Green Building & Environmental Trends : Green Building & Construction LEED AP Consulting : Rich Cartlidge : Environmental Trends, Urban Development

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Environment News Service published the findings from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) green study this week and the findings show that America is experiencing explosive green growth.The AIA study shows that 138 cities now have green building programs compared with just 92 in 2007, an incredible 50 percent increase! The Eastern region experienced even greater growth with a 75 percent increase in the number of cities with green programs. However, what I found to be most interesting was the following quote by Christine McEntee, AIA's CEO:

"It is encouraging that cities are recognizing the economic benefits of energy-efficient buildings, and equally encouraging that the number of programs across the country are increasing despite such difficult economic conditions,Our ultimate goal is to achieve carbon neutrality in buildings by 2030 and that all design projects will be sustainable as a matter of course."

 In light of this growth what is your city doing to encourage green building and how are you preparing yourself to take advantage of it? While GBET often focuses on the risks of green building it is equally important to focus on the potential rewards. I would love to hear how you and your company are involved in the green building field or what your plans are to enter it.

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Chris is a lawyer at the Richmond, VA firm, DurretteBradshaw, PLC, and is a member of Virginia's Legal Elite in Construction Law. Chris specializes in mechanic's liens, contract review and consulting, occupational safety issues (VOSH and OSHA), and risk management for construction professionals.

First, I need to say thank you to Rich for the great invitation to post here at GBET. Rich was kind enough to guest post at my Construction Law Musings blog and I am thrilled to return the favor.

As I study for the LEED AP exam and look at the issues surrounding the new construction landscape and “LEEDigation” (thanks to my friend Chris Cheatham for this term. I wish I’d thought of it). I feel the need to expand the discussion beyond what I believe has become too narrow a focus on “green” issues in building and law.

While the issues of the effects of third party verification, bonding, insurance, environmental issues, and contract drafting have rightfully focused on this growing economic and environmental trend, I do not think that we can drop our focus on more basic risk management issues. 

Without a broader view of the inherent legal and insurance risks in any construction project (large or small), the basics may get lost. Regardless of the unique issues relating to a project that seeks to meet a certain “green” benchmark (whether LEED, Green Globes or otherwise), contractors still need to be aware of the underlying legal risks and focus their efforts and contracts accordingly. 

The brave new world of sustainable building only adds an additional layer to the risk management techniques that are as old as construction itself. A contractor still needs liability insurance, still needs to make sure that payment flows well, still needs to be ready to file a mechanic’s lien or Miller Act claim if necessary, and still needs to make sure the scope of work is very well defined in a contract. 

Consulting with an attorney that is well versed in practical, on the ground, risk management from a general perspective will get a contractor 90% of the way toward the goal of sound business and contractual practice. Once this layer is established, a contractor will have a great base on which to “sustainably” build its “green” construction practice.

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This past Monday  (6/1/09) Florida Governor Charlie Crist signed Senate Bill 360. The Bill which has been widely criticized as a disaster for the environment amends the growth management statutes and eliminates the provisions calling for review of Developments of Regional Impact (DRI) and the transportation and sewer concurrency requirements in addition to the requirement that developers pay for road improvements. Governor Crist has been criticized as selling the environment to developers in hopes of securing financing for his Senate campaign. Much of the criticism focuses on environmental concerns which are of little consequence. Critics claim that the state will lose valuable wetlands; however, last time I checked wetlands were controlled by Federal legislation and any development that will destroy or adversely affect a wetland must first be cleared by the Army Corp of Engineers.

While the Bill may slightly increase urban sprawl it will affect only those areas which are already experiencing growth, the density requirement of 1000 people per square mile is far from the density required for sustainable development but it is important to note that the Bill is intended to jump start the construction industry within Florida. The Bill also aims to provide incentives for "green" building. While there is currently a substantial built housing inventory in the state it is my hope that this Bill will help clear the hurdles and red tape encountered by higher density mixed use and sustainable communities and will ultimately encourage responsible development within the state.

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like if an entire city block was demolished and rebuilt in a sustainable manner? Imagine a city block suffering from years of neglect, crumbling and blighted being demolished and replaced by modern, innovative, sustainable buildings. For the residents of Dallas this is soon to be reality.

The Central Dallas Community Development Corporation (CDCDC) will be funding and developing the project which received design concepts from all over the world. The new city block will be an off the grid block harnessing solar, wind, and geo thermal energy to meet its power, heating and cooling needs. The block will incorporate many sustainable features. John Greenan of CDCDC summed up the benefits of the project in the following quote:

“I think Re:Vision Dallas is going to change the way people look at Dallas. Dallas--like most sunbelt cities--has more to gain than any other area of the United States from sustainable technology. Our period of greatest energy usage coincides with the best period to produce solar energy, the summer when we need air conditioning, so we have the possibility of vastly reducing the needs for new power plants by employing renewable energy sources. Peak power and peak loads come at the same time. Texas already leads the nation in wind production. It's possible that Re:Vision Dallas, along with other initiatives already in place, will help make Texas a leader in solar power as well, and maybe even geothermal energy.

That's just part of what the project will do. The winning designs are so striking--both beautiful and unusual--that we think the project will be a must see destination. The urban farming incorporated in the designs will bring attention to the Slow Food movement and help accelerate the growth of Dallas's Farmer's Market, which is only a short distance away. In the end, I think the project will have more impact than we can even imagine now.”

