Jane Rohde is the principal/founder of JSR Associates, Inc., a healthcare and senior living consulting firm providing client focus groups for creative program and care model development, innovative master-planning strategies, and design services based on evidence based research, sustainable principles, and person-centered programming. She sits on the ESC, a Center for Health Design committee, the 2014 revision committee for the Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities, and the ASHRAE 189.2 committee. Jane chairs the Senior Living Sustainability Guide® committee and is an assessor and content provider for Green Building Initiative™ Green Globes® for CIEB and CIEB – Healthcare.
The content of this article represents the author’s viewpoint and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of GREENGUARD, UL Environment, EcoLogo, or TerraChoice.
Jane M. Rohde, AIA, FIIDA, ACHA, AAHID, LEED AP
JSR Associates, Inc.
8191 Main Street
Ellicott City, MD 21043
(410) 461-7763
jane@jsrassociates.net
www.jsrassociates.net
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- As building and design guidelines become codified with the International Green Construction Code (IgCC), there is a major re-positioning happening—not only in the healthcare sector, but in other sectors, as well. Some states have already adopted the IgCC with an anticipation of its completion in March 2012, although one proposed alternative path of compliance is the ASHRAE 189.1 Standard for the Design of High-Performance, Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.
Concurrently, the ASHRAE 189.2 Standard for Design, Construction and Operation of Sustainable High Performance Health Care Facilities is being developed for anticipated completion in 2012. The goal is for this to also become an alternative compliance path within the IgCC.
- For the 2014 cycle of the Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities, developed by the Facilities Guidelines Institute, an initiative is underway to include revised minimal standards for sustainability, using 189.2 for background. A Health Guidelines Revision Committee (HGRC)—made up of all types of healthcare experts, including nurses, physicians, designers, architects, engineers, infection control experts, researchers, authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs), and other stakeholders—is leading that effort. The next meeting of the HGRC will take place in Texas in the end of January, during which time it will vote on proposals that will then be posted for public comment. Healthcare professionals are encouraged to comment because the Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities are used by over 40 states as code for healthcare settings. The 2014 cycle will also include two volumes: one focused on acute and ambulatory care, and the other focused on residential healthcare, support, and related facilities.
- The new LEED® 2012 BD+C now includes healthcare, effectively replacing LEED-HC, and is beginning to raise the bar and look at the application of life cycle analysis for project development and product selection.
- The Green Building Initiative™ has developed a new Green Globes® Continual Improvement for Existing Buildings (CIEB) program for healthcare. This is a web-enabled interactive green building design tool that incorporates an integrated project management approach and is available for third-party certification. This tool was developed after the completion of pilot assessments on 21 Veterans’ Affairs (VA) hospitals in 2009. The tool is currently being used for existing VA hospitals across the country and is now also available for existing private sector hospitals.
- Within the senior living marketplace, the new Senior Living Sustainability Guide® includes information for the entire facility development process, including pre-development, the dimensions of organization, resident, operations, and the physical setting within appropriate social-cultural context. In addition, continual improvement processes are discussed, acknowledging that sustainability is a continual process based upon benchmarks, not a single point in time.
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