DPD Green Building -- Program History

City Green Building

Program History

Overview
Substantial progress has been made since the City of Seattle first launched energy and water conservation programs in the 1970s (see Timeline). In 2000 Seattle became the first city in the nation to formally adopt a Sustainable Building Policy. Coupled with the biggest capital improvement program since the Seattle fire of 1888, the new policy provided a unique leadership opportunity to create change in the building industry. It is part of a larger Environmental Management System created by the City’s Office of Sustainability and Environment.

Since 2000 City of Seattle green building experts have worked steadily to incorporate sustainability principles into the daily work of engineers, plans examiners, code developers, planners and other City staff. They have also worked with developers, architects, and private citizens to embrace green building principles in all aspects of development, from small renovations to highrises.

5-Year Report: "Building a Better City"

In 2005 we celebrated five years of green building accomplishments in our 5-Year Report: "Building a Better City".

This report documents how Seattle has grown to have one of the strongest green building markets in the nation, and how--through its Green Building Program--the City of Seattle is expected to become one of the largest single owners of LEED™ facilities in the world.

Read the report to learn about Seattle's noteworthy sustainability achievements:

Download Report (1.9MB PDF)
Download Appendices (4MB PDF ) - see detailed list of appendices topics below

NOTE: These PDF documents require Acrobat Reader 6.0 or newer (download free reader).

Appendices
The appendices to the 5-Year Report are contained in a separate document. Download appendices (4MB PDF file). Topics include:

Innovation Adoption
Lessons Learned from LEED™ Implementation
Sustainable Building Incentive Program
City Outreach/Incentive Programs that Contribute to Sustainable Building
Cost Benefit of Sustainable Building
LEED™ Post-Occupancy Evaluation
Program Awards and Publications
Commercial Communications Campaign
Built Green™ Marketing Campaign
Key Partnerships with the City
Sustainable Connections Lecture Series
Center City Map of Sustainable Building Projects
Examples of Innovative Incentives and Strategies from Other Jurisdictions
Parks and Recreation Department Sustainable
Development Scorecard
Green Building Team Structure and Explanation of Acronyms
Urban Green: A Resource Center for Sustainable Development

Northwest Regional Sustainable Building Action Plan
In the fall of 1997, the Urban Consortium Energy Task Force (UCETF) provided a $74,000 grant to the City of Seattle to develop a Northwest Regional Sustainable Building Action Plan (the “Plan”). Soon after, the city invited several public and private sector partners to join in guiding development of the Plan. Seattle and the partners invited approximately 200 staff-level architects, engineers, developers, contractors, planners, and consultants to participate in a series of four workshops over six months in 1998. The list of participants eventually grew to 180 as word of the Plan spread. The workshops looked at:

barriers to sustainable building in the Pacific Northwest;
solutions to the barriers;
specific strategies for each solution; and
implementation workplans for each strategy.

In addition to the staff-level work group, a senior-level “Sustainable Building Blue Ribbon Task Force” was formed, chaired by Seattle City Council Member Richard Conlin. Twenty-three elected officials, industry executives, and public officials participated on the task force.

The final result was Northwest Regional Sustainable Building Action Plan: Strategies to Mainstream Sustainable Design and Construction Practices in the Pacific Northwest, published in March of 1999. The Action Plan is intended to serve as a road map for the region--to identify the most critical and practical steps needed to make sustainable building the standard practice in the Pacific Northwest.

Last Updated: August 4, 2009