Evaluating Institutional Green Building Policies: A Mixed-Methods Approach

Sustainable or green building practices have been adopted recently by many higher education institutions for their new campus buildings and major renovations. To date, no formal study has been conducted to determine if policy is essential for sustainable building practices and the implementation of LEED® for these institutional green buildings in North America. A mixed-methods approach consisting of a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews was undertaken with senior facility professionals at higher education institutions in North America. The survey evaluated the institution's use of a policy, guideline, standard, law or goal related to sustainable building practices and the interview identified specific practices as well as issues such as leadership, policy compliance and barriers to adopting sustainable building policies. This paper provides a framework for an institutional sustainable building policy that is suitable to use as a template for senior facility professionals and their specific policy development. This work contributes to a foundation for future research related to sustainable/green building policy development and its application to the higher education sector.