In 2004, President Summers approved a set of Sustainability Principles that committed Harvard to integrating sustainability into its capital projects approval process. In response to this commitment, the University Construction Managers Council engaged the Harvard Green Campus Initiative to convene an interfaculty committee to draft a set of green building guidelines for the university. Throughout 2007, the committee developed a set of draft guidelines that were then reviewed and approved by a group of 100 university project managers, the Capital Projects Review Committee, the University Construction Management Council, the Financial Deans and the Administrative Deans.

 

The guidelines are split into two different sets, one for projects that are over five million dollars in cost and another set for projects that are under five million dollars.

 

 

Projects Over Five Million Dollars

Projects Under Five Million Dollars

 

To support the implementation of these guidelines, the Harvard Green Campus Initiative (now the Office for Sustainability) developed this web-based Green Building Resource. Further resources have been developed: a set of training modules (life cycle costing, LEED, cost-effective green building etc.), a range of green building services, the Green Campus Loan Fund, and an advisory service to provide immediate assistance in understanding how the guidelines apply to each project and what resources are available.