Resources
Protocols, Standards, Reports & Guidelines
In order to achieve lasting institutional change, the HRES High Performance Building Service has developed protocols, standards and guidelines to further entrench environmental practices.
Green Language Included in Contracts and Requests for Proposals
In order to alert prospective project teams to the intentions of a green building, the request for proposal (RFP) must include language to that effect. Expertise in the area of green building will then serve as one of the criterion in the selection process for architects, engineers, contractors and consultants.
Included in the qualification statement should be documentation of previous green building projects and a statement of intent from the lead designer describing their philosophy to the project. If the firm does not have prior experience in green building, then a commitment to work with a sustainable consultant could be sufficient.
Harvard Real Estate Services’ Green Procurement Guide
The Guide is a “living document”, a direct product of three Harvard Green Campus Initiative internships. Indirectly, it is the product of innumerable contributors, encompassing all the purchasers, vendors, researchers, and consultants who have worked alongside the interns and HRES staff to improve the environment through their daily actions. The Guide was created to help the HRES staff make informed, environmentally sound decisions when purchasing supplies for their offices and buildings. The recommended products in the Guide were researched and tested by HRES and Harvard Green Campus employees.
Construction & Demolition Waste Management
Massachusetts is poised to ban the disposal of unprocessed C&D waste beginning in 2006. Other materials will probably be phased out over the following years, such as wood and gypsum wallboard. In anticipation, a model waste management plan and audit form have been developed to help project managers to recycle demolition and construction waste on their projects.
This includes mapping out a schedule to salvage as much materials, fixtures and equipment as possible before demolition begins. The general contractor then supplies the owner, project manager, and architect with a plan that identifies what waste materials will be generated, describes how they will handle each material, identifies who will haul away each material and where it will be taken. Several projects (One Western Avenue, Lyman Hall, 29 Garden St) have recycled C&D waste.
Here are documents related to C&D waste management developed by Logan Granger during his summer 2002 internship:
Green Building Guidelines & Specifications
The purpose of model green building guidelines is to provide a reference to which the design team can refer while making decisions. We have been working to create model green specifications for Residential Real Estate and for University & Commercial Real Estate buildings. They include sustainable design recommendations, alternative green materials, and required specifications (that have been tested in the field). They are listed by the CSI (Construction Specifications Institute) division and will include a list of references for further information.
HRES Activity Report February 2004
This report documents activities undertaken through the Harvard Real Estate Services’ Sustainable Buildings Program quantifying, wherever possible, the financial and environmental impacts of these activities.
Sustainable Building Review and Recommendations 2001-2004
This report assesses the viability of LEED standards for Harvard University and determines how Harvard may further succeed in future green building efforts. The report documents experiences and lessons learned from four Harvard building renovation and construction projects that were selected to trial LEED (Leadership for Energy and Environmental Design) standards as a framework for green building design.