LEED - LEADERSHIP IN ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN:

The internationally-recognized green building certification system LEED is developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED provides building owners and operators with a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction and maintenance solutions. Ole Sondresen Architect provides full design services to assist our clients in achieving LEED certification. The Bird Boutique designed by our studio received a Gold rating in 2009 and was the first LEED rated store to be built in New York City. We welcome the challenge of LEED certifying your project. To learn more about USGBC & LEED and to see if this is a possible rating to be achieved for your project visit their website listed in our resources tab above or simply contact our office.

EFF – ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY FACTOR:

As an alternative to LEED Ole Sondresen Architect has developed EFF as a system to log and score all sustainable design achievements on our projects. While LEED is a great system we find that many of our clients wishing to build a sustainable project simply cannot afford a LEED rating. We have also found limitations in the LEED system in that a great number of sustainable design concepts are not part of their scoring system and often fall by the wayside. The EFF score range from 0-100 and is established by logging all possible sustainable design concepts for any given project. These concepts vary from project to project based on location, climate, building type and contextual parameters. It is our hope that offering this alternative rating program will encourage our clients to be more receptive to building sustainably without incurring potential added cost and time to their projects. To see how you can make your project environmentally friendly click on the sustainable design concepts tab above or contact our office and we will help you explore the possibilities.