The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) has announced changes to the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Canada certification process that aims to streamline the certification process to an average of less than six months. The goal is to better serve project owners and deliver certification in a timely manner.
LEED has been a highly transformative force in the Canadian building industry, driving dramatic changes in construction practices, operations and design. To better meet the large market demand for LEED certification in Canada, the CaGBC has increased internal staff to better address the majority of backlogged projects and delayed credit interpretation requests (CIRs). The CaGBC has also hired four new review teams of highly skilled consultants, bringing the total to six teams who are now working to certify projects.
The CaGBC established a taskforce in June 2011, to further expedite the certification process. The taskforce put forth recommendations for significant changes to the CaGBC’s certification process. The recommendations will be implemented over the coming year.
Changes include:
- Cutting the three stage certification pathway to two stages for LEED New Construction (NC) 1.0 and LEED Canada Core and Shell (CS) 1.0 projects;
- Investing in technology infrastructure to improve the administration of certification; and
- Introducing a design review process.
Delays in certification can also be attributed to the failure of applicant teams to respond to certification reviews in a timely manner. To streamline LEED certification, the CaGBC will be introducing measures to help encourage quicker response times.
“Everyone needs to play their part to make this work,” says CaGBC president and CEO, Thomas Mueller. “Even with the new two-stage process, timely review of materials is critical to achieving the goal of under six months. We strive to provide the best service possible to help applicant teams understand the certification process, and also provide training workshops to further build out their expertise.”