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SITES Rating System Acquired by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) 07-09-15 | News

SITES Rating System Acquired by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI)

"Sustainable landscapes are critical in their ability to reduce water demand, filter and reduce storm water runoff, provide wildlife habitat, reduce energy consumption, improve air quality, improve human health and increase outdoor recreation opportunities. SITES is an important addition to our toolkit.""?uRick Fedrizzi, CEO of Green Business Certification Inc., and the U.S. Green Building Council Photo: USGBC Northern California

The development of the SITES rating system has been the landscape industry's most progressive industry initiative. This comprehensive program and toolkit for developing sustainable landscapes incorporates recommendations from technical experts in the fields of soil science, botany and horticulture, hydrology, materials and human health and well-being.

SITES is a collaborative, interdisciplinary effort of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas, Austin, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), and the U.S. Botanic Garden.

Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), a nonprofit that provides third-party certification and credentialing services for the widely used LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standard and several other standards, has now added the SITES rating system to its growing list of certification.

The SITES rating system can be applied to development projects on any landscape, with or without a building. The Wildflower Center and ASLA will help GBCI create and implement SITES credentialing and certification, and provide training for projects interested in applying SITES to corporate campuses, streetscapes, residences and other landscapes.

"It is exciting to see years of work developing and field testing SITES culminate with the availability of this rating system," said Fritz Steiner, FASLA, dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin. "The depth and breadth of approaches that were implemented by pilot projects demonstrates how valuable SITES can become for revolutionizing our relationships with built landscapes."

"Landscape architects and members of all the related design and planning fields know that the issues addressed in SITES are increasingly important to creating livable and resilient communities," added Nancy Somerville, executive vice president and CEO of ASLA. "GBCI will take SITES to the next level and ensure its future growth and influence."

"SITES is a powerful tool for enhancing built landscapes precisely because it puts ecosystem services, the benefits humans derive from functional ecosystems, front and center," observed Ari Novy, executive director of the U.S. Botanic Garden. "Making SITES available through GBCI will be a great boon for the quality and resilience of our built landscapes."

SITES, modeled after LEED, includes best practices in landscape architecture, ecological restoration and related fields, and knowledge gained through peer-reviewed literature, case-study precedents and projects registered in the SITES pilot program.

SITES draws on the experience gained from a two-year pilot program involving more than 100 projects. Forty-six of these pilot projects have achieved certification, including landscape projects at corporate headquarters, national and city parks, academic campuses and private homes.

Interested project teams can visit www.sustainablesites.org for more information and to register their projects, and access the SITES v2: Rating System For Sustainable Land Design and Development.