Did you know that LEED projects may qualify for up to 65 points toward SITES certification? ASLA members might be particularly interested in this, given the sustainable landscape feats that can be achieved through SITES, a comprehensive certification system for creating sustainable and resilient land development projects.
The SITES and LEED rating systems are complementary and can be used independently or in tandem. The new tool—an update to the 2016 document Synergies between SITES and LEED—streamlines LEED credits that have synergies with SITES credits, and has been created to assist LEED project teams to quickly assess their readiness (and gaps) toward achieving SITES certification, based on the LEED credits achieved or anticipated. The tool provides a quick scorecard view of the available synergies between the two programs and includes newly identified credit synergies.
USGBC and GBCI have long been committed to sustainable site development. The SITES program fills an incredibly important gap in the market, properly addressing the space outside of and between buildings by encouraging projects to integrate sustainable landscape development practices at the onset of a project during design and then into project completion and site management. SITES also goes further, emphasizing the critical importance of ecosystem services and health benefits of being outdoors. The rating system is also available for projects with no buildings at all because while every building has a landscape, not every landscape has a building.
Projects with buildings can use the LEED to SITES Readiness tool to identify strategies to further enhance health and resilience on a development project while preserving and restoring the environmental integrity of associated landscapes.
Download the LEED BD+C v4 to SITES Readiness Tool
Download the LEED BD+C v2009 to SITES Readiness Tool
For more information, read the full article published by GBCI.