Sustainable Sites Initiative 2-Year Pilot Program Comes to an End
August 7th, 2012 by Fiedler Group
After two years (June 2010-2012) of testing various aspects of the Sustainable Sites Initiative Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009 at over 150 pilot projects, the pilot program has come to an end.
Feedback from the pilot projects will be used to revise the final rating system and technical reference guide, scheduled for a 2013 release.
While the industry has successfully increased the efficiency of buildings through the adoption of the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) sustainable rating system, many feel the rating system barely scratches the surface of what needs to be done to reverse the impact of decades of poor design, construction, and maintenance practices on vital natural ecosystems.
The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES™) was created to promote sustainable land development and management practices that can apply to sites with and without buildings including, but not limited to the following:
- Open spaces such as local, state and national parks, conservation easements and buffer zones and transportation rights-of-way.
- Sites with buildings including industrial, retail and office parks, military complexes, airports, botanical gardens, streetscapes and plazas, residential and commercial developments and public and private campuses.
SITES provides tools for those who influence land development and management practices and are able to address increasingly-urgent concerns, such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, and resource depletion.
They can be used by those who design, construct, operate and maintain landscapes, including planners, landscape architects, engineers, developers, builders, maintenance crews, horticulturists, governments, land stewards and those organizations offering building standards.
Fiedler Group has both a licensed landscape architect and LEED certified designer on staff to assist you with your design requirements.
It is important to note that the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a stakeholder in the Initiative, anticipates incorporating these guidelines and performance benchmarks into future iterations of the LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating
System™.
SITES will open a public comments period this fall seeking input of the next rating system. For more information visit their website at www.sustainablesites.org.
About SITES
The Sustainable Sites Initiative effort began as separate projects of the Sustainable Design and Development Professional Practice Network of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
In 2005, the two groups joined forces to hold a Sustainable Sites Summit in Austin, Texas.
In 2006, the United States Botanical Garden (USBG) joined as a major partner in the Initiative with the objective to create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction and maintenance practices.
