SPI Company Certification

Now that green building is being mandated by local governments, recognized in finance, and insurance industries, and required by corporations – the challenge is to meet the demand with a high level of quality. The USGBC’s LEED^® rating system measures building performance and the fluency of an individual to implement the system, but nothing in the market evaluates a company-wide capacity to deliver a consistent, high-quality level of integrated, healthy and efficient building…until now!  The Green Roundtable/NEXUS and Gathering Pace Consulting are proud to announce a first-of-its-kind sustainable performance certification program for the design and construction industry.  This is the first program to recognize a firm’s capability to deliver consistent, high quality services.

Individual talent and skill is important, but when a client hires a design or construction company, they are drawing on the capacity of the entire organization. Firms that have truly addressed quality control and accountability have taken strategic and comprehensive measures, and deserve to be recognized. Firms that are having difficulty, or find the issue overwhelming, will benefit by having a roadmap that helps them understand how to be strategic and most efficiently and effectively reach new levels of performance. This certification will signify to clients that they can rely on the firm they hire - across the board - to deliver a high level of sustainable building. 

Do owners think SPI Certification is valuable?

What does this certification measure and recognize?

SPI Company Certification breaks down its metrics into the five categories that define a company’s operations and project delivery: Strategy, Production, Support, Partnering and Outcomes.

• Strategy addresses activities related to leadership, management support, policies, infrastructure and metrics.
• Production evaluates project specific evidence throughout all phases of design and construction—from concept through commissioning and beyond, and incorporates quality control processes and internal standards for design, performance and specifications.
• Support includes all aspects of company operations that are not specifically project related, but underlie all activities in both operations and project execution. These include human resources (such as professional development, performance reviews), internal design or specification standards used across the firm, marketing, and tools and resources used to do analysis or support design in other aspects.
• Partnering relates to external relationships that are critical for delivering a project and define the scope, roles, responsibilities and deliverables of different parties e.g., proposals, contracts and change orders for scope or fee.
• Outcome recognizes measures of actual performance of built work (whether LEED, energy consumption, or other) and the company’s own environmental footprint.

Why Become Certified?

• Differentiation – owners will be including preference for this certification in their RFPs. They will definitely know that they can rely on the level of quality of a firm that achieves this certification.
• Risk Mitigation: the processes and practices encouraged through this program will result in tighter, documented coordination and integrated design practices that reduce risk and liability on all projects, not just green.
• Quality: by formalizing internal review and quality control processes, higher levels will be measurable
• Performance: this program provides a roadmap and strategic emphasis on practices that will help firms achieve higher levels of systems integration and accountability that impact performance.
• Profitability: rigorous implementation of integrated design and partnering processes directly improve profitability of projects by controlling and tightly coordinating scope and deliverables of the parties.
• Employee attraction/retention: commitment to sustainability, quality and internal mentoring and professional development will be recognized by talented and dedicated staff.
• Finally, certified firms may be eligible for discounts on professional liability insurance of up to 10% by some carriers.

How can we participate and what does it cost?

We have a limited number of places remaining in the pilot phase of the program.  If your organization has a Boston area office and is a leader in sustainable design and construction you may be eligible to participate in the pilot.  The cost for certification during the pilot phase is a flat fee of $5,000 for one office. This fee covers the registration, materials and initial support needed to fulfill documentation.  More extensive consulting, if needed, is available at an additional cost.

The Sustainable Performance Institute is a program of The Green Roundtable/NEXUS and Gathering Pace Consulting supported by an Industry Advisory Board that includes representation by Owner Associations (NAIOP, SCUP, Corenet) and Professional Associations (USGBC, BSA, CSI, IFMA, etc).

Download the Introduction and Table of Contents from the Reference Manual here.

For more information, contact Tova Greenberg, tova@greenroundtable.org.

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