Property of U.S Green Building Council
LEED for Healthcare Welcomed by DC Healthcare Community
by Gregory Richards, LEED Green Associate, Balfour Beatty Construction
With 24/7 operations, energy-hungry medical equipment and an overarching concern about infection control, healthcare facility requirements make it challenging to integrate sustainability into those buildings' design and construction. However, USGBC's new LEED for Healthcare (LEED-HC) rating system is tailored to the special requirements of healthcare facilities, and designers and healthcare owners in the Washington DC-area welcome this development.
'It is exciting to finally have a LEED program devoted to the healthcare market,' said Susan Walter, LEED AP, a senior project architect with Wilmot Sanz, a Gaithersburg, MD firm focused on healthcare design.
Calling LEED for Healthcare a 'game changer' for healthcare project teams, Walter said, 'LEED for Healthcare doesn't make it easier but it does focus on the sustainability issues in healthcare construction.'
'LEED for Healthcare is much awaited and much needed,' said Jonathan Hoffschneider, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, an associate principal with the Washington DC office of Perkins + Will, a leading healthcare design firm. 'It will be a benefit because it acknowledges the unique nature of a healthcare facility. It also makes it more of a challenge to achieve certification, therefore carrying more prestige.'
LEED-HC guides the design and construction of both new buildings and major renovations of many types of healthcare facilities. It is based on research demonstrating that patients treated in green healthcare facilities - those with healthy indoor environments and that connect patients with the outdoors – heal faster and more completely, according to the USGBC.
LEED-HC's focus areas include the following items that are directly related to the healing environment:
- Areas of respite for patients and staff
- Acoustic control to enhance patient privacy
- Visual and actual access to nature
- Handling of contaminants - including mercury - from medical equipment
- Infection control and ventilation
USGBC introduced LEED-HC in April, and the full suite of resources (online documentation and the reference guide) will launch at the end of summer 2011. For healthcare projects currently being designed, USGBC is enabling them to migrate to LEED-HC. Those discussions are underway for two Holy Cross Hospital projects that are both early in the design process: a 219,000 sf expansion project in Silver Spring, MD, and a new 237,000 sf hospital in Germantown, MD, said Beth Roloff, LEED AP BD+C, an intern in the Washington DC office of SmithGroup, another leading healthcare design firm.
'Having a rating system customized for the healthcare industry will allow and encourage more projects to strive for credits that align with their sustainability goals,' Roloff said.
Inova Health System, Northern Virginia's leading not-for-profit healthcare provider, is building green with several hospital and outpatient clinic projects under way. On Inova's Fairfax campus, the 238,000 sf South Patient Tower presently under construction - and targeting Silver under LEED version 2.2 - features a green roof that will be irrigated with rainwater collected in a cistern.
Adjacent to that site, design is continuing for Inova's 648,000 sf Women's Hospital, which will have two green roofs, one a roof garden with benches that will be accessible to patients in the high risk pregnancy unit. The Women's Hospital is presently targeting Silver under LEED version 3.0, and discussions are underway as to whether to move this project to LEED-HC. 'If it were LEED for Healthcare, it would be easier on us - more opportunities for points or credits,' said Mark Ehret, AIA, Inova's assistant vice president of design and construction.
Elsewhere on the Inova Fairfax campus, a new parking garage is being equipped with electric car recharging stations potentially powered by solar cells, and natural gas turbines are being studied as an alternative source of emergency electrical power with potential for co-generation.
Walter and Hoffschneider said DC-area health systems are particularly concerned about sustainability due to the influence of the federal government - which mandates LEED buildings - and increased awareness of sustainability by area residents. LEED Silver has become the standard for healthcare facilities, with some projects striving for Gold, they said.
For instance, the 725,000 sf of new construction at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD recently achieved Gold under LEED version 2.2, due to the efforts of the design-build team led by Clark/Balfour Beatty, A Joint Venture.
'Hospitals must become healthier. They have been some of the most damaging buildings to the environment,' Hoffschneider said. 'However, the tides are shifting and LEED-HC is part of that. It gives architects and clients a tool to support this process.'
Inova, with a green culture dating back 30 years, sees green design and construction as just one aspect of sustainability. Operational aspects - including waste management, sustainable food practices and energy conservation - are also key.
'Sustainability is much broader than LEED for Healthcare,' said Carrie Rich, Inova's director of vision translation. 'It's really about optimizing patient health, and buildings are part of that.'