How to Become a LEEDer?
In Russia, has appeared the first building, corresponding to international standard of LEED 2009.
The industrial complex Hamilton Standard-Nauka in the Tver region in June 2012 received a certificate of LEED Silver - “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design”, gaining a total of 53 points. In the role of a consultant for the first time performed an integrated Russian company EcoStandard group, which experts have organized training courses for designers and builders, and completed all work on the preparation of documentation for the certification.
Since 2010, when EcoStandard group has been involved in the certification of Hamilton Standard- Nauka project as a consultant, were held regularly joint meetings with the design team, which consisted (according requirements of the LEED system) of the all parties representatives involved in the design and construction process.
First, were discussed the requirements of LEED, in order to to inform all participants about the key concepts, strategies, systems and content of all the prerequisites and credits.
When designing were maintained intercommunication between all the team members, constantly had been counseled, and once or twice a month been organized meetings to discuss the necessity of certain actions. We had to refuse performing of certain requirements due to lack of the necessary background information or inability to comply them in the Russian context. From the very beginning were defined the main parameters of a green building:
- Minimal impact on the environment during construction and finishing works;
- Preservation of vegetation in areas not occupied by the active construction operations;
- Use of local materials and secondary raw materials;
- Creating a comfortable environment for employees;
- A large landscaping area of the outside territory and providing of nice views from the windows;
- Office spaces natural lighting, the prohibition of smoking;
- Increased ventilation in the premises to ensure good air quality;
- Organization of official transportation for employees and minimizing the personal vehicles use.
The main questions for which the consultants were trying to find answers dealt with construction materials and equipment. Unfortunately, in Russia is lack of information about the environmental characteristics of products, there is no database of green materials, specialized Internet resources, as in other countries. Therefore, to find the right product they had to spend a lot of efforts.
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Text: Ksenia Lukyaschenko, Environmental certification Director of EcoStandard group