Existing Conditions and Recommendations to improve triple bottom line
- Assessment of current O&M plans and Recommendations to optimize
- Assessment of Indoor Environment Quality and Recommendations to improve and create healthy workspaces, living areas, retail, recreation and entertainment
- Prepare Green Housekeeping Guidelines
- Prepare Green Product Procurement Guidelines
- Prepare Recycling Program
- Prepare Staff/Resident/Visitor Sustainability Education Brochure
- Project Administration role for Existing Building Certification
