A key objective of green building is improving the health of building inhabitants. The US EPA has reported that Americans spend 90% of their time on average indoors, making healthy indoor environments seem like an obvious choice. And building a healthy environment for healing seems like an even more obvious choice. Centuries ago, didn’t doctor’s instruct the sick to recuperate in the countryside partially because something about clean air and a non-toxic environment led to healing? Well, it seems that modern medicine has begun to recall this basic remedy, and the push for greening healthcare environments has finally begun to make some inroads.
In San Francisco last month a partner at our firm, Eric Phillips, spoke at the Greening Hospitals Breakfast Form event organized and sponsored by Turner Construction, HDR Architects, Mazzetti & Associates and Bell, Rosenberg & Hughes. The forum was a chance for hospital employees, contractors and design professionals in the healthcare trade to obtain an inside scoop on the newest offerings from organizations working to facilitate green hospital construction. Green hospital construction faces specific challenges such as 24 hour energy loads, excessive amounts of chemicals and contaminated wastes, and fragile inhabitants. Healthcare facility owners, designers and contractors also have the additional legal challenges of complying with strict regulations that ensure the safety of their buildings. In California, OSHPD is the agency overseeing all hospital construction, adding yet another hurdle to building healthcare facilities.
Other speakers at the forum included members from The Green Guide for Healthcare (GGHC) the USGBC, and the The Global Health and Safety Initiative (GHSI). Each of the speakers explained how their organizations products and services will assist in creating healthy and green healthcare facilities. GGHC is a voluntary self-certifying system that has been available free on-line since its inception in 2003. GGHC launched a comprehensive certifying system, version 2.2 in January 2007, and the operations section of the toolkit was recently updated in 2008. The GGHC is similar to the LEED products and is based on a point based system where each credit includes an intent, referenced standard, suggested documentation, and potential technologies and strategies. It also includes a section with input by a doctor identifying the health impact of each credit.
The GGHC and the USGBC have had an amicable relationship, and currently, they have been collaborating to create LEED for healthcare, a new LEED product specifically aimed at green health care facility design and construction. LEED for Healthcare is undergoing a second public comment period, but will likely be released in late fall 2009.
Lastly, a representative from the GHSI spoke about their organization which is a collaboration of groups and hospitals who’s goal is to promote healthy environments for healthcare facilities. Launched in California in October, 2007, the GHSI seeks to bring together everyone working within the healthcare sector and provide a resource for these organizations and groups. By working in collaboration they aim to transform and green the way that healthcare designs, builds and operates its facilities and products within those facilities by education, outreach and it even providing concrete assistance such as listing product choices on its website.
These organizations are optimistic that their resources will make it an easier choice for healthcare designers and builders to build healthy facilities. And judging from the strongly positive audience response at the breakfast forum, this is just the beginning of this emerging field. Stay tuned to the California Green Building Blog for further reporting on this exciting topic.
Steve Sacks
