Returning students will also benefit as numerous schools and university facilities have received Safety First credit certifications—from the UC Davis Shields Library and UC Santa Cruz Silicon Valley’s Baskin School of Engineering in California to the Purchase New Student Residence Hall in New York, Franklin & Marshall College’s Visual Arts building in Pennsylvania, and Wheeling High School in Illinois.
In addition, The Chelsea at Greenburgh, a 90,000-square-foot new construction senior living community in Westchester County, N.Y., achieved LEED certification in early 2021 and incorporated the Safety First “Cleaning and Disinfecting” credit to ensure best practices were put into place to protect its residents and staff alike.
Projects like these are relying on the data and trusted frameworks behind the Safety First credits to permit safe re-entry that gives occupants confidence and helps rebuild local economies. As resuming daily life becomes a greater reality, GBCI aspires that every project worldwide will take advantage of these frameworks to protect their occupants in a post-pandemic world.
The Future of Buildings
Indeed, re-entry is revealing a broader shift in the focus of the built community. Even as more Americans and citizens around the world continue to head back indoors, health and wellness are going to remain in the spotlight, well beyond the current pandemic.
Shortly after the pandemic halted much of America, USGBC doubled down on its commitment to making green buildings part of a lasting, human health-centric solution. According to a 2021 survey of our built community, eight in 10 respondents (81 percent)—representing 50 countries—said they would like to see this continue post-pandemic. In fact, the top issues ranked by the green-building community for how USGBC and GBCI can help going forward were indoor air quality and individuals’ health and wellbeing.
Although LEED remains USGBC and GBCI’s core program, nearly seven in 10 (68 percent) of our market respondents told USGBC and GBCI that the organizations should continue to evolve their portfolio. GBCI has grown to include a suite of nearly 10 certification programs and 15 professional credentials and certificates covering almost every facet of the sustainability industry—from green buildings and sustainable landscape development to zero-waste performance and resilient design to power grids and infrastructure. Each of these programs allows GBCI to help communities meet and exceed sustainability goals and enable the adoption of next-generation practices while emphasizing health and wellness.
At USGBC and GBCI, we believe that healthy people in healthy places is the fastest way to build a healthy economy. After all, consumers have stockpiled trillions of dollars of cash since the pandemic began and are ready to pump it into the global economy if they can feel safe and healthy while doing it. The world doesn’t have to choose between public health and a healthy economy; the future will require both.
As the U.S. and countries around the world enter a new phase, how we look at the buildings and infrastructure around us will never be the same. Their design, construction, operation and maintenance are more important now—coming out of the pandemic—than ever. Whether you are a student heading back to college this semester, an employee going back to the office, a foodie eating at your favorite restaurant or a professional in the green building industry, you’ll want to know that your health and wellness are protected.
New tools like the LEED Safety First credits that help ensure and communicate safety are key to getting the country and rest of the globe back up and running. Looking beyond the coronavirus, we must put in place trusted data-backed frameworks to ensure that our infrastructure is prepared for future global challenges. Crises tend to spur innovation—and now, coming out of this pandemic, we can interact indoors more safely and healthily than before.
PHOTOS: courtesy U.S. Green Building Council