Green Design Expectations

There’s a lack of “green” design specialization but that’s OK, says Kevin Collins, A&E Professional Liability Practice Leader, at Victor.

“It’s pretty easy to get coverage for firms that are involved in green design,” Collins said. “It’s easy to place coverage for engineers and there are no standard exclusions that really focus on the green building aspect.” However, what may not be as easy for architects and engineers when it comes to green building is managing their expectations on how the green building will perform.

“When we talk about green design, it could be simply the materials that are being used. It could be from the standpoint of the certification of the building itself, or it could be more futuristic, dealing with issues around climate resiliency or longer term issues that need to be built into the design,” he said. There are contractual exclusions that exclude warranties and guarantees for performance.

For example, many of the requirements for green building certification programs, including the USGBC’s LEED program, are outside of the design control. “So in other words, you can work with the owner to try to manage and select systems or find ‘points’ (for certification) and build those elements” into the design “but at the end of the day, the certification process is based on performance at the end of the project,” he said. And the certification is based on a third party review of that performance. “So you can’t guarantee that they’re going to get the LEED certification.”

Andrew Mendelson, executive vice president, chief risk management and CX officer at Berkley Alliance Managers, a Berkley Company, agrees.

“Our key advice to our clients, our insureds who are architects and engineers and contractors, is to manage owners’ expectations,” Mendelson said. “So with green design, you’re expecting a more sustainable performance of a building. You’re expecting better energy performance,” he said. “But the key is to manage the expectations of the project owner and not guarantee the performance from an insurance perspective.” There is no guarantee. “We don’t insure for warranty and guarantee as professionals. Now contractors have a warranty guarantee standard, but with regard to sustainable goals, they do not.”

Mendelson says one of the main reasons why there cannot be a warranty and guarantee has to do with the owners’ use of the green building and its components.

“How do they operate the building? Are they running the HVAC system, the temperature control system, the way it was designed? … The owner’s a big component and that’s why it is not just about the architects and engineers or the contractor.”

Mendelson added that A&E claims largely evolve out of unmet expectations. “This is why in green design, the expectations can be elevated by an owner, so you’ve got to manage that.”

While green design may add to the complexity of the design and construction, it has also led to strong commitments from engineering associations to support environmentally responsive and responsible design.

For example, sustainable design in public entities has expanded into better management of stormwater. “That gets at the heart of resiliency and extreme weather,” he said.

“Parts of green design now include retaining stormwater on site longer; keeping it on the site and not in the public storm sewer system, overwhelming the streets and causing flooding,” Mendelson said.

“So that’s an aspect of sustainable design that is directly related to resiliency.”