Campus transformation project earned SITES Silver for achievement in landscape sustainability

Heading to Greenbuild this year? To help you plan your days, we’ve listed some of the offerings focused on SITES®, a rating system for developing sustainable landscapes. SITES is being used by landscape architects, engineers, architects, developers and policy makers to align land development with innovative sustainable design.

The central message of SITES® is that any project holds the potential to protect, improve and regenerate the benefits and services provided by healthy ecosystems. The SITES program provides guidelines for projects to meet their sustainability goals, regardless of the initial condition of the site.

GBCI®, USGBC Illinois and ASLA Illinois will host a one-day regional workshop on Sept. 8 on the concepts and goals of sustainable and regenerative land design.

Energy infrastructure can have a significant environmental and social footprint and lead to landscape-level impacts, even while serving as a necessary development pathway. Voluntary standards and rating systems are recognized as some of the most effective tools to drive innovation in sustainable development. The proliferation of quality programs provides an opportunity for systems to work together, democratizing access and streamlining implementation and verification for even greater impact.

“Imagine this design assignment: Design something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, makes complex sugars and foods, changes colors with the seasons, and self-replicates.” —William McDonough, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things 

Recently, USGBC Kentucky hosted an inaugural workshop to train 58 regional professionals on the SITES rating system, the most comprehensive program of developing sustainable landscapes. Architects, landscape designers, sustainability officers and policy makers from all over the state of Kentucky met to learn about regenerative design, the benefits derived from sustainable landscapes and the SITES rating system and certification process.

Do you have experience with the SITES rating system and a passion for sustainable landscape design, development and maintenance? Interested in engaging more with SITES? Here are three ways you can get involved with us:

A comprehensive site assessment is a critical step that you want to complete before the design process of any project. Without it, you are not taking full advantage of the site you’ve chosen for your project. Not to be confused with an Environmental Site Assessment (Phase I ESA), which mostly looks at risks associated with the site, a pre-design site assessment primarily looks at the assets of your site so that you can maximize the effectiveness of your design—programmatic and monetary. 

Early adopter pricing for SITES expires next Tuesday, May 31—take advantage of this offer and register your project today! Any project that registers between now and May 31 will save $1,500 on paid registration and registration/certification bundle fees. For USGBC and ASLA members, that means that registration will only be $1,000!