The WBDG’s Building Commissioning section presents information about current approaches and processes as well as overcoming challenges and emerging issues. It also has been expanded to address Existing Buildings and Ongoing Commissioning.

Now is the time to spotlight the newest buildings, initiatives and innovations that are shaping, informing and catalyzing the high-performance planning, design, construction and operations processes. The Beyond Green™ Awards are a great way to recognize those projects and activities that contribute to making high-performing, resilient buildings and communities. Today, the National Institute of Building Sciences Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC) issues the Call for Entries for its 2016 Beyond Green™ High-Performance Building and Community Awards.

High-performance buildings meet eight design objectives: sustainability, accessibility, aesthetics, cost-effectiveness, functionality, productivity, historical sensitivity, and safety and security. (Resilience falls within the ‘safety and security’ objective.) The Beyond Green™ Awards distinguish those projects and activities that best exemplify the attributes of high performance.

The National Institute of Building Sciences Consultative Council will host a briefing during High Performance Building Week to highlight its 2016 Moving Forward Report. The Congressional luncheon briefing, “Achieving a High-Performance Built Environment: Findings and Recommendations from the Consultative Council,” will be held Tuesday, June 6, from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Cannon House Office Building, Room 122, in Washington, D.C.

The Honor Award, First Place in the Innovations for High-Performance Buildings and Communities Category, went to MFree-S CCF from Permasteelisa North America. The MFree-S^CCF is designed to capture the benefits of a double-skin façade and integrated shading device without the potential maintenance costs and space requirements of a double-skin façade.

Across the United States, designers, builders, owners, government agencies, manufacturers and others are going beyond the status quo to achieve high-performing, resilient buildings and communities. Now is the time to show off advancements and gain recognition for those buildings, initiatives and innovations that are influencing, informing and inspiring the high-performance planning, design, construction and operations processes. Enter those cutting-edge projects and activities for a chance to win a National Institute of Building Sciences 2018 Beyond Green™ High-Performance Building and Community Award.

National Institute of Building Sciences President and CEO Lakisha Ann Woods has joined the U.S. Green Building Council board of directors.

Woods joins three other newly-elected board members to the council.

Reopening the nation’s businesses will require a uniform approach by building operators, infrastructure employees, and local and state officials under the safety guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Bringing America back to work will take planning, vision, and expertise,” said Lakisha A. Woods, CAE, President and CEO of the National Institute of Building Sciences. “Employers must utilize a phased approach to bringing staff back into the workplace to assist with social distancing.”

Reopening schools this fall will require a multi-faceted plan that involves healthy building control strategies, proper ventilation and filtration, disinfection and maintenance, and masks, says a panel of healthy building experts.

The National Institute of Building Sciences recently hosted a COVID-19 virtual town hall on healthy buildings and their effect on public health during the pandemic. The event received more than 800 registrants from across the building industry, universities, and officials representing the federal, local, and state governments.