The General Building Certification Institute (GBCI) took over the process of review and verification of projects that
sought LEED certification under the Green Building Rating System. This came into effect from April 27, 2009.
The certification panel has 10 certifying bodies which are accredited to ISO standard 17021. These are renowned organizations
well known for their part in certification of organizations, products and processes to all standards including ISO. These
LEED certifying bodies that form part of the infrastructure are:
- ABS Quality Evaluations, Inc.
- BSI Management Systems America, Inc.
- Bureau Veritas North America, Inc.
- DNV Certification
- Intertek
- KEMA–Registered Quality, Inc.
- Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance Inc.
- NSF–International Strategic Registrations
- SRI Quality System Registrar, Inc.
- Underwriters Laboratories–DQS Inc.
Development and continued improvement of the LEED rating system will remain in the domain of the USGBC. USGBC will
continue as the primary source for LEED including its green building education.
To obtain LEED certification, a project must meet certain minimum criteria which are briefly listed below:
- Project must conform to environmental laws
- It must be a complete space or permanent building
- The site boundary should meet certain requirements
- Project must conform to minimum occupancy rates
- Project must conform to minimum floor area requirements
- There has to be a commitment to share information on whole–building energy and water usage.
- Project has to conform to minimum building area to site area ratio
