Groups Align Guidelines for Green Buildings

WASHINGTON — Several associations that develop the construction codes and standards used to create green buildings are working together to bring consistency to high-efficiency structures.

The groups include the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

These groups are working to develop the next edition of the International Green Construction Code (IgCC), the first green construction code for traditional and high-performance commercial buildings that helps to ensure safe and sustainable construction. They also are collaborating on the next edition of ASHRAE Standard 189.1 and the USGBC LEED green building program. Currently, these are three separate documents.

“We are working to align new versions of Standard 189.1—the Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings—and the IgCC into one regulatory tool,” ASHRAE President Tom Phoenix said in a statement. “This agreement also seeks to align the LEED program with the new code to ensure a streamlined, effective set of regulatory and above-code options for jurisdictions across the country.”

Codes are documents that form a statute, ordinance or law that is enacted by a state or municipality to regulate building construction. Standards are documents written by industry groups to address the standardized approach to a test method, construction material, or material design method. Codes contain references to standards to specify requirements for a particular material or method.

“In just a few years we progressed from developing the first model code for green buildings to a new cooperative document that will make it easier for owners, designers, builders and code officials to deliver sustainable, high-performing buildings,” International Code Council (ICC) CEO Dominic Sims said in a statement.

“Sharing resources will help reach the goal of environmentally friendly structures that reduce the carbon footprint and lessen energy consumption,” added ICC Board of Directors President Guy Tomberlin in a statement. “With increased demand for sustainable buildings, this joint effort will have a major impact on creating more green buildings.”

“With the consolidation of the IgCC and Standard 189.1, and coordination with the LEED rating system, the AIA’s goal to achieve a single set of regulations makes a critical step forward, while also providing a clearer path toward a sustainable built environment,” noted AIA CEO Robert Ivy, FAIA, in a statement.

IES Director of Technology Rita Harrold said in a statement, “Different partners have different strengths. Our organizations working together will result in harmonization of technical, administrative and compliance expertise to produce a single green code, simplifying the choice among design and code options for the using community.”

“This partnership leverages the unique strengths of world class organizations collaborating in an unprecedented way,” USGBC Chief of Engineering Brendan Owens commented in a statement. “Building designers and operators know the benefits of integrated design and planning very well—we’ve taken our cue from them and will create a system where the whole is substantially more effective than the sum of its individual parts.”