Boston Adopts LEED

Following the recommendations of the green building task force formed in 2003, Boston mayor Thomas Menino has announced that all new and renovated city-owned buildings must achieve a Silver or higher rating in the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED

^® Rating System. Furthermore, the city will amend Article 80 of the Boston Zoning Code to require that all projects larger than 20,000 ft

² (1,860 m

²) be LEED-certifiable. “We are using ‘certifiable’ because we felt that the city could not require private developers to work or contract with a sole source,” according to John Dalzell, AIA, senior architect at the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The city plans to craft the review process after USGBC’s: “The goal would be to make the process as similar as possible so that City LEED certifiable is not viewed as ‘LEED Lite,’” Dalzell told

EBN, noting that “we will encourage LEED certification.” The task force is now completing a three-year work plan to set the new policies in action.