6
Land
P R O F I L E
Before
After
This project by SWT Design, at the Novus International headquarters in Missouri, was certified under the SITES pilot program. / SWT Design
Greener grass New rating system for sustainable landscapes is expected to broaden the A/E/P market for work outside the building envelope.
By RICHARD MASSEY Managing Editor
assets, more than 144,000 acres of land, and con- trol over ports of entry and historical properties. The GSA recently flexed its muscle when it an- nounced a $947 million investment in federal courthouses across the country. “It starts with a big confidence boost. It gives landscape architects the chance to be the prime on a project. It elevates the importance of what landscape architects bring to the table.” Hunter Beckham, a senior landscape architect at Alta Planning + Design , a 180-person firm with more than 30 offices across the country, says the new SITES standards will be a boon to an industry that is already enjoying a momentous upswing. “It starts with a big confidence boost,” he says of SITES. “It gives landscape architects the chance
T he recent adoption of ecological and sustain- ability standards by the U.S. General Services Administration is expected to open new and profit- able markets for landscape architecture firms, and the A/E/P industry in general, as the new rating system – Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum – ap- plies only to what’s outside the building envelope. In April, the GSA announced it will use the Sustain- able Sites Initiative, or SITES, for its robust capi- tal construction program. SITES, administered by Green Business Certification Inc., an affiliate of the U.S. Green Building Council, functions like LEED, except it’s designed to measure the performance and increase the value of sustainable landscapes. In the works since at least 2008, the SITES certi- fication process, after a lengthy pilot program, is now open for firms to participate. And with the GSA on board, the potential is extreme. One of the largest and most diversified public real estate orga- nizations in the world, the GSA has a portfolio that includes 376.9 million rentable square feet, 8,721
Skip Graffam, partner, OLIN
Hunter Beckham, Senior Landscape Architect, Alta Planning + Design
THE ZWEIG LETTER May 23
Made with FlippingBook Annual report