Page 16 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

xiv FOREWORD

utilizing many of these strategies, the renovation achieved its LEED Platinum certi-
fication in 2007 at no added cost to the project. The 40,000-square-feet project was
completed on time in 2006 and on budget with a hard cost for construction of $250
per square foot. The client (owner) team did invest a significant amount of their time
reviewing and guiding the project, a real cost that was absorbed by non-project
budgets. Interestingly, even this investment of additional client time has resulted in
the client group developing a range of spin-off campus service offerings such as an
owner’s acceptance program now offered by the facilities group, which provides
building owners at Harvard with additional building systems testing and better
training and support for building operations staff.
Today, at Harvard and across the country, the challenge is less about convincing
people to do green building, and more about keeping up with the enormous hunger for
knowledge and guidance to help design teams achieve the greenest buildings with the
least cost impact. To this end I hope you will find this book to be an extremely timely
and highly informative resource for addressing critical aspects of the design process
as you too strive to make your contribution to the green building movement.

Leith Sharp
Director, Harvard Green Campus Initiative
Cambridge, Massachusetts