The Top 100 Green Design Firms Search For The Next Green Thing
For the past 15 years, the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design standards has been the touchstone for sustainable design and construction.
But the 2009 LEED version 3 continues to be the go-to guide for green design as clients hold off on pursuing the more stringent LEED version 4 standards until they become mandatory in 2016.
So designers are beginning to seek new outlets the exercise their creativity in green design.
There is no lack of interest in green design, as can be seen in in the results of ENR’s Top 100 Green Design Firms list. As a group, the Top 100 generated $5.21 billion in design revenue in 2014 from projects registered with and actively seeking certification from third-party ratings groups under objective sustainable-design standards, such as LEED standards. For the group, this revenue is a 10.1% increase from the $4.73 billion in 2013.
Domestically, green design revenue rose 5.8%, to $4.11 billion, in 2014 from $3.88 billion in 2013. The Top 100 had $1.10 billion in revenue from green projects outside the U.S. in 2014, up 18.2% from $855.1 million in 2013.
However, many designers say that the profession is looking for new methods and standards to jump-start the sustainable building market. "I feel that the sustainable design movement has hit a plateau. LEED, for better or worse, doesn’t cause the same excitement that it used to and it seems we are waiting for the next BIG catalyst to happen," says Susan King, principal at Harley Ellis Devereaux.
King says the answer to “what’s next?” or “what’s beyond” LEED Platinum may be the Living Building Challenge from the Seattle-based International Living Future Institute. But the Living Building Challenge has not yet gained the market momentum that LEED had a decade ago, she says.
Many designers are feeling restless for the next step in sustainability. "We haven’t seen new programs and tools like the Health Product Declaration, Living Building Challenge, or LEED v4. Even the Living Product Challenge, which would have been quite shocking several years ago, seems like a logical next step today," says Russell Perry, co-director of sustainability, SmithGroupJJR.
One reason many designers are becoming restless is that many green building standards that were seen as cutting edge just a few years ago now are being adopted in energy codes and regulation. "The things we used to fight for, like continuous insulation and better high performing building envelopes in general, are required now," says King. This allows designers to focus on new issues, such as material content with the end goal of healthier products, she says.
LEED v4
LEED still remains the most widely recognized sustainability rating system in the U.S. However, the 2009 LEED v3 standards will only be available for the next year, before LEED v4 becomes the sole available LEED standard, which is causing some concern among designers and clients.
Many designers are troubled by the failure of owners to embrace LEED v4 now.
"There is a clear reluctance by building practitioners and clients to embrace LEED v4, as evidenced by the almost unanimous choice by clients on projects to register under v3 as long as that option is available," says Tom Marseille, senior vice president of WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff. He says part of this resistance stems from a growing opinion that going through a full LEED certification, even under LEED v3, is too costly.
Many in the industry say designers must do more to prepare for the time when LEED v4 becomes mandatory. "The design community will need to educate both themselves and their clients on the more comprehensive and stringent system," says Marquisha Powell, associate with Page. "Also, when calculating fees, teams should be aware that it may take additional time and resources to deliver a LEED v4 project as it adopts the latest version of ASHRAE [standards] and therefore it may be more difficult to meet energy benchmarks."
LEED v4 does make it more difficult to achieve the same number of points as previously. "We are typically seeing about a five point difference when we compare LEED v3 and LEED v4 projects," says Michael Pulaski, senior associate at Thornton Tomasetti.
However, some designers say that the profession should be ready for LEED v4.
"With some iteration and early drafts of what is now LEED v4 available to the public since 2012, the building and construction industry has had plenty of time to prepare for the aspects within v4 that are new," says Greg Mella, co-director of sustainability, SmithGroupJJR.
Materials Tracking
The biggest shift in LEED v4 is its call for disclosure of the content in various building materials to limit exposure to "chemicals of concern" that may affect health. The new standards are "moving away from single-attribute thinking for materials selection towards an approach that considers life-cycle impacts and health impacts of material ingredients," says Mella.
With the new emphasis on building material content, designers no longer can focus solely on designing a building, but also must consider the contents of a structure for the long run. LEED v4 and the Living Building Challenge "are exerting more pressure on the community by incorporating holistic and comprehensive material requirements that are more heavily weighted within their systems," says Powell.
Some building materials trade associations have vigorously opposed disclosure and have suggested that simply asking for an accounting of material ingredients exposes designers to unprecedented liability. "This position has been rejected by in-house legal counsel for many of the largest firms and, in fact, we are now three years in and the sky hasn’t fallen yet," says Perry of SmithGroupJJR.
While many designers are looking at the broad issues raised by sustainable design, clients and government agencies are looking for very tangible benefits from green design. "There continues to be an increasing focus on actual performance outcomes, on achieving the results promised during design, in particular with regards energy performance," says Marseille of WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff.
Marseille says this focus is starting to show up more in public project design/build contracts, is a requirement of compliance with some green building certifications, and even is starting to show up in building codes. "This new increased level of accountability is driving more integrated partnerships by those being held to account—architects, engineers, contractors, and building owners, operators and occupants," he says.
Seeking Tangible Benefits
However, Marseille cautions against taking the easy way out for results. He cites results from the continuing reduction in construction costs for photovoltaics and their low relative maintenance requirements. The low cost/low maintenance option "represents an increasing trend toward offsetting building energy usage using PV rather than prioritizing reducing building energy demand," he says. This "myopic focus on energy efficiency through investment in PV is not necessarily compatible with the delivery of the highest building indoor environmental quality," he says.
Part of the demand for tangible benefits for sustainable building can be seen on the West Coast and the Southwest, where there is an increased interest in water reuse systems. In drought-stricken California, some jurisdictions are encouraging and/or requiring projects of a certain size to incorporate water reuse systems.
"In San Francisco grants have been available for some time, and recently the city passed an ordinance requiring any new building greater than 250,000 square feet (within the purple pipe zone) to include water recycling to supply non-potable water to address toilet/urinal flushing and irrigation demand," says Karl Wakelin, project director at Thornton Tomasetti.
The biggest hurdle is being able to assess the success of a sustainable design element against real-world performance.
"Once we fought the disappointment that a single tool, the 'killer app,' never emerged to answer all of our form and technology questions related to energy use," says Perry. He says there now are many tools that are excellent in certain, but not all, circumstances.
But Perry is optimistic that the number of digital "Jedis" grow daily in their capacity to manage this uncertainty and find (or adapt) the right tool for proving green design effectiveness.
