“Green-building accreditation a growing trend” Jacksonville Business Journal, May 23, 2008 NORTHEAST FLORIDA -- Interest in sustainable building has spurred the number of LEED-accredited professionals in North Florida to more than triple in two years. The accreditation signifies that they understand the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System and follow building practices involving sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality. The accreditation makes interior design, architecture, engineering and construction companies more marketable, and in turn, makes employees with accreditation more attractive in the market, supporters said. An added bonus is that projects involving a LEED-accredited professional receive a point toward certification. "We've seen it's up and coming, and it looks like it will be a normal thing pretty quick," said Adair Owen, a LEED-accredited preconstruction coordinator with Elkins Constructors Inc. The local ramp-up of LEED-accredited professionals from no more than 50 two years ago to more than 160 today reflects a national trend. In 2005, there were about 22,300 LEED-accredited professionals nationwide, compared with the more than 42,500 in 2007, according to the U.S. Green Building Council. Membership soars Unsurprisingly, council membership has also increased. The USGBC's North Florida Chapter had only 15 members two years ago, compared with the 200 it expects to have by the end of the month, said Ellen Leroy-Reed, the chapter's state and local advocate chair and director of business development for Breaking Ground Contracting Co. Nationally, membership has soared from about 5,850 in 2005 to 15,300. Becoming a chapter member is easy, but getting accredited takes hundreds of dollars and generally about six weeks of studying. The testing fee is $300 for council members and $400 for nonmembers, said Susan Cleveland, the chapter's vice president and a LEED-accredited interior designer. Still, spots in the chapter's LEED accreditation study classes book within 10 minutes, Owen said. "It's like a rock concert." The language of LEED Of Elkins Constructors' 160 employees, six have been accredited and six more will take the test in June. The increased need to speak the language of LEED has spurred some of the company's superintendents to join the accreditation ranks normally only filled by project managers and their assistants. The accreditation also brings a third-party standard to an environment when all that is claimed as green isn't, said Corie Baker, a senior architectural intern at JSA Architects Inc. Four of the Jacksonville company's employees are accredited. "Anyone can say they built a green building," said Baker, who earned her accreditation two years ago. "They can just put in recycling bins." Cleveland said it generally takes a LEED-accredited professional about two projects before they become comfortable with what it entails, but engineers tend to get the hang of it much sooner. Leerie Jenkins Jr., CEO of Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc., said his engineering company pays for its associates to take the test. About 10 percent, or 75, of the company's associates are LEED-accredited and he expects that to double within the next several years. When hiring, Jenkins looks for LEED accreditation because current and prospective clients ask for it in interviews and in qualification requests. Elkins Constructors hired an intern partially because he had earned LEED accreditation while attending the University of North Florida, Owen said. "It puts résumés at the top of the pile."