40,000 LEED APs and Counting

Dave Barista, Managing Editor

During the past year, more than 15,000 design and construction professionals in the U.S. earned their green stripes by becoming accredited through the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Accredited Professionals program. Some 40,000 AEC professionals are now accredited through the USGBC, up from 25,000 last year, according to the Washington, D.C.-based organization.

Since 2004, BD+C has tracked the number of LEED APs within the nation’s largest AEC firms as part of its annual Giants 300 survey (see special pullout poster and accompanying charts starting on page 41). Of the 348 firms surveyed this year, 93% report having at least one LEED AP on staff, and 58% say they have 10 or more LEED APs.

For the third year running, Chicago-based Perkins+Will takes the top spot on BD+C’s top 50 Building Team LEED APs ranking, with 753 green building pros on staff. More than 300 P+W staffers became accredited during the past 12 months, the result of a corporate mandate, says communications manager Katie McGee.

Mithun, Seattle, has the highest percentage of LEED APs on staff. More than two-thirds (69.5%) of firm’s total staff is accredited. Perkins+Will (60.9%), LPA (59.2%), CUH2A (43.5%), and Gould Evans Associates (40.5%) round out the top five.

BD+C’s Top 50 Building Team LEED APs

Source: 2007 Giants 300 survey Note: This ranking is based on firms that made the Giants 300 list.
1. Perkins+Will	753	1,236	60.9
2. Gensler	575	2,480	23.2
3. HOK	456	2,153	21.2
4. Stantec	277	5,977	4.6
5. The Turner Corp.	260	—	—
6. SmithGroup	243	817	29.7
7. HDR Architecture	192	1,111	17.3
8. DPR Construction	185	676	27.4
9. CUH2A	161	370	43.5
10. HKS	155	1,148	13.5
11. Mithun	137	197	69.5
12. LPA	126	213	59.2
13. Skanska USA Building	125	—	—
14. Leo A Daly	123	1,081	11.4
15. DLR Group	120	556	21.6
16. Gilbane Building Co.	118	1,800	6.6
17. Cannon Design	115	749	15.4
18. JE Dunn Construction Group	110	3,369	3.3
18. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill	110	1,280	8.6
20. NBBJ	109	728	15.0
21. Arup	105	8,500	1.2
22. Swinerton Inc.	103	1,280	8.0
23. DMJM H&N	96	1,297	7.4
24. Bovis Lend Lease	94	2,937	3.2
25. Callison	92	638	14.4
26. Moseley Architects	87	227	38.3
26. Webcor Builders	87	—	—
28. Zimmer Gunsul Frasca	85	439	19.4
29. Gould Evans Associates	83	205	40.5
30. Perkins Eastman	80	722	11.1
31. Hammel, Green and Abrahamson	79	508	15.6
32. KlingStubbins	75	540	13.9
32. RTKL Associates	75	1,051	7.1
34. M. A. Mortenson Co.	74	1,234	6.0
35. STV Group	70	1,455	4.8
35. Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback	70	300	23.3
37. Flack + Kurtz	69	383	18.0
37. URS Corp.	69	29,308	0.2
39. Jacobs Engineering Group	68	—	—
40. CH2M HILL	66	4,704	1.4
41. Affiliated Engineers	65	508	12.8
42. Hayes, Seay, Mattern & Mattern	63	650	9.7
43. RNL Design	62	185	33.5
44. Clark Group	61	2,945	2.1
44. HMC Architects	61	432	14.1
46. KPFF Consulting Engineers	60	853	7.0
47. Cooper Carry	58	287	20.2
48. Clark Nexsen	56	322	17.4
48. Holder Construction	56	377	14.9
50. Einhorn Yaffee Prescott	54	300	18.0
50. Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott	54	180	30.0

AIA: Commercial Flooring

The colorful ribboned flooring at Toronto’s Corus Quay mimics the iconic corkscr

Discussions of commercial flooring tend to focus on the floor covering or finish material. This is hardly surprising, since the covering is the part of the floor that stakeholders see, interact with, and care about most. The...

The use of light load-bearing glass to create transparent stairs, floors, and ot

Glass has taken on new life in recent building years. Long valued for its transparency and lightness, glass is now also being considered for its structural and protective capabilities. Beyond the technique known as...

Building owners must plan ahead for roof replacement to avoid emergency leak rem

No building owner wants to be caught unprepared by catastrophic roof failure. Emergency roof replacements tend to be more expensive than planned ones, and damage to interiors may mean unrecovered costs and detrimental...

AIA: New Developments in Concrete Construction

Concrete has long been a reliable building material for commercial and institutional projects. Yet recent trends, including the growth in hospitality and urban rental project starts, as well as mixed-use towers and transit-...

Energy performance starts at the building envelope

Until recently, it has been lighting, mechanical, and control system upgrades which have received the most attention in the green building movement. At long last, the industry is now recognizing building enclosures as a long...

Brick and stone masonry have served as reliable and valuable elements of commercial building projects for centuries, gracing urban and rural landscapes since time immemorial. Building Teams have trusted clay brick to bring...

Making the Most of the Reconstruction Boom Reconstruction in its many forms—tenant improvements, retail fitouts, adaptive reuse, historic preservation, gut rehab, and so on—is keeping many design and construction firms...

Codes harvest rainwater

The topic of water shortages is nothing new, as cities around the globe struggle with drought, water quality, supply constraints, and failing infrastructures. However, the idea of new plumbing codes and design standards...

Guard booths, stations and shelters are defense strategy linchpins, becoming increasingly integral to perimeter defense planning. Before evaluating the efficacy of different guard booth configurations, and before selecting a...

From the company that brought you Construction Computing Magazine’s 2011 BIM Product of the Year ArchiCAD 15, the “Get There Faster with ArchiCAD” whitepaper examines five critical areas to explore before making your final...

2011 Zero and Net-Zero Energy Buildings + Homes

Download Complete White Paper Download Introduction Download Chapters 1-4Defining Net-Zero Energy Buildings

Our seventh White Paper on Green Buildings focuses on the role of water in sustainable design and construction. The editors conclude with a set of 21 detailed recommendations for the consideration of the Building Teams, home...