Gramley SDBJ Interview

Where does San Diego rank as far as certified, sustainable buildings? Platt/Whitelaw Architects’ Principal Sandy Gramley was recently interviewed by Ray Huard at San Diego Business Journal about the state of sustainable design in San Diego.

According to the article, in a recent study by commercial real estate services firm CBRE and Maastricht University in the Netherlands, San Diego was ranked 18 among the country’s 30 largest metropolitan areas in having green-certified office buildings. The study ranked these areas based on the amount of office space that’s been Energy Star or LEED certified. More than 41 percent of commercial space in the 30 top metropolitan regions of the U.S. has been certified as green, but only 29.8 percent of the commercial space in San Diego has been certified.

In San Diego’s defense, Gramley shares that San Diego’s lack of corporate headquarters and mild climate may have something to do with it.

Sandy shared, “There’s a lot of people here (in SD) doing the right thing and working at it. There’s a lot of us in the industry that realize there’s a moral imperative to do the right thing and keep our buildings green and our cities more sustainable.”

Recent changes in California state law and building codes, including the California Green Building Standards Code that took effect in January, are likely to move this process forward significantly. The new code imposes standards that are nearly equal to those required for green certification.

For more about what Sandy and others had to say on this topic, San Diego Business Journal subscribers can read the full article here.