CBRE Boosts LEED Building Enrollment

LOS ANGELES-CB Richard Ellis Group has enrolled 225 office buildings in the LEED Existing Building Program after initially targeting a minimum of 100 buildings for enrollment in the program. The enrollment will significantly increase the number of existing office buildings operated under green standards because enrollment of the properties is the first step in the process for attaining LEED EB certification.

David Pogue, CBRE’s national director of sustainability, notes that when the company initially committed to enrolling buildings in the EB certification program near the end of 2007, fewer than 60 buildings in the US had attained LEED EB designation. At the time, CBRE committed to enroll a minimum 100 buildings in the then-emerging LEED EB process. The company is now the largest third-party manager of buildings in the program.

The properties that CBRE enrolled in the LEED EB program total more than 57 million square feet and are owned by more than 55 different investors and corporations in 21 states. CBRE currently manages 17 buildings that have attained LEED EB certification, a total that is expected to grow to 50 buildings by year end.

Pogue says that the keys to the certification program involve partnering with clients and deploying a strong internal certification team with the technical expertise required for enhancing sustainable practices in the buildings that CBRE manages. He was named to the post of national director of sustainability in 2008 to manage the development, introduction and implementation of a wide range of sustainable practices and policies throughout the firm’s Americas portfolio of managed properties.