(Washington, DC) – August 8, 2007 – LEED for Neighborhood Development – the pilot rating system launched jointly by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) is off to a promising start. A total of 238 developments have signed up to participate in the pilot program, which will be the first national certification system for sustainable neighborhood design and development.  LEED for Neighborhood Development will integrate the principles of smart growth, new urbanism, and green building into the design and development of communities, moving beyond the single green building approach.  The LEED for Neighborhood Development pilot is on track to be one of the largest launches yet for a new LEED program.

The LEED Green Building Rating System, developed by USGBC, was originally created as a way to define green building for new commercial construction and has since expanded to include building types ranging from existing buildings, commercial interiors, and core & shell developments to single family homes and most recently neighborhood developments. LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a development's location and design meet accepted high standards for environmentally responsible and sustainable development.

“The LEED for Neighborhood Development pilot program is the next generation of green building thinking,” said Rick Fedrizzi, USGBC President, CEO & Founding Chair.  “By applying what we’ve learned about individual green buildings to entire neighborhoods, we’re linking urban planning and environmentally friendly design and construction in a whole new, beneficial and healthy way.”

NRDC’s Smart Growth program helped to establish the LEED for Neighborhood Development pilot program by soliciting the help of several smart growth experts to participate on the committee of volunteers that authored the rating system.  The principles of smart growth focus on the importance of considering location, transportation alternatives, equity, and community form when developing land use plans.

CNU brought a number of leading planners and architects from the New Urbanist movement to help shape the new rating system.  New Urbanism promotes compact neighborhood form, a wide range of urban housing types from multi-unit buildings to singe-family homes, a vibrant mix of uses within close proximity of each other, humane public spaces and well-connected streets and blocks serving users ranging from pedestrians and cyclists to transit riders and drivers.

Over the course of the next year, the pilot projects will seek certification and help to test the Neighborhood Development system.  USGBC, CNU, and NRDC will use the pilot program to learn more about how LEED for Neighborhood Development works with real-life pilot projects before revising and approving the final version of the system for a full public launch in 2008.

For more information about the LEED for Neighborhood Development program, visit www.usgbc.org/leed/nd.

                                                                                                Source: www.usgbc.org