LEED® for homes

LEED® for homes
April 6, 2017 MDS

A home is more than just shelter: homes are the most important buildings in our lives. We think that every building should be a green building – but especially homes. Why? LEED homes are built to be healthy, providing clean indoor air and incorporating safe building materials to ensure a comfortable home. Using less energy and water means lower utility bills each month. And in many markets, certified green homes are now selling quicker and for more money than comparable non-green homes. Some of the most important buildings in the world use LEED. Shouldn’t the most important building in everyone’s world use LEED, too? (source usgbc.org)

The request for a specific sustainability certification for residential buildings is increasing both in Europe and in Italy. With the publication of the new version of LEED v4, USGBC gives a precise answer to this request: LEED BD + C: Multifamily Homes and Lowrise is the protocol designed to certify single-family houses and small apartment buildings; while LEED BD + C: Multifamily Midrise is designed for multifamily residential buildings with at least four floors. Unlike the previous versions, LEED version 4 is already aligned with the international system and with the European standards, in particular LEED for Homes can be adopted in  the European real estate market because it departs from the typical American building systems.

In addition to third-party certification, synonym of guarantee, this residential protocol provides the figure of verifier on the field, LEED for Homes Green Rater. an accredited expert who verifies the project and the compliance to the credits, make visits and on-site inspections and oversees the functional tests such as the blower door test to finished building, giving evidence to the USGBC Provider.

Macro Design Studio is convinced that the national housing market needs a clear reference standards applicable and recognized internationally, for this reason believes that LEED for Homes is the answer to our homes and our condos.

The company is structured to meet the needs of the real estate market, in particular Paola Moschini gained the credentials of LEED for Homes Green Rater, necessary professional for each project that wants to follow the LEED for Homes certification, while Elena Leonardelli obtained, as first in Italy, the LEED AP® Homes credentials.

Certifying according to LEED, allows to realize buildings with a significant reduction in operating and maintenance costs, increasing the real estate value. Deliver to the future owners a building that would give a guarantee of building quality, healthiness and comfort of the indoors, durability, consistent energy and water savings, is the goal Macro Design Studio has set for itself.