Retail Green Set to Grow Dramatically!
Retail Industry Leaders Association announces a new sustainability program on August 29th. Green retail buildings certifying to the LEED standard will grow by hundreds of stores in 2008, I predict.
The retail industry builds or renovates $25 billion of stores every year, second only to the $31 billion spend on offices in the commercial building sector. (Engineering News-Record statistics, issue of July 30, 2007, p. 23). Earlier in August, Best Buy announced that all their new stores would be LEED-certified. Now, later in August, the Retail Industry Leaders Association announced the unveiling of the RILA Sustainability Initiative, designed to advance “socially sustainable” activities and gain recognition for members engaged in environmental stewardship. “For years, our members have been embracing stewardship and sustainability,” said RILA President Sandy Kennedy, in a statement. “Through the RSI, we will gather the leading retail companies in the country to advance activities and business practices that will move the industry forward as a whole.” Casey Chroust, RILA’s senior vice president of retail operations, who will spearhead RSI, said the new initiative will be a forum for the retail industry “to design programs and solutions for environmental compliance and voluntary sustainability leadership.” We expect this program to result in major green building initiatives by many leading retail chains.
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