Grand Rapids architecture firm key player in developing new LEED pilot program

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

Grand Rapids-based Progressive AE is a key player in developing a new LEED certification program for the U.S. Green Building Council. The program, called Volume Certification, allows companies who erect multiple buildings of a similar type—think Office Depot or McDonald’s—to create a standard portfolio and pre-certify the prototype buildings to streamline the process.

“We’re still awarding a certification to each building.” says the USGBC's Melissa Gallagher-Rogers. “The certification has the same rigor and the same credibility but will cut costs, and that’s the purpose of the program.”

The USGBC selected 40 companies for the pilot launched in 2005, including a Progressive AE client.

“The effect this pilot will have on green building is profound,” says Jeff Remtema, Progressive’s Director of Sustainability.

Remtema declined to name the client, citing a non-disclosure agreement. But he did say that a typical LEED project for the client runs 60,000 to 100,000 square feet. Existing LEED programs are set up for buildings constructed one at a time.

“With the portfolio program, we’re doing over 200 buildings a year for them,” Remtema says. “Thirty have achieved certification, there are another 100 in the pipeline and another 50 buildings not constructed yet.”

Remtema has been part of the pilot since the beginning, working with the USGBC in Washington D.C. and putting together a documentation process for the client to track types of materials used, processes followed, and to determine if a particular task falls to, say, the architect, owner or construction company.

Gallagher-Rogers expects to roll out the new program nationwide mid-2009.

Source: Melissa Gallagher-Rogers, U.S. Green Building Council; Jeff Remtema, Progressive AE

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].