Re:Vision Dallas has the potential to change the way we think about urban design and serve as a model for how the cities of tomorrow are constructed. In my previous post I discussed the Babcock Ranch project, the eco-city of tomorrow being built in Florida which will hopefully serve as the suburban model for sustainable communities. It is my hope that these two projects in combination can serve as a model for how future communities in both urban and suburban environments are constructed.

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Sustainable projects present a plethora of unique issues which must be addressed by an attorney prior to and during construction of the building in order to minimize the potential for future litigation.While design professionals carry insurance it is paramount to consider whether the insurance carried by the design professional is adequate in light of the sustainable nature of this project. Sustainable design is different from the traditional design that many professionals such as engineers and architects engage in and is also in its infancy therefore, giving rise to a greater probability that there could be problems inherent in the design for which the owner may wish to sue the design professional. Likewise, it is important to evaluate the warranty and guarantee language of the products and materials being utilized in the construction to ensure that green construction procedures and installation techniques do not void the warranty for a product.

Closely related to the warranty and guarantee issue is the potential for intellectual property infringement or the need to protect intellectual property. Sustainable building is still in its infancy and new techniques and methods to achieve LEED credits are being still being developed. The owner, general contractor, and architect must be aware of the potential for intellectual property infringement by utilizing techniques pioneered by others as well as aware of the need to protect innovative strategies or methods that might be developed during the construction of their building. Clients need to be advised of the importance of contractually defining who is responsible for infringements of other’s rights as well as who will own the intellectual property rights to any techniques developed during this project.

Sustainable buildings have both short term performance goals, such as obtaining certification as well as longer term performance goals such as reduced energy use or the use of energy from renewable resources. The performance goals of a sustainable building must be discussed with the client and if necessary contracts must be drafted to ensure these long term performance goals are met by tenants and other parties. It is important that the client realizes that in constructing a green building, obtaining LEED certification is just one small step and that without the proper education and operation guidelines and contracts in place the true energy savings will not be achieved.

The owner must also consider whether traditional insurance will be adequate to compensate them and permit them to rebuild to LEED standards in the case of a loss, or whether they should obtain an insurance policy which specifically addresses the sustainable nature of the building and provides adequate funds to rebuild a LEED building in the event of a loss.

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Today I am going to be a little unconventional and rather focus on my own thoughts or a current issue I am going to encourage you to check out what some of my friends in the construction,design,legal, and real estate industries are up to. The links below are all excellent resources if you have any interest in this area.

• Chris Hill writes a blog www.constructionlawva.com where he focuses on key legal issues surrounding the construction industry. Chris can be contacted on Twitter @constructionlaw.
• Shari Shapiro writes a blog www.greenbuildinglawblog.com where she focuses on key issues surrounding green construction, land use planning, and current and pending legislation. Shari can be contacted on Twitter @sharishapiro.
• Chris Cheatham writes a blog www.greenbuildinglawupdate.com where he focuses on green building LEEDigation, and legislation. Chris is responsible for motivating me to write this blog and a great resource. Chris can be contacted on Twitter @chrischeatham.
• James Bedell writes a blog www.build2sustain.com where he is seeking to document how energy efficient remodeling can be performed. James can be contacted on Twitter @jamesbedell.
• Vik Duggal, the master mind behind www.konstructr.com is an invaluable resource who brings people involved in all disciplines of the real estate development world together. Vik can be contacted on Twitter @vikdug.
• Stepehen Del Percio writes a blog www.greenbuildingsnyc.com which focuses on green and sustainable projects in NYC. Stephen can be contacted on Twitter @stephendp.

All of these individuals are people I encourage you to connect with, each and every one of them is very knowledgeable, approachable, and a truly valueable resource.

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How do we avoid using the words green and sustainable when talking about construction and buildings? A green or sustainable building broken down to its simplest principles is one built upon best construction practices. The best practices yield the best results, buildings that have a low impact on the natural environment, improve occupant comfort and health, and conserve resources such as water, electricity, and construction materials. An article published today on treehugger stated that 98% of products labeled as green are actually greenwashed! Think about it, do we really want to use a word such as green which is rapidly losing its meaning and becoming associated with fraud? I firmly believe at the end of the day anybody building a "green" building is building it to those standards because they want the best, therefore I propose we use the term best practices, which has been widely used in the past to refer to green/sustainable building practices. What do you think? Should we build the best building or continue to use a word which is becoming associated with fraud?

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You might not expect this from someone who has a blog with the word green in its title but the word green needs to vanish from our building vernacular! Why? When we call a building green we are using green as an adjective to set the building on a pedestal and show that it is unique. One of my primary goals with this blog is to educate individuals about sustainable building. A building requires a large output of capital, and should be built to last. Sustainable design and building practices represent the future of the construction industry, a concept which is widely discussed at Konstructr.This week Vik Duggal (@vikdug on twitter) discussed the concept behind Konstructr. If we take a minute to stop and think about his message it should become obvious that green is a word which needs to vanish from our vocabulary. Personally I cannot wait until green is no longer used in reference to buildings and returns to its roots as a word used to describe an object's color. Did the Romans intend to build a green building when they built the temples or the Egyptians when they built the pyramids? No! They built buildings which were made to last, beautiful, sustainable buildings that are still here centuries later. Next time someone asks you about green building tell them its not about "green" its about sustainability. Let us all strive to build the temples and pyramids of our generation.

Photo Credit: Jetsongreen.com

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