Several current and recent consulting projects are helping to bring sustainable design to the city of Washington, DC.

DEVELOPING FOUR LEED GUIDEBOOKS
Four LEED guidebooks for the District of Columbia Office of Property Management (OPM) are helping the OPM’s internal project managers and external architectural and engineering consultants achieve LEED certification on DC projects as required by DC legislation. These are for:

• LEED Process Management for all LEED projects.
• LEED-NC (New Construction & Major Renovations) strategies specific to the District.
• LEED-CI (Commercial Interiors) strategies specific to the District.
• LEED Operations and Maintenance Policies for existing buildings.

CREATING A NEW BUILDING REVIEW AND PERMITTING PROCESS
HOK helped the District Department of the Environment (DDOE) and the DC Department of Consumer & Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) reorganize the building review and permitting process to implement and enforce the Green Building Act.

As a result, public and private project owners will receive far more frequent and integrated assistance from DCRA through information sessions and Pre-Development Review Meetings (PDRMs). DCRA will screen all permit applications to assess whether the project falls under the Green Building Act.

Under this new process, buildings subject to the Green Building Act will not get a building permit if they are not convincingly on track to be green. Because “brown” buildings won’t get built, these project teams will take the time to address the green requirements.

The work includes:

• Collaborating with DCRA and DDOE groups to develop a training program for permit reviewers and building inspectors so they will understand the requirements of LEED and Green Communities and be able to enforce DC’s green building legislation.
• Sitting alongside DCRA’s permit reviewers to help them look for green strategies in specifications and drawings. We will create a library of best examples so that they have tools for training new staff and will become increasingly autonomous in their new roles as green building enforcers.
• Completing green Design Guidelines for the District of Columbia Department of Public Schools (DCPS) through the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization (OPEFM) and DDOE. These will inform all new projects, renovations and ongoing additions and alterations. The existing design guidelines were brought up to the LEED for Schools standards.
• Helping DDOE create a project matrix that will allow the District to track all green projects and to maintain records of the projects’ LEED Registration, sustainable design strategies, any exemptions or waivers to the Act and their eventual LEED or Green Communities Certification. The project matrix we will allow the District to keep track of reported Energy Star scores (actual energy consumption) as required by the city’s 2008 Clean and Affordable Energy Act.
• Discussing with DDOE the development of a LEED for Schools and Green Communities Guidebook specific to the District.
• Discussing with OPM the development of a portfolio-wide sustainability program including existing buildings.

UPDATING THE GSA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GUIDE
HOK is updating the GSA Sustainable Development Guide (download PDF) for 2009 release. The existing guide was self-published in 2000. The new guide will feature a focus on Ecological Economics and Multi-Criteria Analysis.

Contact Design Resilience.  

Tags: Government, Sustainable