USGBC Notes 20% Increase in LEED Accredited Professionals

The number of LEED Accredited Professionals (LAP) has increased 20 percent year over year, bringing the total number of LAPs to 25,000. LAP accreditation is received from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), and the rapid increase in LAPs is a sign of the trend towards sustainable design, construction, and architecture.

There is an extremely informative website/magazine called Building Design & Construction (BD&C), which audits the number of LAPs in largest United States design and construction firms. They've posted a complete list of their results, but I wanted to spend some time on the top five.

1. Perkins + Will.

2. Gensler.

3. Hellmuth, Obata, Kassabaum (HOK).

4. Stantec.

5. DPR.

BD&C's article lists the LAP numbers for each of the top 100 giant design and construction firms. This information is helpful, especially for companies and developers making their first foray into the green business, because it demonstrates who has the knowledge and expertise to build green.  Green building and sustainable design is a major trend that anyone in the industry should start to realize: real estate agents, designers, engineers, architects, contractors, home builders, developers, owners, REITs, RE management companies, etc.