Greener Grounds: GSA Adopts SITES System
June 14, 2016
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has adopted the SITES rating system for its capital construction program. Owned and managed by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), SITES is the most comprehensive program for sustainable land development and management and is used by landscape architects, engineers, architects, developers and policymakers to align land development with innovative sustainable.
SITES benefits the environment, property owners, and local and regional communities and economies. SITES certification is for development projects located on sites with or without buildings, ranging from national parks to corporate campuses and streetscapes.
GSA’s public buildings service is one of the largest and most diversified public real estate organizations in the world, with a portfolio of 376.9 million rentable square feet in 8,721 active assets, and more than 144,000 acres of land, including ports of entry and historical properties. The GSA determined that incorporating SITES into the program offers a highly effective and efficient way to ensure environmental performance to meet federal goals on various capital project types.
SITES is designed to define what a sustainable site is and, ultimately, elevate the value of landscapes in the built environment. The rating system provides a metrics-based approach to important concepts like ecosystem services and green infrastructure so that developers and owners can make informed decisions about their land use.
The framework of SITES is based on the concept of ecosystem services, the benefits provided by the natural ecological processes working all around us that support our daily lives. Traditional land development and land use decisions often underestimate or ignore healthy ecosystems.
For more on SITES, visit:
http://www.sustainablesites.org/
This Quick Read was submitted by Dan Hounsell, editor-in-chief of Facility Maintenance Decisions, dan.hounsell@tradepressmedia.com. Read more about sustainable landscapes at https://www.facilitiesnet.com/16150FMD.
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