Urban Green Council’s ‘The Cost of Green in NYC’ report reveals cost for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification is only four dollars more per square foot.
By Kevin Doyle
When conducting interviews for Construction Digital, the reason I often hear from companies for not seeking LEED jobs is that additional costs associated with certification can be prohibitive.
However, a recent study conducted in New York City by global construction consultants Davis Langdon and the Urban Green Council reveal quite the opposite, that sustainable building costs are nearly identical.
“I think if you ask the average developer, they would say it [green building] costs more,” agreed Russell Unger, Executive Director of the Urban Green Council. The results from “The Cost of Green in NYC” study debunked the cost myth by comparing the average cost per square-foot for certified green and non-certified construction.
Throughout 2008, data were gathered on 107 projects throughout the five boroughs of New York. Of that number, 63 were either pursuing or had achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Surveys were conducted for buildings with and without sustainability goals. Data points included construction costs, design fees, LEED design fees, LEED additional fees, and commissioning fees. The average square-foot construction cost for a high-rise residential building without LEED certification was $436; while the average cost with certification was $440.
Unger said he was “pleasantly surprised” with this result. Part of the study’s mission was to find out if the sluggish adoption of sustainable building practices in New York City was due to the perception that building green is expensive. In 2007, only around 200 of the nearly 5,000 permits for new construction projects issued in New York City registered for LEED certification.
Proving statistically that green is not more costly is significant in increasing the market share for green building, said Unger. “You’re not going to come out better off if you’re not LEED.”
He is expecting the uptake for green construction will snowball as a critical market mass drives material costs down, and clients demand more sustainable features. Many of the additional costs currently associated with LEED are dropping as LEED-compliant materials, systems, and processes become more common, said the report.
Of the 70 new construction projects included in the study, 39 were pursuing or had achieved LEED certification and 31 were not. These projects consisted of high- and low-rise residences, high- and low-rise office buildings, libraries, academic buildings, and cultural institutions.
Source: The Epoch Times