Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®), AgriTECH Park, Bible Hill, Nova Scotia
LEEDing the building evolution As hubs of technology and innovation, research parks have already carved a niche as intellectual and economic leaders. Now they’re on the cutting edge of something new, leading the charge on sustainable construction and design by integrating LEED® ratings in the development of their parks. Very soon, sustainable building and design may define other communities across the country.
The LEED® phenomenon Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) is a thirdparty certification system used by architects and developers in the design and construction of green and sustainable buildings. LEED® is not only raising awareness of sustainable construction, but it is also increasing in prevalence across North America, with thousands of projects representing billions of square feet dedicated to environmental stewardship. The ultimate LEED® goal is to one day have a building that is totally self-sustaining. Buildings will produce their own water and electricity while managing waste and providing the optimum environment to house internal workings and workers. This visions goes far above and beyond the way we think of bricks and mortar today. Getting to the ultimate vision begins with changes in how we approach building and development. LEED® philosophies lay at the grass root level of building differently. Beginning with the planning and design, moving to the actual construction and development, and monitoring the performance of a building over time, LEED® is a new way of thinking applied to a new way of doing. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) developed the LEED® system in 1998 to promote green architecture and raise consciousness over ecological footprints. Although there are dozens of third-party certification programs around the world, LEED® has become very popular in North America , providing guidelines for an entirely different generation of buildings. According to Mark Hutchinson, Program Director at the Canada Green Building Council, “It’s about what you want to end
up with. Certification tools are important in the sense that unless you make that commitment to certification, you don’t know exactly what product you’re going to have on opening day.” Every project that applies for certification is assigned a LEED® rating (Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum) based on a system whereby points are awarded for each of a building’s environmentally friendly features. Features designed to reduce environmental impact can range from obvious to complicated - being located along a bus route counts for a point but so does having a system to collect rainwater for flushing toilets. But designing with LEED® is only part of the picture. There are points available for how a building goes up on the construction site. Projects are evaluated not only for the composition of their building materials, but for factors such as the distance materials travel to the job site, the percentage of excess materials recycled, the percentage of pure waste and more. As a result, developers utilize building materials with high amounts of recycled content and low volumes of toxins, in addition to closely monitoring the meticulous recycling process.
More recently, LEED® building has also began to augment overall building longevity. Once erected, a building becomes a delicate ecosystem with sensitive diagnostics that require appropriate maintenance. Educating tenants on best usage is a new process important to maximize the benefits a LEED® building offers. LEED® is trying to address this by promoting measurement verifications to monitor how a building’s operations change over time as the facility ages. The result? LEED® buildings - top to bottom and beginning to end - become environmentally responsible and sustainable entities. Factoring in all the tax incentives and government programs across Canada, the path towards more LEED® building is becoming easier every year. The more enticing the journey, the more people are going to want to tag along. The benefits are something the public is just going to have to experience. DG
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