The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), creators of the LEED green building rating system, and Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), the organization that certifies all LEED projects globally, announced that Savona, Italy, which is home to more than 62,000 people, is the first city in Europe registered for its LEED for Cities program.
Savona
LEED for Cities
LEED for Cities combines sustainability, social equity and human experience with technology and analytics and is based on LEED – the world’s most widely used program for green buildings and communities.
Francesca Galati, General manager for Europe and the Middle East, BEE
Francesca Galati, the general manager for Europe and the Middle East from BEE, advocated LEED for Cities to the City of Savona. She said, “LEED for Cities represents a unique opportunity to grow awareness about health, wellness, and sustainability at the urban scale, and Savona will become the case study for the European Region.”
It provides cities with a framework for measuring and managing the performance of water consumption, energy use, human experience, waste, and transportation. LEED for Cities is administered through GBCI’s Arc performance platform.
LEED for Cities
ARC & BEE
Arc is a performance based platform. With Arc, LEED-certified buildings can benchmark against themselves and other similar buildings locally and globally.
BEE has always been a pioneer in promoting sustainability in the built environment. We have already had more than 200 projects worldwide. Besides being the advocated LEED for Cities to the City of Savona. At BEE, we work closely with USGBC in implementing Arc in our existing projects and developing new projects.
BEE is also on the forward of Arc related services. BEE offers QLEAR, a cloud-based, real-time intelligent building management platform that allows our team to analyze different aspects of a project’s performance and wellness including air, water, lighting, noise, energy, gas, etc. This innovative system provides direct integration with green building certifications such as LEED, WELL, RESET, and Arc.
GBCI Europe
“Cities face many challenges in this day and age – citizens are demanding more transparency and information about the places where they live, work, learn and play,” said Kay Killmann, managing director of the new GBCI Europe office. “And now more than ever, local governments are laboratories of innovation and social problem-solving.”
The European market has been a particular focus for USGBC and GBCI. In April 2017, GBCI Europe was launched to further facilitate the growth of a sustainable built environment locally and across the globe. GBCI’s expansion into Europe will help facilitate the growth and advocacy of LEED, and GBCI’s other sustainability programs in the European region. The new office will also provide local, on-the-ground support to clients in the region and improve access to GBCI’s sustainability programs and resources.
Leaders, especially in growing cities, have enormous opportunity to initiate a dynamic dialogue with citizens and invite them to contribute to the city’s progress. LEED for Cities is a framework that provides both citizens and their leaders with a detailed view of citywide performance.
(Original release please see here.)
