Washington, D.C.-The Associated General Contractors of America (³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø) today announced that it will debut new green programs at its 89th Annual Convention in Las Vegas, which begins on Sunday. These new initiatives are efforts designed to help educate and prepare contractors about trends in the green building arena.
"We are at the forefront of educating members on building green and providing the most up-to-date information on industry standards," said ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø CEO Stephen E. Sandherr. "Our members are building our nation's leading green projects."
³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø will debut a new full-day course for contractors, Building to LEED®-NC: Overview and the Impact on Construction Practices, to explain the contractor's role in a project intended to achieve certification under LEED-NC. The debut is sponsored in part by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Clean Diesel Program. This new course outlines all of the prerequisites and credits within the LEED-NC rating system and identifies which have a major, moderate, or some impact on construction practices. It also provides a more detailed analysis to the ways those credits with a "Major Impact" will affect estimating decisions, scheduling, documentation, contracts, and other construction activities.
Following its debut, the curriculum materials will be available to ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø Chapters and other organizations to enable them to deliver local workshops for construction professionals on the LEED-NC rating system. The curriculum is based on research funded by the ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø Education and Research Foundation granted through the Klinger Award and completed by the Michigan State University (MSU)-Construction Management Program in August 2007. In addition, ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø has recently joined the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the developers of LEED, and started the registration process to enroll the course curriculum in the council's Education Provider Program. This course is pending review and approval through that program. USGBC Education Provider courses undergo a thorough review of instructional design and subject matter.
³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø is also offering the popular LEED Estimating for Green Buildings half-day program on March 8, leading up to convention. This program, launched by ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø in the fall of 2007 with its Chapters, provides a brief overview of LEED requirements and prepares estimators to effectively bid and work on a green building project. It reviews what items may be "no cost," "minimal additional cost," and "significant additional cost," and discusses the integrated design and delivery process, procurement, and building alliances with subcontractors.
The ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø-endorsed Contractor's Guide to Green Building Construction, by Thomas E. Glavinich, D.E., P.E., will be released at convention, introducing how "green" elements of a project may impact construction decision-making. The book, developed with the assistance of ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø members, will be available through ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø's online bookstore following its release.
Representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will participate in ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø's convention, attending Building to LEED®-NC; reporting to ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø's Environmental Network Steering Committee meeting on new funding opportunities for diesel retrofit; and discussing the white paper and tool kit on construction and demolition debris recycling that ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø and EPA are jointly developing. ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø is the only construction trade association to partner with EPA through the agency's Sector Strategies Program.
³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø is delivering a "green construction basics" audio conference on Thursday, March 20, 2008, at 2:00pm ET, which will include a sneak peek at the results of the recently completed research from MSU, which ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø used to develop its course Building to LEED®-NC. The audio conference will provide an introduction to green building with an overview of available rating systems.
The Associated General Contractors of America (³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø) is the largest and oldest national construction trade association in the United States. ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø represents 33,000 firms, including 7,500 of America's leading general contractors and 12,500 specialty-contracting firms. More than 13,000 service providers and suppliers are associated with ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø through a nationwide network of chapters. Visit the ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø Web site at . ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø members are "Building Your Quality of Life."
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