Achieving LEED certification is becoming a cost-effective goal
While it may cost slightly more initially, many hospital and healthcare facilities around the country are finding it financially beneficial to receive LEED certifications by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for sustainable designs, green building materials and energy-efficient systems.
LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is the accepted benchmark for sustainable building practices in renovating existing facilities or building new ones. Using a stringent rating system, the USGBC certifies projects Silver, Gold or Platinum.
In 2007, Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas in Austin, Tex., which is part of the Seton Healthcare Family system, became the first Platinum LEED-certified hospital in the world, the highest of the LEED certifications.
According to Phillip Risner, senior project manager and network engineer for Seton Healthcare Family, building for Dell's Children's began in 2003 with a goal of becoming Platinum LEED-certified.
"The primary reason for becoming LEED-certified at the time was that the leadership here wanted to create a place that would function as a better healing environment for kids," said Risner. "Also creating a nice environment for the staff is important. A lot of the financial benefits with this have to do with staff retention. It costs about $70,000 for each new nurse that is brought on to staff with training. Across the country, 10 percent of a hospital's staff leaves on an annual basis. Ours is around two percent, which adds up to a lot of money on an annual basis."
This past February, Katz Women's Hospital at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., which is part of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, became the first hospital project in New York to be awarded the Platinum LEED certification.
According to Neil Rosen, director of sustainable development for North Shore LIJ Health System, Katz Women's Hospital, which occupies three floors, earned Platinum LEED certification for its third floor renovation project. The fourth floor is expected to receive Platinum certification and the fifth floor, a Gold rating.
The 73-bed Katz Women's Hospital at North Shore features single maternity rooms that take advantage of natural light, private single rooms for mothers, a well-baby newborn nursery and work areas.
"The Katz Women's Hospital was designed by Stantec Architecture to achieve LEED certification for energy use, lighting, water and material use as well as incorporating a variety of other sustainable strategies," said Rosen.
With the Platinum rating, on average, the Katz Women's Hospital uses 18.6 percent less energy, 51 percent less water and 100 percent of the electrical power consumed in its first two years of operation will have been generated using renewable energy from wind power in Texas.
"We wanted to create the best possible environment for our staff and patients. Also, if I'm able to provide patients an opportunity that shows we care about the environment and how they feel when they are here, than maybe they will choose us over the competition. We're creating a good first impression," said Rosen.
"We made a policy that any project with a construction cost over a million dollars is to achieve at least a Silver LEED certification."
According to Dan Cusick, project executive at Stantec Architecture, a hospital may spend three-to-five-percent more on a project in order to get it to LEED certification levels, mostly in administrative costs rather than the construction and materials.
"Having a building project be LEED-certified is more cost-efficient in so many ways, said Cusick. "The extra LEED expenses are easily outweighed by the long-term life of the project. Now, when we go into new projects, we try to get clients to at least reach a Gold level LEED rating. One hundred percent of the clients seem to really want to do this. It's also a tax-assistance for many organizations."