Legal Problems for Building Green? – Harvard Law School Report

A recent report by a Harvard Law School clinic highlights potential legal hazards when building green, but also offers recommendations for avoiding a majority of them.  As it turns out, using a good dose of common sense helps!  This is a report on large-scale “green” building at the government, institutional and commercial levels.  It can be applied to residential scale projects, but addresses the pitfalls of the larger-scale projects in specific detail.

One notable quote from the report is, “…evidence indicates that green building may also become increasingly difficult to avoid.”  It turns out that green building is becoming more of the norm.  Or in other words it is being required by governments, institutions and corporations so often that it is difficult to find a project that is not green in one way or another.  Are we at that place in time where we have arrived at the future we were seeking 20 years ago?

The document does a thorough job of outlining measures for risk mitigation.  In the area of Project Management the measures that are recommended are:

“1. Aim to build green from the outset…
2. Clarify project goals and requirements up-front…
3. Use an integrated design process…
4. Assure information flow…”

The first item is interesting because it is in a way saying, “don’t do it part way,” or “don’t try and green-wash things.”  If you cut corners you someone will pay down the road, especially if there is a certification requirement, such as LEED.  Clarity seems necessary at all levels and needs to be in writing.  We don’t depend on word of mouth to convey important requirements.  Designing your project with the builder and all of the consultants at the table from day one will inform a total project.  Each piece will have been influenced by the requirements of all the others if they are considered together, as a package, from the start.  Make sure the information flow does not break down along the way.  Too many projects end up over budget because information regarding expenditures did not land in the right hands at the right time.

Obviously the report acknowledges the extra risks associated with building green.  It also acknowledges that this form of construction will continue to expand and that the industry will adapt to the unique needs created out of new project requirements unique to green building.  For example, because many green projects will require certification ( such as LEED), insurers will provide the owners with policies that cover the possibility that certifications are not met, or delay is caused because the certification takes longer or the project needs to change to become certified.  Designers and builders will both have new policy riders and disclosure requirements along the same lines.

While the risks may seem higher for building green at this point in time, more and more people are greening their projects in many ways.  It is nice to finally hear that it is become the accepted practice as opposed to the requirements that the mainstream fought so long against.

If you don’t have time to read the full report an abstract is available here.

Popularity: 18% [?]