SITES Rating System / by Admin

This summer USGBC hosted a webinar about the SITES rating system. The webinar explained how the SITES rating system works and how it could support our ecosystem by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Guest speakers also offered their valuable opinions on how to integrate the SITES rating system into policy and various projects

Who were there?

Moderator: Gracie Tilman, Advocacy Partnerships Associate, USGBC

Speaker: Anna Grace Mbow, Project Manager, Market Transformation and Development from USGBC.

Guest speakers:

“Natural climate solutions can provide 37% of cost-effective CO2 mitigation needed through 2030 for a >66% chance of holding warming to below 2 °C.”

—-Natural Climate Solution”, PNAS, October 2017.

What is the SITES rating system?

Sites is a rating system that guides and evaluates the sustainability and resilience of a design. This guide offers essential nature-based solutions for landscape architects, developers, planners, and other professionals.

The rating system offers a total of 200 points across 10 sections and 18 prerequisites, which results in 4 certification levels for projects.

Why does it matter?

The rating system provides resources and helps the design team to prioritize biodiversity management, mitigate climate change, protect public health, and provide economic benefit.

It also helps to drive the dramatic transformation of how we (should) develop our land. With the guidance of this rating system, we can provide more functional habitat and amenities to our community.

What’s the process or pathway to get the project certified?

The Sites rating system provided three credit pathways for projects to participate.

  1. Pre-certification process

  2. Certification for New Construction/Major renovation

  3. Certification for Existing/As-built projects

Sites can be used as a standalone tool or a complementary tool for the LEED rating system. The presenter, Anna Grace Mbow, showed that SITEs could benefit various types of projects. For example:

What kind of project is eligible to get SITES certification?

There is no maximum size for a SITES project, but the minimum size is considered to be 2000 square feet (185.8 m²). The SITES rating system can also apply to a location, whether the project contains buildings or not.

What is the “Integrated Design Process”?

The integrated design process should include the following steps: First, form an integrated design team. Second. Develop a collaborative design process. Third, identify the project’s sustainability principles and goals. Last, incorporate the sustainability principles and performance goals into the program plan.

What is the “Integrated Design Team”?

An integrated design team should include at least the following roles in one project, such as :

  • Owner

  • Professional knowledgeable in design, construction, and maintenance

  • Professionals knowledgeable in sustainable practices

  • Professionals with expertise in vegetation, water, soil, landscape ecology, material, and human health and well-being.

What is a key difference between the standard design process and the integrative design process? 

The integrated design process brings the full project team together at the start of the project and encourages collaboration throughout every stage of the project. Although not every project can benefit from an integrated design process, and that might lead to longer time in pre-design and schematic design, once the project has an integrated design team on board, the project will spend less time during the design development phase and reduce time on producing technical design documentation.  

What’s the difference between LEED and the SITES rating system

Both LEED and SITES rating systems aim to recognize projects’ sustainable and resilient achievements to transform the market. However, SITES certification does not require having a building on the site, focuses more on the outdoor space of the project, and does not emphasize the energy use of the project. The SITES rating system also focuses more on various lifecycle stages, especially on Soil and vegetation, and prioritizes human health and wellbeing.  

How does the SITES rating system influence our day-to-day lives?

The SITES rating system has gradually been adopted in policy at the federal, state, and local levels.

  • In 2015, GSA decided to incorporate the SITES certification program into its capital construction program.”

  • In 2022, the Governor of Rhode Island, Daniel McKee, enacted substantial improvements to the Green Building Act, which expanded public projects’ requirements to meet LEED, LEED ND, and SITES certification.

  • City of Austin in Taxes incorporated the rating system into their local policy, such as the requirements for Parks and PARD (Park Recreation Department)

In sum, whether your job requires you to get a SITES AP certification or not, you might already benefit from walking in the neighborhood park that follows the SITES rating system and guidelines, which surely will improve the stormwater management in your neighborhood and strengthen your health and wellbeing.

Notes and references:

  • The quote originated from a landmark study led by the Nature Conservancy and published in the Proceedinngs of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) in 2017. The research found that natural climate solution, such as reforstation, improved land management, and conservation could provide up to 37% of the cost effectibve carbon dioxide mitigation needed by 2030 to keep global warming below 2°C

  • You can read through the complete study at this link: Natural climate solutions, Bronson W. Griscom (PNAS, 2017)

  • For readers who want to learn more about how to incorporate SITES into their planning ordinance, please refer to Designing for the Future.