Member News September 2020
USGBC creates LEED credits and monitoring tools for reopening buildings
As commercial property owners and tenants consider best options for bringing workers back to their sites, the U.S. Green Building Council has released safe re-entry guidelines, related LEED credits and a technology platform to assess the effectiveness of new workplace protocols. LEED’s Safety First pilot credits cover four primary aspects of safely reopening workplaces while the COVID-19 pandemic continues: cleaning and disinfecting standards, employee re-entry practices, building water system recommissioning and managing indoor air quality. The credits provide instructions on how to address a range of building issues, including how to ensure the water system in an idled building is free of legionella and disinfectant byproducts, a range of options to improve ventilation and air filtration, monitoring and containing ozone levels and cleaning products and protocols that meet both LEED and Centers for Disease Control protocols.
Arc, an affiliate of USGBC, simultaneously released a set of tools (Arc Re-Entry) that can help document and benchmark infection-control policies and procedures, collect and analyze relevant occupant experiences, and track indoor air quality. Using Arc Re-Entry tools, facility managers can score the safety performance of a building or portfolio – information that could prove valuable to leasing agents and would-be tenants.
BC&E welcomes new member
Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, BRS Sales and Marketing has represented manufacturers for the HVAC and Hearth Products industries for over 50 years. Serving Delaware to South Carolina, BRS has refined the art of connecting manufacturers, wholesale distributors, engineering firms and professional contractors to facilitate product education, sales and excellence in customer service.
