QUESTIONSANDANSWERS
PROF SHAMS ELDIEN NAGA
Principal, NAGA Architects, Designers and Planners
Professor Naga is the founder of NAGA Architects, a multi- disciplinary planning and design firm that revolves around the urban environment. Hospital Build magazine sat down with Professor Naga to discuss sustainable architecture in healthcare and the importance of LEED certification.
Q. What are the benefits of LEED certification in healthcare? A. Healthcare, as a building type, ranks high in energy usage, water usage and building size. However, practices adopted through LEED certification can reduce, if not eliminate, all these negative environmental effects through high-performance market-leading design, construction, and operations practices. Green healthcare operations and management reduce operation costs, enhance building marketability, increase worker productivity, and reduce potential liability resulting from poor indoor air qualities.
Q. What is the checklist and points required to achieve LEED for healthcare? A. Simply put, requisites and credits in the LEED Green Building Rating System address seven topics: 1. Sustainable Sites (SS) 2. Water Efficiency (WE) 3. Energy and Atmosphere (EA) 4. Materials and Resources (MR) 5. Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) 6. Innovation in Design (ID) 7. Regional Priority (RP) The ‘LEED 2009 for Healthcare New Construction & Major
Renovations Rating System’ is based on 100 base points, plus six possible ‘Innovation in Design’ and four possible ‘Regional Priority’ points. The following is a list of certification ratings and their required points: Certified
Silver Gold
Platinum 014 HOSPITAL BUILD & INFRASTRUCTURE MAGAZINE ISSUE 1 2012
40-49 points 50-59 points 60-79 points
80 points and above.
Q. What are some of the essential planning steps involved to ensure a streamlined green design process for a health facility? A. Because a healthcare facility is more technically challenged than most other types of facilities, it is impor tant to involve as many consultants (especially MEP and equipment consultants) as early as possible to insure the smooth flow of the design process, and allow the players to be interactive and proactive rather than reactive. It is also crucial to use state-of-the-ar t technology such as BIM to facilitate coordination among disciplines, and using energy modelling tools (such as IES) to inform design at the early stages so that they can produce a design direction that will be easily steered towards sustainability. Besides that, having consultants that are LEED AP - from all disciplines - can help elevate the green practices IQs for the non-accredited team members, and help insure that the process of adhering to the LEED credit checklists is carried out smoothly.
Q. How can a hospital be more efficiently designed to reduce long-term costs? A. LEED’s checklists are rather comprehensive, providing many recommendations that (if properly executed) can lead to long-term savings. However, big items such as selecting the right site, reducing the footprint of the project, and using information from energy models at the outset of the design process, can ultimately result in the biggest long-term savings.
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