Increasing Sustainability with Integrated Project Design

Improving efficiency should be a top priority for organizations looking to reduce costs and reach their sustainability goals. There are several strategies and methodologies for streamlining production and eliminating waste in fields like manufacturing and construction. Can those tactics be applied to improving energy efficiency and sustainability as well? Here’s how integrated project design can help the environment by creating more sustainable buildings for less money.

What Is Integrated Project Design?

Integrated project design is an offshoot of the lean manufacturing school of thought, specifically focused on building design and construction. First developed for Toyota, lean methodology seeks to eliminate waste from all aspects of manufacturing: less equipment, less time, less space, and less human effort. In effect, it looks for ways to streamline production, thus saving resources and increasing output, without sacrificing overall quality.

Integrated project design uses collaboration to accomplish this streamlining goal. Rather than treating each aspect of building design as a separate project, all the different disciplines come together to inform one another’s work. Everyone has the same vision in mind, working together to find new ways of bringing it to fruition. By focusing on the whole rather than the individual parts, new connections can be made, which saves time, labor, and energy.

Integrated Project Design and Sustainability – LEED certification

This collaborative method can be taken a step further to focus on sustainability in building design and construction. Start by simply brainstorming ways to save energy and create more sustainable systems within a building. From there, you can set specific sustainability goals and work towards them.

For instance, LEED certification. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system rates both new and existing buildings on their sustainability. You need at least 40 points to be LEED Certified. If you receive 80 points or more, you can achieve the highest rating level, LEED Platinum. There is also LEED Zero for buildings that completely eliminate their waste, carbon emissions, etc.

With integrated project design, you can set your sustainability goal right from the beginning. Which level of LEED certification do you want to reach? How many points do you need? What are some things you can do to score those points and maximize your sustainability?

By working together to plan this out from the beginning, you can also be more budget-conscious in your design. How much will a LEED Certified building cost to implement, and how can you reduce those costs without sacrificing sustainability? When each area works separately, they’re only concerned with their own specific goals. But by working together, potential budget issues can be identified more quickly, and solutions can be found before those issues become a problem.