by Shane Henson — March 23, 2012—In an effort to streamline the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) building certification process in Europe, the organization’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building program will now recognize credits from BREEAM, the U.K.’s widely used green rating program. The recognition will begin with LEED for New Construction and the most recent international version of BREEAM, says USGBC.
“Europe faces unique challenges with its buildings, not only existing buildings, but also the wealth of historic structures that can realize significant resource savings and protection of occupants,” said Scot Horst, senior vice president, LEED + Global Strategic Innovation, USGBC. “The announcements show USGBC’s dedication in making the LEED program more flexible, starting with the specific challenges faced by project teams in Europe.”
USGBC says that the LEED program has always recognized market leadership, and establishing levels of equivalency with BREEAM continues this mission.
“This decision acknowledges the significant accomplishments of BRE Global and the BREEAM rating system,” continued Horst. “BREEAM is a sophisticated and mature system with a successful record of driving building sustainability in the U.K. and beyond. We can act now to make our systems more interoperable and more efficient for leading users. Our goal is to provide a benchmark of best practice in building performance around the world. In order to do this we need to facilitate project teams to do good work.”
The use of the LEED designation outside the United States continues to grow rapidly, notes the USGBC. At the end of 2011, approximately 40 percent of all square footage pursuing LEED certification existed outside the United States.
