Boston expects to be first big US city to require 'green' building for large projects
Genzyme's Cambridge headquarters earned the US Green Building Council's highest rating. (Globe photo)
Boston is expected to become the first major US city to require developers to adhere to a strict set of so-called green-building standards, officials said today, for all projects of 50,000 square feet or more.
The goal is to make new buildings more energy efficient and environmentally friendly, by promoting, for example, efficient heating and cooling systems, recycled building materials, and careful separation and disposal of waste.
City officials said they will ask the Boston Redevelopment Authority to incorporate the green building standards into municipal zoning, following the recommendations of a task force appointed by Mayor Thomas M. Menino in 2003. The standards are expected to be formally adopted by the Boston Zoning Commission in January after a public comment period.
‘‘There’s a big national story here,’’ said James W. Hunt III, chief of environmental and energy services for the city. ‘‘We’ll be the first city to implement green building requirements.’’
Many other large cities have such standards for public buildings or publicly funded projects. Boston would be the first to impose them on privately developed properties, too, Hunt said.
The standards would mandate that new buildings meet requirements in at least 26 of about 70 areas of design and construction, such as how they dispose of waste and how energy efficient walls and glass are.
The Boston standards would not require that the buildings be certified under the green building rating system known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — commonly called LEED — of the US Green Building Council, an industry group.
‘‘The LEED process can be lengthy, onerous in documentation, and costly,’’ Hunt said. ‘‘Also, we don’t want to rely on a third party to do the certification process.’’
Boston’s certification process will be simpler, though the environmental standards will be almost the same as with LEED. Boston’s list includes additional ways developers can choose to help qualify buildings for certification, including using cleaner diesel construction vehicles, recharging groundwater, and establishing transportation plans for future building users.
David I. Begelfer, chief executive of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties’ Massachusetts chapter, said businesses will embrace the standards, despite the expected increase in building costs.
But developer Dean F. Stratouly said it would be difficult and expensive to bring a downtown office tower into compliance.
‘‘While no one is against this in principle, it doesn’t help the underlying economics of bringing new product to the market,’’ Stratouly said.
(By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe staff)
