USGBC Northern California Chapter Launches Building Health Initiative
SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Northern California Chapter has launched the Building Health Initiative, a movement to promote green building as a health benefit. A coalition of founding partners, which consists of 27 diverse corporations and institutions, celebrated the official launch of the initiative at the Super Heroes Awards Gala on Oct. 29.
“This is about healthy communities for all,” said Dan Geiger, executive director of the USGBC’s Northern California Chapter, in a statement. “This is the first time such a diverse group of companies and organizations have come together to take action on promoting the health and well-being of our communities. We’re hoping for sparks to fly when we get together.”
As part of the Building Health Initiative, participants will share best practices and collaborate with fellow partners from the unique coalition that includes building owners, architects, builders, engineers, product manufacturers and health care professionals.
“The Building Health Initiative is really trying to expand the conversation associated with green buildings and puts together the pieces,” said Brandon Tinianov, senior director of technology business development with View Inc.
View, a dynamic glass manufacturer, is a founding partner of the initiative. As one of only a few product manufacturers involved in the initiative, Tinianov said the program takes a holistic view of the built environment by including industry leaders from building materials to architects.
“Expanding that conversation to the users, to the designers and to the occupants always creates a richer dialogue,” he said.
According to Tinianov, View’s product concentrates on improving the comfort of office or health care environments for occupants by managing glare and heat. However, when discussing View products with prospective clients, the company often concentrates on energy savings or peak load reduction because these elements tend to appeal to developers most.
“I like to say we design based on comfort and productivity, but we sell based on energy,” Tinianov said.
The green building initiative will help steer the conversation in a way that clients, building developers and product manufacturers will consider both human comfort and health alongside energy savings, Tinianov said. Laura Edwards, digital marketing coordinator with View, said the initiative is part of an evolution in green building.
“The focus of green buildings began with a focus on improving the external environment and climate change, and now it is a natural progression to focus on the internal health and air quality,” Edwards said. “Buildings should not only harmonize with the environment, but also with those inside them.”
While the initiative will surely be a positive move for health care environments, Tinianov said he would like to see affordable housing, office buildings and high-rise towers also benefit from the plan. By creating a healthy environment in the workplace, employees will more likely enjoy going to work, he said.
“It’s not a small thing to feel the place where you work is restorative,” he said.
The initiative is divided into two phases. The first phase, the Building Health Challenge, asks participants to pledge to further the conversation of how green building can impact health. In this phase, View will insure that their products are not only as safe as possible but also as transparent as possible.
“We’re going to do a Health Product Declaration on our product to disclose all the materials to make sure they support a healthy environment and make sure there are no undisclosed toxins or health hazards,” Tinianov said.
The second phase is a two-year program of educational outreach. Other organizations involved in the Building Health Initiative include Genentech, CalPERS, Adobe, Google, Webcor Builders, HDR Inc., HOK and Perkins+Will, among many others.