Successfully Operating LEED Buildings: Setting Your Building Apart in the New Normal

Session Description: Building owners have a new way to identify themselves as market leaders in sustainability – EBOM recertification. The USGBC recently released guidance and requirements for recertification of LEED-EBOM properties. Buildings that achieved a LEED for Existing Buildings: O&M rating must be recertified every five years to maintain their status; and hundreds of buildings are now fast approaching this milestone. The goal of recertification is to ensure the building is operating as optimally as it did the day the plaque was installed, which is vital to retaining benefits such as decreased utility bills and satisfied occupants.

Recertification has the potential to change the market as much as initial LEED certification did 10 years ago as it moves the focus from sustainable design to ongoing sustainable operations. Building owners that recertify will demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and have an advantage with attracting or retaining high-aspiration customers.

This session will demonstrate how facility managers can shift their thinking about LEED certification as a once-and-done project to using LEED as a framework for continuous improvement.

Attendees will hear about a case study that addresses how one of the first companies to go through LEED recertification operates its buildings to streamline recertification, improve building operations, prove market leadership and attract top tenants.