I continue to be amazed by the lack of litigation stemming from the LEED certification process – i.e. LEEDigation. There are only two instances of pure LEEDigation – Shaw Development and Northland Pines. I’m not even sure Northland Pines counts since it has not resulted in a lawsuit. What factors have contributed to the … Continue Reading
Reader’s note: This is my last post on the LEED certification challenge. Thanks for staying with me. I thought I would end my discussion of the Northland Pines High School LEED certification challenge with some constructive suggestions. The LEED challenge issue is not going away anytime soon and clearly requires some fixes. 1. Appeals of … Continue Reading
Reader’s note: Two more posts on the LEED certification challenge. I recently read the book Greed to Green, by David Gottfried, which describes how the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), and the LEED rating system, were launched. You can tell that Gottfried is quite proud – and rightfully so – of the USGBC’s accomplishments. … Continue Reading
Reader’s note: Three more posts on the LEED certification challenge. If you have taken a look at the Northland Pines High School LEED certification challenge documents, you know that the documents are extremely technical. I am not an engineer but I will share with you some of the more interesting parts of the documents … Continue Reading
We are going to momentarily pause our discussion of the LEED certification challenge because I have a gift for you today. A free webinar! Last week, my colleague Steve McBrady and I hosted the webinar "Greener Pastures: Managing Risks While Navigating Federal and State Green Building Opportunities." I enjoyed the presentation because, … Continue Reading
Welcome to our first afternoon edition of Green Building Law Update. No one is quite sure whether the challengers to the Northland Pines High School LEED certification have grounds for an appeal. But I figured two statements by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) regarding the "appeal" warranted a special blog post. First, Brendan Owens, … Continue Reading
As we begin our review of the challenge to the Northland Pines High School LEED certification, the most obvious starting point is the LEED challenge itself. The challenge was prepared by two engineers – Mark Lentz and Lawrence Spielvogel – on behalf of five appellants. By just the second paragraph, my jaw was on the … Continue Reading
News continues to emerge about the challenge to the LEED Gold certification received by the Northland Pines High School. Green Building Law Update previously reported on a statement made by United States Green Building Council (USGBC) General Counsel Susan Dorn that the certification challenge had been denied. There is so much more to this … Continue Reading
I am excited to inform you about a free upcoming webinar that my firm is offering on green building legal issues on June 2. Back in April, George Ruttinger, Stephen McBrady and myself presented "Legal Considerations When Building Green" to the Construction Industry Round Table. I think it is fair to say I got grilled about … Continue Reading
I am wrapping up review of the LEED Certification Challenge Policy. Today, I will discuss the third of three reasons why the challenge policy creates significant risk for parties involved in a project seeking LEED certification: (1) Any person can challenge a building’s LEED certification; (2) Any and all LEED points can be challenged; and … Continue Reading
Under the LEED Certification Challenge policy, all LEED points can be challenged by any "person," resulting in reduced or revoked LEED certification. Today, I am going to describe a scenario under which such a LEED challenge could prove costly. A few months ago, attorney Matt Devries wrote about a news report in Nashville, Tennessee … Continue Reading
I am going to take a temporary hiatus today to jump from the Wisconsin LEED challenge to discuss breaking LEEDigation news. LEEDigation is, of course, litigation involving LEED certification. I have previously discussed Shaw Development v. Southern Builders, which is an example of a project failing to achieve LEED certification. But how else could … Continue Reading
On Wednesday, I began a review of the Green Building Certification Institute’s ("GBCI") LEED Certification Challenge policy. There are three reasons why the LEED Certification Challenge Policy creates significant risk for all parties involved in a LEED-certified project: (1) Any person can challenge a building’s LEED certification; (2) Any and all LEED points can be challenged; … Continue Reading
A few weeks ago, after a green building legal presentation, I remarked to a colleague that I was growing tired of discussing Shaw Development v. Southern Builders, the prime example of LEEDigation. Less than one week later, along came the Wisconsin LEED challenge and the discovery of the LEED Certification Challenge Policy. The LEED … Continue Reading
Up in Wisconsin, a group of concerned citizens challenged the LEED certification of a high school under the Green Building Certification Institute’s (GBCI) Certification Challenge Policy. The LEED challenge came to light in December 2009 although it was originally filed in 2008. Last week, the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) denied the LEED challenge. … Continue Reading
I am going to be honest with you, I have been sitting on some LEEDigation-related stories. I sat on these stories because I wanted to understand the implications before writing about them. Take our first story from Wisconsin. As was first reported at the Green Real Estate Law Journal, a group of Wisconsin residents … Continue Reading
From time to time, I like to step outside the green building industry and look at construction of renewable energy projects. While windmill construction is nothing new, countries are looking for new opportunities to develop wind energy. One new type of development has certainly caught my attention from a risk management standpoint. A recent … Continue Reading
My first legal case involved "fly ash." I had no idea what fly ash was so I looked it up in the dictionary. Fly ash is a "coal-combustion by-product" (CCB) that is often used in concrete as a replacement for portland cement. When used in massive concrete structures, like dam construction, fly ash can result … Continue Reading
One of my very first Green Building Law Update posts focused on the insurance and surety industries’ concerns related to green building. Nearly two years later, some in the insurance industry are still expressing concerns regarding green building projects. A recent P&C National Underwriter article highlighted numerous insurance-related concerns related to green buildings: Vegetative roofing—using … Continue Reading
As federal agencies continue to push green building certification, some federal projects are running into conflicts when building green. Take for example, a recent article I reviewed regarding military construction and LEED certification. The basic premise of the article is that green building rating systems and military construction do not always work together. “‘An office … Continue Reading
One of the first publications that peaked my interest in green building was the AGC’s SmartBrief. Each day, I would read about a new green building project or development in SmartBrief. In large part because of SmartBrief, I began to explore the legal implications associated with green building. Last week, my blog post "Does Your … Continue Reading
[I have said many times that the legal principles that will apply to green building projects will be very similar to existing legal principles in the construction law field. On Fridays we will be reviewing legal developments from the construction industry that most likely will be applied to green building projects.] When I prepare … Continue Reading
When you think of green energy projects, what sort of results do you anticipate? New energy sources? Reduced energy costs? Green jobs? What about earthquakes? Geothermal energy, a widely-touted green energy source, involves drilling miles-deep wells into underground reservoirs in order to tap steam and hot water that can be used for energy applications. I … Continue Reading
If you participate on building projects that are seeking LEED certification, this news may come as a relief to you. According to Marian Keeler of Simon & Associates, the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) is reconsidering its decision to stop making Credit Interpretation Requests (CIRs) public. I have previously described a CIR as … Continue Reading
