Page 150 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

126 COSTS OF GREEN BUILDINGS

PLATINUM PROJECT PROFILE

Highland Beach Town Hall, Highland Beach, Maryland
The 2200-square-foot community center is located in Highland Beach, Maryland.
Completed in the spring of 2006, the $500,000 Highland Beach Town Hall serves
as a meeting and gathering space for community residents. Two-thirds of the roof
is vegetated and can absorb up to 99 percent of a 1-inch rainfall. A ground source
heat pump system is used for heating and cooling. Grid-tied photovoltaic panels
are expected to produce 100 percent of the energy demand. Offsets purchased
from American Wind Energy prevent 14,953 pounds of CO from entering the
2
atmosphere.*

LEED DOCUMENTATION COSTS
The requirement for LEED documentation could cost between $25,000 and $50,000 for
team coordination and LEED project management services. Whether it’s performed in-
house at an architecture firm or done with outside consultants, there is a higher level of
effort required to coordinate all the design team members and to keep the LEED aspects
of the project on track. As LEED becomes fully integrated into design practice over the
next half-decade, you can expect the costs for LEED project coordination, documenta-
tion and certification services to diminish, but not disappear altogether.

ADDED DESIGN FEES
Of course, building owners and developers don’t want to pay higher design fees than
they need to, but a standard approach is to select an architect for a high-performance
project, then negotiate fees. This puts the owner at a disadvantage in fee negotiations,
unless there are strong team-building activities and other methods early in design to
reduce perceived risk by the architect. When selecting a “starchitect” (star architect),
the owner is committing to higher design fees to get a high-design project.
My basic conclusion is that if building owners want high-performance green build-
ing design, they should be willing to pay what it costs to engage the very best practi-
tioners. By the same token, as the owner, you should push very hard for the designers
to figure out how to lower construction costs with their design choices. It’s obviously
worth paying higher design fees if you can get a less expensive overall result.
Construction costs typically make up 92 percent of the total cost structure, so even
adding 10 percent to design fees can be justified, if the designers can reduce overall
construction costs by even 1 percent.
One factor leading to higher design fees is the role of specialized consultants on really
complex projects. Every laboratory needs a lab consultant; every performing arts venue
needs a theater consultant and a lighting consultant, and so on. Even large office buildings

*Highland Beach “Green” Town Hall [online], www.dnr.state.md.us/ed/pdfs/highlandbeach.pdf, accessed April
2008.