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LOS ANGELES – March 8, 2010 – The Fourth Annual Green Building Survey by Allen Matkins, Constructive Technologies Group (CTG) and the Green Building Insider reveals surprising results regarding green construction. The Green Building Survey, completed by more than 1,600 design and construction professionals from across the nation, addressed current attitudes toward green building, its risks, costs, certification processes and trends.
Despite the recession, the Survey found a surprisingly large majority of respondents continue to strongly endorse green building (96 percent in 2007, 93.5 percent in 2008 and 92.3 percent in 2009). At the same time, support for LEED(1) certification slipped 11 percent in 2008 and 4.7 percent in 2009 to 62 percent. Cost is a major driver for green building in this economic downturn, with the gap between support for green construction and LEED certification growing over the past two years. Nonetheless, the level of support for LEED certification remains high, compared to the US Green Building Council’s original mission statement: LEED was launched as a market transformation tool, with a goal of representing the top 25 percent of all construction projects.
While the recession no doubt challenged the volume of green construction, it pushed projects to look for financial advantage: Saving energy and other operating expenses was the number one reason for building green projects.
Green building is perceived to have greater construction risks than non-green construction, despite the fact that LEED-mandated building tests known as commissioning actually reduce the risk of building system failure. According to the survey, the top strategies to reduce the risks of green building are 1) retaining green consultants (such as LEED-AP consultants), 2) measurement and re-commissioning, 3) periodic testing, and 4) contractual risk shifting.
More than half of all respondents indicated that a LEED Gold rating increased project costs by 4 percent or more, while nearly 30 percent of respondents reported the costs of LEED Gold rating at significantly lower than 4 percent. Possible explanations for the difference in reported cost premiums include 1) the variety of local codes and professional experience in certain regions that raise the minimum standards close to LEED Gold standards, and 2) the varying degree of difficulty in achieving a LEED Gold rating on different building types, such as hotels vs. office buildings.
The purchase of carbon offsets, which is largely voluntary today, hovered near 7 percent. "We do not expect a significant change in carbon offsets unless mandatory carbon mitigation programs are adopted at the state or federal level," said Bryan Jackson, chair of Allen Matkins' Green and Sustainable Construction Practice Group, Adjunct Professor at USC teaching Green and Sustainable Construction, and editor of the Green Building Update.
"As in previous years, our Green Survey provides an excellent barometer of opinions regarding the importance, risks and costs relative to the green building industry," said Jackson. "The survey, which covers the fastest-growing sector of construction, is one of the broadest surveys of green-building professionals in the industry.”
Visit http://legacyweb.allenmatkins.com/emails/GreenSurvey/Fourth%20Annual%20Green%20Building%20Survey%20v3.pdf to view the survey results.
Allen Matkins, founded in 1977, is a California-based law firm with approximately 220 attorneys in four major metropolitan areas of California: Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco and San Diego. The firm's core specialties include real estate, real estate and commercial finance, bankruptcy and creditors' rights, construction, land use, natural resources, environmental, corporate and securities, intellectual property, joint ventures, taxation, employment and labor law, and dispute resolution and litigation in all these matters. For more than 30 years, Allen Matkins has helped clients turn opportunity and challenge into success by providing practical advice, innovative solutions and valuable business opportunities. When clients' challenges require experienced trial counsel, Allen Matkins has a proven track record of successful litigation before juries, judges and arbitrators.
Allen Matkins is located on the web at www.allenmatkins.com.
Allen Matkins Market Intelligence publications provide critical information to businesses on rapidly developing issues. The electronic publications include: Green Building Update, Renewable Energy Update, Real Estate Market Update and Allen Matkins/UCLA Anderson Forecast California Commercial Real Estate Survey. To subscribe free of charge, go to http://connect.allenmatkins.com/contact-preferences
Constructive Technologies Group (CTG) is a group of multi-disciplinary technical consulting firms dedicated to innovative problem-solving in the built environment. CTG Energetics focuses on sustainability and energy efficiency in buildings and communities. CTG Forensics concentrates on applying building science to buildings and projects to reduce risk or respond to failures. We help our clients to formulate and implement strategic approaches to the issues on which we consult. We bring to these assignments a unique combination of practical experience and innovative creativity. CTG is located on the Web at http://www.ctg-net.com/.
Green Building Insider, a publication of WPL Publishing Co., Inc., delivers highly specialized industry news on the rapidly expanding green building marketplace, including information on energy efficiency, certifications (LEED and more), case studies, technologies and products, reports and studies, legal matters and legislation, international happenings and competitions and awards. Green Building Insider is located on the Web at http://www.greenbuildinginsider.com/.
(1) The U.S. Green Building Counsel's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification programs for green and sustainable construction.
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