Sustainability

General Info and Experience LEED Projects

Saphire & Albarran is committed to obtaining LEED certification for its projects. The Leadership and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating is a nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development; water savings; energy efficiency; materials selection, and indoor air quality. The LEED program that is applicable to this building is New Construction and Major Renovation projects.

The firm has LEED Accredited Professionals on staff and additional staff members are in the process of obtaining Accreditation.

Cost of LEED

As LEED is a relatively new program, it is difficult to get a handle on the additional project costs of getting a building LEED certified. As more and more buildings become LEED certified, more and more is known about the cost of LEED Certification. The cost of LEED certification is determined by a number of factors including the level of LEED the client wants to obtain- certified, silver, gold or platinum- and the cost of obtaining particular points. For example, some points have no cost implication, such as the distance a project is to mass transit, while others, such as using certified wood in lieu of non-certified wood, have a premium cost. There are also administrative costs associated with obtaining LEED certification, namely the costs of monitoring, reporting and third party commissioning.

In “Analyzing the Cost of Obtaining LEED Certification”, the Northbridge Environmental Management Consultants in Westford, MA reported that LEED certification adds between 4%-11% to construction costs with some projects ranging as high as 30%.

To determine the actual costs of obtaining LEED certification for this project, the design team would meet with an estimator to identify the potential points achievable for the project and their associated costs.