by Shane Henson — September 23, 2013—The choice to build a sustainably designed hospital is a wise one, despite commonly held beliefs regarding their construction being cost-prohibitive, according to a new study conducted in part by experts at sustainable architecture and design firm Perkins+Will.
The study, “LEED Certified Hospitals: Perspectives on Capital Cost Premiums and Operational Benefits,” found that the average capital cost premium for LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) hospitals under 100,000 square feet was 1.24 percent, and for hospitals over 100,000 square feet, the average cost premium was only 0.67 percent, based on analysis of 15 LEED-certified hospitals. The authors of the study were Robin Guenther, FAIA LEED AP, Breeze Glazer, LEED AP from Perkins+Will and Gail Vittori, LEED Fellow, from the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems,
“LEED certification is in fact one of the most sound investments a hospital can make in today’s economy,” concluded Guenther. “It delivers measurable economic, environmental and human health benefits.”
The authors’ research expands upon a 2008 study also done in part by Guenther and Vittori, which researched the capital cost premiums of 13 LEED-certified healthcare buildings, including hospitals, ambulatory and mixed-use facilities. Both studies found cost premiums ranging from 0 to 5 percent, with modest average construction cost premiums: 2.4 percent in the 2008 study, and 1.24 percent in the 2012 study.
In the five years since the 2008 study was released, LEED has become a design and construction standard for many healthcare systems, although the global recession has placed greater emphasis on eliminating unnecessary capital costs, notes Perkins+Will. While the cost difference between green and conventional hospital construction today is relatively minimal, the environmental and resource-use differences can be significant, the firm adds.
The results of the study can be found in Sustainable Healthcare Architecture, Second Edition, published by Wiley.
