Sustainable Design Consulting
SDC turns 20 this October!
As we approach this important milestone, we’ll post a weekly highlight from each year of our history, to help shine a light on where we’ve been – with an eye toward where we’re headed next.
As SDC settled into being a newly formed consulting firm, greening k-12 schools became an emerging industry focus. Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Maryland led the way by launching its own Green Schools Focus program! Over two full days in July 2003, MCPS held its first eco-charrette to establish its priorities, emphasizing development of …
For a brief period in the firm’s history, SDC was based in Annapolis – Maryland’s capital city – and became active with the then Maryland Green Building Network, an indirect predecessor of USGBC Maryland. During this year, SDC began advisory work on what would become its first LEED Platinum project: Highland Beach Town Hall. Highland …
As the #greenbuilding industry kept moving forward, so did SDC – within a matter of months, the super-small business set up a DC-area regional office, while relocating its main office to Richmond, Virginia! During this year, the firm boasted three employees, other part-time staff, and an intern in each location. Functioning very much as one …
Eastern Village Cohousing in Silver Spring, Maryland was SDC’s first start-to-finish consulting project. Designed by EDG Architects and developed by Eco-Housing Corporation with Poretsky Builders, this adaptive reuse of an existing, U-shaped, concrete-framed office building challenged the status quo for multi-unit residential construction on several sustainability fronts. The developers involved future residents in the design …
Having placed a strong foothold in Central Virginia, SDC began making its presence known as a Richmond-headquartered hub of regional #greenbuilding expertise. The James River Green Building Council, a direct predecessor of USGBC Virginia, recognized SDC’s impact by awarding the firm its Green Building Leadership Award, Private Sector Category! SDC was recognized for its “many …
SDC’s first higher educational project was the Universities at Shady Grove (USG) Clifford and Camille Kendall Academic Center in Rockville, Maryland, designed by CannonDesign. SDC’s LEED consulting services, delivered initially with Scurfield Architects, brought this exciting project to its LEED Gold-level certification finish line! Known as ‘the Center’, the 195,000 sf multi-purpose building now accommodates …
SDC deepened its expertise in green building certifications and LEED specifically, delivering both the first and second LEED Platinum-level certified projects to Virginia! First came the VCU Walter L. Rice Educational Center – the flagship building at the Rice Rivers Center in Charles City County, VCU’s field station for environmental research, teaching, and public service. …
YEAR 8, 2009-2010: For the first time, USGBC National Capital Region (NCR) Chapter recognized SDC as Firm of the Year! In the 2010 Awards for Excellence featured at its annual Midsummer Night’s Green event, NCR Chapter honored SDC as Designer/Consulting Firm of the Year “for their work in developing USGBC and AIA education, and for …
SDC introduced its first-generation daylight modeling services, an example of which is pictured here. Using a combination of Autodesk Ecotect and LBNL Radiance, SDC performed a false color daylight analysis to understand the potential of discomfort glare in the atrium of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore New Engineering, Aviation, Computer Sciences and Mathematical Sciences …
As the U.S. real estate market struggled to recover from the impacts of its most recent recession, SDC leveraged renewed interest in existing building performance to deliver two Platinum-level LEED for Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance (O+M) project certifications. First came the Blair Towns in Silver Spring, Maryland, developed by the Tower Companies. SDC had …
SDC kicked off its eleventh year with commemorations of the first ten, announcing donations made to three high-quality environmental groups: Rainforest Alliance, Trust for Public Land, and Chesapeake Bay Foundation – the latter of which received their donation in person. Reflections on ten years in business also brought cause for celebrating ten of SDC’s key …
During SDC’s twelfth year delivering highest-quality LEED project submissions, GBCI, USGBC’s certification arm, recognized the firm as a LEED Proven Provider for the Building Design and Construction rating system family! This designation had recently been developed to streamline the LEED project review process for experienced organizations that demonstrate consistent excellence in administering LEED projects. LEED …
SDC saw its first international project achieve green building certification – LEED Gold-level, no less! Edificio Celebra was the new flagship office building at the Zonamerica Business and Technology Park in Montevideo, Uruguay. This existing campus included 25 buildings of different uses, such as offices, laboratories, light industrial and logistical activities, and support services for …
