Our certification process with the US Green Building Council is nearing completion.  When all is said and done, it will be about 2 1/2 years start to finish.  We are on track to receive a LEED Gold rating, the second-highest level of sustainability in building construction projects.

We’ve been asked to clarify only two points during this review, which is terrific.  I owe Brett Neuberg of Chas Bender and Jean Dufresne of SPACE Architects+Planners a great big…dinner for all the time and effort they’ve given to the Kitchen’s long LEED process.  THANK YOU GUYS!

This certification is hard to achieve, and requires a commitment from the first day of design until after the building is in use.  You document every piece of material leaving your site, and where it goes, along with where every piece comes from and what it is made of. The energy efficient design of mechanical systems is daunting, to me anyway.  Thank goodness we had a great team at dbHMS made up of Sachin Anand, Stephanie Iwanski, and Aubrey Swift among others.

I can’t wait for a little ticker tape parade on Milwaukee Ave. once we achieve this milestone.