USGBC and AIA Accomplish Shared Goals for 2011

Maggie Comstock
Associate, Policy
U.S. Green Building Council

Last week, hundreds of architects stormed Washington as part of the American Institute of Architects’ annual Grassroots Leadership and Legislative Conference. Grassroots serves as a forum to convene AIA’s extensive local chapter network, with which USGBC’s local chapters often collaborate. Partnerships are the primary tools in any advocacy organization’s tool belt; however, the ongoing collaboration between the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) goes far beyond the average partnership.

USGBC and AIA are natural allies in the green building arena. Over the years, our shared goals for a sustainable built environment have fostered a rich and robust collaboration. This relationship has led to successful outcomes on far too many occasions to name, but here are some of the most notable achievements from 2011.


Streamlined professional credentialing - For building professionals, maintaining professional credentials can be a time consuming task, from finding appropriate courses and workshops to submitting documentation. AIA and USGBC know how valuable your time is and also how crucial your credentials are (85 percent of you said that your credential gives you a competitive edge in the job market). That’s why we have streamlined the process for our members to submit AIA and USGBC workshops for continuing education credits. We also offer AIA members a 15 percent discount on select USGBC online courses, webinars and publications.

Telling the industry’s story - Green jobs and green buildings are hot topics internationally. USGBC and AIA have teamed up with McGraw-Hill Construction, one of the nation’s premier industry research organizations, to take a deeper dive into the impact of green construction on jobs and the economy. The findings are even better than expected.

• Over one-third of all design and construction jobs can be characterized as “green,” which is defined as working on LEED or LEED-like construction.
• Over 69 percent of industry experts predict a shortage of adequately trained workers in the design and construction sectors.

These findings reconfirm what we already know, that the future of the design and construction is green.

Partnering to rebuild Haiti - AIA has been a primary partner for Project Haiti, the USGBC campaign to build a LEED certified orphanage and children’s center in post-earthquake Port Au Prince. AIA and USGBC co-sponsored an Architecture for Humanity Fellow dedicated to the sustainability and resiliency of this project. Both AIA and USGBC are dedicated to seeing this project through to its completion. To learn how you can contribute to Project Haiti, please visit the website.

Though we accomplished a great deal in 2011, our joint efforts will not stop there. AIA and USGBC have ambitious goals for 2012 that neither organization could achieve alone. We will continue to work together toward a greener built environment and look forward accomplishing even more together in the coming years.