In order to manage risk associated with a design and construction project, it is important to draft an appropriate contract. There are a number of standard contracts available for the construction industry. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) publishes the AIA construction contracts to manage the architect-owner relationship. The Association of General Contractors (AGC) has … Continue Reading
On Friday, we discussed Navy contracting requirements for tracking "energy efficiency" and "energy footprints." When I first learned of these requirements, I was reminded of Executive Order 13514. We have already discussed Executive Order 13514 in terms of the green building industry, but the Order also contains provisions relating to greenhouse gas emissions. I don’t … Continue Reading
The primary theme of Green Building Law Update is green building litigation will develop. To date, one of the rare examples of green building litigation is Shaw Development v. Southern Builders, a case that involved a project’s failure to achieve LEED certification in a timely matter. Other examples of green building disputes are sparse. But … Continue Reading
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) projects have resulted in extremely low bids. These low bids could be the result of improved efficiency in the construction industry; or the low bids could be the result of cut throat competition. Simultaneously, the ARRA includes $250 million to investigate (PDF) and audit ARRA projects. These … Continue Reading
When I first read about Energy Ace’s LEED certification guarantee, I thought it was nuts. Then I read a Co-Star article and realized Energy Ace’s guarantee was brilliant. When I read a green building regulation, I always look at the enforcement mechanism. And when I look at a green building contract, I always focus … Continue Reading
Reminder: Don’t forget to register for Green Building Law Update’s Birthday Happy Hour this Thursday! Energy Ace Inc., an Atlanta-based sustainability consulting firm, has publicly announced it will guarantee LEED certification for its projects. Of course, there are limitations to the guarantee: “Energy Ace is guaranteeing LEED™ certification on projects where the firm is able … Continue Reading
Reminder: Don’t forget to register for Green Building Law Update’s Birthday Happy Hour this Thursday! This week, we are going to be looking at an issue near and dear to me: guarantees of LEED certification. Two publications from last week made clear to me the wide variety of views on the issue: (1) Washington Business … Continue Reading
I have previously speculated that stimulus green building projects will be at risk of underbidding. Now we have real evidence. Remember the $5.5 billion that the General Services Administration received from the stimulus to fund green building construction and retrofits? "Bids came in far lower than we expected, but the upside is that because of … Continue Reading
[Today, I am bringing you a guest post from Mark Rabkin. I have been on Mark for awhile to write a guest post. He is doing a tremendous job looking at the insurance and surety concerns related to green building. Back when I was looking at alternatives for the D.C. Green Building Act bond requirement, … Continue Reading
Love might be too strong of a word but you get the point. The idea of LEED de-certification has touched off a firestorm of comments, some in support and others in objection. I think a follow up post is warranted. First, I want to clarify one important piece of information as I noticed some were … Continue Reading
Disclaimer: If you are sensitive to or frightened by new risks and liabilities in the green building industry, please skip this post. On Monday, I highlighted the USGBC’s decision to create requirements to ensure a building’s performance matches modeled energy savings. I finished the post by asking, what happens to projects that do not comply? … Continue Reading
As I mentioned in my June 24 post, starting June 26, the USGBC eliminated public CIRs in order to improve the functionality of the LEED rating system. The USGBC’s Peter Templeton provided the following explanation for eliminating the public CIRs: Under the new LEED certification model, standards development and project certification responsibilities are divided between … Continue Reading
If there was a LEEDigation doomsday clock, I would move it up about 5 minutes towards midnight based on the following decision by the USGBC.* Real Life LEED recently reported that the USGBC has decreed that, starting June 26, 2009, Credit Interpretation Requests (CIRs) will no longer be applicable to all projects: "Effective June 26, … Continue Reading
Over the weekend, while writing a response to a Summary Judgment Motion, I was reminded of the most important legal principle in construction law. Under the Spearin Doctrine: "If [a] contractor is bound to build according to plans and specifications prepared by the owner, the contractor will not be responsible for the consequences of defects … Continue Reading
Last week, I gave a presentation on green building law to legal counsel for D.C metropolitan jurisdictions. One of the things that I said, and have repeated to other groups, is that green schools will be a hotbed for initial LEEDigation (see slide 25). Want to see an example of what I am talking about? … Continue Reading
Today, we run Part II of the Eric Corey Freed interview. I divided up the interview into two posts because the interview was long and Eric does a great job illuminating green building legal issues in Part II: "Architects would not be able to guarantee LEED certification because the architect is not the one providing … Continue Reading
My friends over at Sensible City recently offered me the opportunity to interview Eric Corey Freed. It’s not everyday I get to interview someone who was just interviewed by the New York Times so I jumped at the chance. Even better, Eric is an "organic architect" and studied under a former student of Frank Lloyd … Continue Reading
Update: For a rundown of green building provisions in the stimulus pacakge, see this post. Thank you to everyone who attended Rutherfoord’s "Trends in Green Building" seminar yesterday and listened to my "Green in the Stimulus" presentation. It was great to recognize so many faces in the crowd. If you came up and spoke to … Continue Reading
[As part of the evolution of Green Building Law Update, I like to try out new post topics and formats. Today I am beginning a new feature at Green Building Law Update: “Sensible Interview.” Please let me know what you think.] Back in December, Kimberly Miller of Sensible City provided me with a press pass … Continue Reading
I like categories. I like to categorize ideas, issues and thoughts in order to develop my understanding. The same is true for green building law; I like to think of this emerging practice in terms of categories. The other day I was asked "what is green building law?" by an environmental attorney. I had never … Continue Reading
One of Green Building Law Update’s favorite topics in 2008 was the Shaw Development v. Southern Builders case. You may recall that the Shaw Development v. Southern Builders complaint was one of the first examples of green building litigation, which resulted from a project’s failure to obtain green building tax incentives. After recently research the … Continue Reading
If you are reading this blog, you are likely well-versed in social media or have at least heard of Twitter.* Through Twitter (follow me here), I have had some amazing conversations about green building and the law and I would like to share one of them with you that really highlights how quickly a green … Continue Reading
Green Building Law Update came across an interesting lawsuit in Texas challenging a green cement regulation. First, here’s a little background on green cement regulations: Green cement resolutions put pressure on wet kiln operators to either update their smog-causing pollution controls to the level of dry kilns, or replace their wet kilns with new dry … Continue Reading
Sorry, I won’t be answering this rhetorical question today. Instead, a group of construction, design and surety legal experts will attempt to address this difficult question at an upcoming symposium: What: Trends in Green Building Seminar Who: Tom Mawson – The USGBC and Trends in Green Building; Chris Cheatham – The Emergence of Green Building Litigation; Bryan Phillips … Continue Reading
