San Mateo Looking to Mandate Green TI’s
October 2, 2009
San Mateo currently has a green building program that is voluntary. The city is working on removing the voluntary nature of the program and instead making it a mandate.
The mandate would not only cover all new construction, but any TI jobs greater than 10,000 square feet as well. At a time when rents are falling, this requirement will put even more strain on landlord’s as the cost of building LEED compliant interiors is higher. I know I might get get some email or comments about LEED not costing that much more, etc. etc, but even though the costs are falling, it still costs more.
The existing voluntary program is below, but expect a mandated revision to make it up for vote sometime soon.
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San Mateo proposed ordinance is based on the very low-bar LEED silver standard (which at least in new construction has already been left behind). Studies show approx 1-1.5% added cost for this level of certification, down significantly and continuing to decline
Nothing against sustainability efforts and improving building performance, but municipalities seem to be adopting standards on face value, without science-based fact finding about how much better the building environments will actually perform. This is essentially a tax on landlords and tenants that doesn’t model any cost/benefit analysis into the return over their lease term (either for the tenant or the landlord). Practices that provide verifiable performance improvements will be adopted by the market naturally. Feel-good practices should really be part of the building code, not a requirement that a LEED certification be acquired.