5 Ways BIM Can Help You Reach LEED Certification

We understand the importance of designing and building with the environment in mind. Our Portland, Oregon, headquarters is a LEED Gold certified building, and we’re committed to helping our customers reach LEED certification on projects as well.

The U.S. Green Building Council released data showing that global green building continues to double every three years. With the increasing demand of eco-conscious construction, the industry is anticipated to reach $234 billion by 2019. As the leading benchmark in green building, LEED-certified projects are resource-efficient and save money.

LEED points, LEED credits, and LEED prerequisites all contribute to achieving LEED certification. It involves a lot of components, but thanks to building information modeling (BIM), it’s not as complicated as it sounds. BIM provides architects, contractors, and engineers an accessible platform to easily collect LEED data and analyze green building benchmarks as part of the design and build process, before the construction phase.

Below we look at five key ways BIM and Viewpoint integrated construction software can help projects meet LEED certification.

1. Plan LEED credits

Architects and designers can use BIM to layer multiple levels of information onto a 3-D building design. For example, being able to see material origins and production processes is helpful for planning out credits that are given on the basis of materials and recycled content percentages.

2. Prioritize LEED credits

When the timeline calls for design execution, and since the plan is already established in BIM, Viewpoint’s project management software simplifies tasks related to the construction phase. This type of BIM-integrated project management allows the amount and type of credits planned for each phase of a project to be monitored. This also assists in prioritizing which credits are easiest to obtain, and how to create a plan to reach the more challenging ones.

3. Regional priority tracking

In addition to the LEED credits a project is already working toward, regional LEED credits may have been designated a priority for a respective geographical area. By tracking and planning these with BIM, it’s possible to earn regional credits, which are essentially bonus points. Obtaining regional credits can help boost a LEED building to the next level, such as from LEED Certified to LEED Silver.

4. Sharing best practices

All the steps, timelines, and benchmarks can be used to create a database of best practices to help others working on similar projects and buildings. This proprietary aggregate can save team members from reworking an issue, or help them come up with a solution to meet a particular LEED credit.

5. LEED certification submission

Using Viewpoint and BIM can make the certification process easy and help you reach a project’s green building goals. All your credits, materials, techniques, and more will be in an organized, accessible location for smooth submission.

Have you successfully used Viewpoint software and BIM to reach LEED certification? Let us know your experience and best practices on Twitter and Facebook, or reach out to us anytime to explore Viewpoint’s entire portfolio of construction software solutions.