As if cranking out 100 new schools and 2,000 capital improvement projects next year werent enough, the New York City School Construction Authority will be doing it green. With all new design projects commencing January 1, the SCA will be applying new Green School Standards and a Green School Rating System to all projects.

Related Links: New York City School Agency to Spend $3 Billion a Year for Three Years, Sept. 30, 2006

The SCA will create guidelines that will incorporate water and energy conservation requirements mandated in the new Local Law 86 right into a green school rating system, says E. Bruce Barrett, vice president, architecture and engineering for the SCA. In addition, the guidelines will offer ways to reduce the costs and complexity of implementing sustainable design.

The system will be based on LEED credits, but will be tailored to a single building type. Because we are developing these guidelines just for schools, we will be able to better environmental and health benefits than LEED can alone, Barrett says.

One of Barretts challenges is instituting these new guidelines while maintaining an aggressive design schedule for new and expansion projects across the city.