Municipalities and Departments across the nation are now deciding how they will address the issue of Sustainable Design. Unfortunately, many are making their decision without a good feel for how their choice will affect their projects.and budgets. There is obviously more 'sustainable design/construction' information out there than you can shake a stick at (a green stick, of course). Let's consider the cost implications from a few recent, randomly selected, "sustainable" fire station projects that our firm has worked on.
First, let's define "Sustainable Design". I always chuckle when I hear the overuse of any of the latest politically correct buzzwords or phrases (ie: "green", "sustainable", "environmentally friendly", etc.). It reminds me of the "organic" trend sweeping the nation. Suddenly people avoid buying anything that is not labeled "organic". I learned in chemistry class that "organic" refers to carbon compounds, which is pretty much everything on the planet. So ironically, even the fossil fuel you put in your automobile is organic. Anyway, Mr. Webster says that "sustainable" means something that can "withstand or endure". For the purposes of the green building conversation, sustainable means "design and construction practices that significantly reduce or eliminate the negative impact of buildings on the environment and occupants".
We can all agree with the goal of Sustainable Design. It has been said that good design is sustainable design. Over the centuries there have been great examples of projects that were planned, designed and built to be sustainable. Today, Sustainable Design implies that some very specific and predetermined steps have been taken to insure a "sustainable" result. The most popular process developed to achieve some level of Sustainable Design is LEED.
By now it is likely that all or most of you have been exposed to some knowledge or explanation of the LEED process. LEED is much too complicated to fully explain in this short article, but as a means of brief introduction.LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a voluntary rating system administered by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) a non-profit, non-government organization. LEED identifies five categories to consider sustainable design; site, water, energy, materials, and indoor environmental quality. LEED NC (New Construction and renovation) is based on achieving points for sustainable design or construction elements or processes. These points range from 26 (the minimum "Certified" level) to 69 (the maximum "Platinum" level).
There are several other programs used to pursue sustainable design, such as the Florida Green Building Council guidelines (FGBC). However, LEED remains the most recognized program for achieving sustainable design. And as previously mentioned many government units and organizations are adopting LEED as a requirement for all new projects. As a professional design firm, we are committed to the sustainable design programs that exist and the goals of sustainable design. We have been involved in numerous projects that have achieved high levels of certification in LEED and other sustainable design programs that exist.
Historically, the two most important issues for any project have been time and money...and usually not in that order. So how does LEED or some of the other programs affect the time and money aspects of a typical public safety project? We have heard some well intended proponents of LEED or FGBC say that these programs "should not increase your design or construction costs". If the designer already charges very high fees and designs very expensive buildings, then incorporating LEED may not cost the client any more. But for most designers and builders, the materials, time and work effort increases significantly. These costs are passed along to the client in the form of design fees and construction costs. In the future, these programs may be so standard that the cost increases will diminish. But they are not likely to disappear.
For the purpose of identifying some of these costs increases, we have selected the following projects to evaluate:
When you average the known and anticipated impacts of additional sustainable design programs to these selected project examples, we find the following increases to the total time and cost:
Design
Time: additional 2 months
Cost: additional fee of $30,000 (15% higher fees)
Construction
Time: additional 1.5 months
Cost: additional 12.5%
Third Party Commissioning and LEED Registration
Time: additional 1 month
Cost: additional $42,000
This study reveals that the average design/construction impact on these very typical fire stations utilizing LEED or similar programs is an additional 4.5 months and 18-21 % construction cost increase. While these are significant impacts to the project, most or all of the sustainable efforts will result in significant 'pay-back' over the life of the facility.especially when you consider that the life span of a fire station is expected to be 50 years plus.
Another important factor to keep in mind is that current building codes, along with good design practices, already satisfy significant elements of sustainable design. For instance, most building codes require that issues like insulation values, lighting controls, plumbing fixture controls, HVAC efficiencies, etc., be addressed in some level of sustainability. We have evaluated some of the stations designed in our firm without LEED and found that more than half of the necessary points for "Certification" were achieved simply due to code requirements and good design practices.
So if your capital improvement plan can accommodate the time and money impacts of LEED or a similar program, you should seriously consider it. But if you are thinking about incorporating 'green building practices' into your project because it's the latest fad, you really need to evaluate how it will affect your project and budget first.