Create a Dedicated Sustainable Design & Construction Standard

This initiative proposes to develop a comprehensive Sustainable Design & Construction Standard for all University of Arizona construction projects, complementing existing Design & Specification Standards (DSS) to ensure sustainability design goals are met. This set of Sustainable Design & Construction Standards should encompass all aspects of sustainable buildings and serve as a new set of green building requirements for all new construction and renovation projects. These requirements will focus on energy efficiency, water conservation, transportation mode shift, green infrastructure, equity considerations, and other elements of sustainable design. Actionable items include:

• Develop enhanced performance standards that align with the requirements of the Decarbonization Sub-Plan and that support other Sustainability Commitments.
• Define new criteria for what types of projects need to follow these guidelines to capture projects that fall below the current $10M threshold for requiring LEED certification.
• Utilize life-cycle cost modeling to ensure that design choices are balancing site level project requirements with long-term system wide decarbonization and performance goals.
• Implement project management models that prioritize increased collaboration and systems integrations during the design phase to maximize project outcomes while reducing construction time and costs.