Tuthill Corporate Headquarters Campus. Photo from Conservation Design Forum.
If you’ve heard of green buildings, you’ve likely heard of LEED. Like LEED before it, SITES is set to transform the way landscapes are valued. SITES is a rating system and set of comprehensive guidelines that help landscape developers achieve sustainability – by making choices about ways to use less water, to use native plants, to opt for sustainable materials, to support wildlife and more while developing a site.
Forty-five projects across the country have received certification to date under a pilot program of SITES, which is now available for any landscape project team to use. The pilot landscapes already have collectively saved more than 400 million gallons of drinkable water per year.
SITES was developed by the Wildflower Center in collaboration with the American Society of Landscape Architects and the U.S. Botanic Garden. It was recently purchased by the Green Business Certification Institute, Inc., the very same organization that implements LEED and many other green building rating systems
Keep an eye out for SITES-certified landscape projects near you.
