High Performance Green Building: What's it Worth?

Interest and investment in high performance green/sustainable buildings have grown substantially over the last 15 years. Despite this increased attention, these buildings account for only a small

percentage of the markets across the United States and Canada. While there has been a great deal of discussion about the value that these buildings provide, there is a significant disconnect between the building/design community and the financial/investment community on how to quantify and validate this value. Further, there is no consensus between these communities regarding what exactly is meant by the term value. Often, the two groups are using the same words but speaking different languages.


The primary purpose of this study is to help bridge the gap in understanding between these two distinct but interrelated communities by providing information about the valuation of high performance green buildings with a focus on commercial investment office properties.

Code, Regulatory, and Systemic Barriers Affecting Living Building Projects

This report addresses both systemic and specific regulatory barriers encountered by projects pursuing the goals and prerequisites established by the Living Building Challenge within the U.S. and Canada. The methodology employed in developing it included examining the range of Cascadia Region Green Building Council: Copyright 2009 regulatory and other approvals required to design and build leading-edge projects, surveying Living Building Challenge project teams, researching and reviewing existing literature on this topic, and interviewing knowledgeable experts across the U.S. and Canada in the public and private sectors, in research, and in non-governmental organizations.

City of Vancouver/ Clark County Code Study

Cascadia is working with the City of Vancouver, WA, and Clark County, WA, to identify and address code and regulatory barriers to the Living Building Challenge for sustainable, affordable, residential development. The Code Study identified 6 green residential projects built or under development in the region that were assessed against Cascadia’s Living Building Challenge criteria. A detailed review of the case study projects against the city and county’s land use, development, and building codes was performed to highlight the potential obstacles projects may encounter.  This project is funded through the Washington State Department of Community Trade & Economic Development.

Living Building Financial Study

A subsequent endeavor to the widely distributed ‘Packard Sustainability Matrix’, published by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in 1999, the purpose of Cascadia’s Financial Study is to investigate the economic obstacles to creating Living Buildings, and determine how these vary based on building type and location. Using an RFP process, Cascadia contracted with a multi-disciplinary team, including SERA Architects, Gerding/Edlen Development, Skanska Construction, Interface Engineering, and New Buildings Institute.

Achieving Water Independence in Buildings

In pursuing the Living Building Challenge for a conceptual affordable housing project, Central City Concern, a non-profit owner of affordable housing in Portland, OR, initiated research to understand the regulatory, technological and behavioral barriers to achieve net-zero water.

Central City Concern’s report, Achieving Water Independence in Buildings, explains water reuse strategies and what current Oregon regulations allow. Their approach helped achieve statewide rainwater and greywater allowances in Oregon and may offer guidance for those in other states wishing explore the possibilities of water reuse in buildings and those wishing to reform limiting regulation.