USGBC Establishing New LEED Program for Historic Building Rehabilitation
According to the grapevine of information in the green building industry, word has it that the USGBC is currently revamping the LEED guidelines in order to create a new program specifically designed for the rehabilitation of historic buildings. HooRay! At the National Trust Preservation Conference I had the opportunity to take several classes that incorporated ‘green’ into the curriculum. Having attended all the national green building conferences, i.e. Green Build sponsored by the USGBC and Green Building Conference sponsored by National Association of Home Builders, as well as many regional conferences on green building - - I have discovered that there has been a disconnect between the green building community and the preservation community. It has been my experience that there is tremendous focus at the green build conferences on NEW construction ~ the ultimate in new construction, achieving the platinum rating for a new building using the LEED building criteria.
We are both green builders and historic preservationists. At the NTHP conference in St. Paul two weeks ago, ‘green’ was the hot topic - - it was not a new topic, it has been THE topic for as long as preservationists have been doing the work of preservation. We share the common theory that the very “greenest” you can get is to take and old building that has been through years of service, fallen into blighted conditions, rehabilitate the building and restore it into service capacity. The icing on the cake is restoring the building using all green built technologies to improve the overall function of the building and preserve the building for many years of use to follow.
The preservation community has been practicing ‘green building’ since inception of the preservation movement. The need for the LEED program to revamp their program to suit the historic rehabilitation project is essential. It is my understanding that as it stands with the current LEED building guidelines, you only receive THREE points for REUSING a building. This is a faux pas in the program. The value of rehabilitating a building with green built technology and restoring it to working capacity is obliviously worth far more than three points. It is awesome that the USGBA is bridging the gap and creating this new program to address the needs of a historic rehab project properly.
One important element to consider about historic preservation being the “greenest” of green building - - is that the current standards strive for a building to last in service for 100 years or longer. This is considered an outstanding projected life cycle. In building new green buildings, you strive to use all materials that have a 100 year life cycle or longer. It is amazing to think that most of the buildings that go through a major rehabilitation process through preservationists have already served in excess of 100 years in their life cycle. Rehabilitating the building can add an additional 100+ years to the ‘use cycle’ of the building. So in essence, historic rehab projects that use green built technology will be in actuality serving 200+ years or more. On the east coast of the United States, there are buildings entering into their 300th year of service.
Additionally, when you boil down the historic preservation effort – maintenance is rehabilitation in essence. By maintaining the historic structure you are practicing conservation, an essential element of the green building theory. Maintenance is sustainability as well. When you use green building technology through the rehabilitation process you are basically almost eliminating any additional carbon gases footprint into the environment. The historic building has already served the 100 year ‘footprint’ in the building’s original construction – by rehabilitating the project with green guidelines you are not expanding that footprint any further. The “R’s” add up with preservation rehabilitation guidelines: reduce, reuse, recycle, repair, rehabilitate and restore.
It is truly wonderful to watch the green community embrace the preservation community and vice versa. They are actually one in the same theory – it is all about preservation – ultimately preserving the planet and nurturing a healthy environment for all human kind.
