PM Network - November 2009

Sustainable School Days

PHOTO COURTESY OF GREEN SCHOOL BALI/FLICKR

We
integrate
green into
every
project,
but
LEED for
Schools
is unique.

—Michael
Pavelsky, The
Sheward
Partnership LLC,
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania,
USA

PROJECT MANAGERS ARE HEADED BACK TO SCHOOL—but they’re not going to hit the books. Now they’re on campus to make the institutions more sustainable.

From installing solar panels to planting organic gardens, schools around the world are launching projects aimed at making green practices an integral part of the way they build and operate their facilities.

To make sure it’s not all just trendy talk, the U.S. Green Building Council has launched LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Schools, a new certification program expressly designed for kindergarten through 12th grade school construction projects. Jumping up a few grade levels, groups such as the Sierra Club and the Princeton Review are rating colleges and universities on their environmental friendliness.

Students and parents certainly play a role in pushing for the action, but the schools themselves are finding powerful financial incentives to launch sustainability projects.

“Building green schools isn’t just about benefiting the students and the environment. It comes down to operating costs,” says Tim Dufault, president and CEO of Cuningham Group Architecture, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, and 2009 chairman

of The American Institute of Architects’ Committee on Architecture for Education. “Construction accounts for 5 percent of the total cost of a building over its life cycle, while operating costs make up 95 percent.”

The more efficient the building, the cheaper it is to run. “As long as school districts plan properly,” he says, “they can reap the financial benefits of going green.”

LESSON PLAN

At this point, most project managers have a working familiarity with sustainability—yet school projects don’t always follow the same path.

“We integrate green into every project, but LEED for Schools is unique,” says Michael Pavelsky, sustainability director at The Sheward Partnership LLC, an architecture, design and consulting firm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. “For example, we take a close look at acoustical systems and how the building will be used by students and the community to ensure ease of access and security.”