Hospital, Medical Center Parking Structures Can Earn Green Garage Certification

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Hospital and medical center parking garages can earn Green Garage Certification through a new program administered by the not-for-profit Green Parking Council. The program recognizes and inspires high standards in sustainable parking facility design, technology, operations and management and, in a recent development, will include collaboration with the Green Building Certification Institute, the certification body for the U.S. Green Building Council’s global LEED green building rating system.

“Green Garage Certification offers hospitals and medical centers the opportunity to embrace their parking assets as part of their overall sustainability programs, and provides  a standard to gauge how strong their parking programs are,” explains GPC Executive Director Paul Wessel.

Green Garage Certification was developed by experts from a range of related fields, including parking, architecture, engineering, technology, property management and academia. It assesses 50 elements of parking facility sustainability, including management practices that maximize performance while minimizing waste; programs encouraging alternate modes of transportation and community engagement and efficient and sustainable technology and structure design.

Green Garage Certification was honed by external reviewers and a beta phase that included more than 40 facilities in the U.S. and Canada.

Hospitals that participated in the beta phase include Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio; Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Connecticut; University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and William Osler Health System, Ontario, Canada.

Those interested in pursuing Green Garage Certification can download Green Garage Certification At a Glance, along with a free Program Guide, which includes application procedures, program requirements and an overview of achievement levels, at greenparkingcouncil.org/certification.