Status Acknowledges Kirksey as First Houston-based Firm with Designation and Role as High-Quality LEED Administrator
HOUSTON, TEXAS – Kirksey Architecture is proud to announce that the Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) has designated Kirksey a LEED® Proven Provider™ for the LEED v2009 New Construction and Core and Shell rating systems. This designation, the first for a Houston-based architecture firm, was developed to streamline the LEED project review process for experienced organizations that demonstrate consistent excellence in administering LEED projects.
“Quality is at the core of the LEED certification process, and Kirksey has exhibited expertise in helping to bring healthy, high-performing buildings to the market,” said Doug Gatlin, vice president of program delivery, USGBC and GBCI. “The LEED Proven Provider model represents a great partnership between Kirksey and GBCI, because it allows GBCI to maintain a rigorous certification program and gives Kirksey the opportunity to deliver LEED projects to its clients faster.”
LEED Proven Provider is designed to encourage and reward high-quality LEED project submissions to minimize the need for additional work during the project review process. It represents an opportunity for Kirksey and LEED reviewers to work together to enhance the LEED certification experience, simultaneously allowing Kirksey to further invest in quality control and continuous improvement and allowing LEED reviewers more opportunities for direct engagement with and support for project teams.
“GBCI's evaluation process for Proven Provider is extremely rigorous, and took us more than two years to complete,” said Julie Hendricks, AIA, LEED AP, vice president and head of Kirksey’s EcoServices Team. “We're very proud to be among only a handful of companies that have this distinction.”
Organizations that demonstrate and maintain high-quality project submissions through LEED Proven Provider receive significant benefits, such as greater access to a LEED reviewer and recognition from USGBC for their sustained track record of high-quality project submissions. Organizations with significant LEED project administration experience (a minimum of six certified projects in a single rating system family) can learn more.
Kirksey EcoServices, an in-house team of building performance analysts who are focused on green building solutions, was founded in 2002 with the purpose of designing creative spaces that are inspiring, healthy, efficient, less expensive to maintain and ultimately serve as good stewards to our environment with a commitment to sustainability. With 89 LEED certified projects spanning 6 LEED rating systems in their portfolio, Kirksey has consulted on more than 29 million square feet of LEED certified projects. Kirksey is proud to have designed several “firsts” in the state of Texas, as well as the surrounding Houston area:
1st in Texas
LEED Existing Building Certified
LEED Existing Building Gold
1st in Houston
LEED Certified Building
LEED Core & Shell
LEED Commercial Interior
1st in Gulf Coast Region
LEED Existing Building Platinum
Recently certified LEED projects from Kirksey include:
• The City of Houston Traffic and Transportation Center – Houston, TX. This 40,000 sf office and manufacturing facility for the City’s traffic signals and signage achieved LEED Gold due in part to its extensive use of natural daylight and implementation of a comprehensive solid waste management plan.
• Energy Center 3 – Houston, TX. This LEED Gold project is the first of three office buildings to achieve LEED certification on a more than 1.7 million sf campus along the I-10 energy corridor. The project includes landscaping fed entirely by a rainwater harvesting system as well as extensive energy efficiency measures.
• Wildwood Corporate Centre Phase 1 – Spring, TX. Winner of an AIA Houston Design Award, this 137,000 sf project achieved LEED Silver thanks in part to water efficient landscaping and the project’s efforts to improve the quality of storm water runoff from the site.
###