KPAA's Bruce Bergman Receives LEED AP

KPAA Principal Architect, Bruce Bergman, successfully met the requirements for certification as a LEED® Accredited Professional (LEED AP) in March, 2009.

The LEED AP certification program was introduced in 2001 by USGBC and is currently administered by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). The purpose of the LEED AP program is as follows:

"LEED Professional Accreditation distinguishes building professionals with the knowledge and skills to successfully steward the LEED certification process. LEED Accredited Professionals (LEED APs) have demonstrated a thorough understanding of green building practices and principles and the LEED Rating System."

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a non-profit organization which is "committed to expanding sustainable building practices" through education and promotion of a variety of programs. One of the primary contributions made by USGBC is the LEED program:

"LEED is a third party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2000 through a consensus based process, LEED serves as a tool for buildings of all types and sizes. LEED certification offers third party validation of a project’s green features and verifies that the building is operating exactly the way it was designed to." - U.S. Green Building Council

Mr. Bergman's knowledge of sustainable design and green building principles is currently focused in the context of forensic architecture. In 2008, he was one of a number of panelists in a discussion at West Coast Casualty's Construction Defect Seminar entitled, Going Green: Is the Grass Greener on the Other Side? Also on this panel were attorneys, Jay B. Freeman, Esq., Shelia E. Fix, Esq. and Sean P. Dwyer, Esq.