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Insight, Co-Created by Skanska, is Launched by the U.S. Green Building Council to Improve Design Decisions around Sustainability

Press release 1/10/2020 9:30 AM EST
Insight, a groundbreaking, free tool co-created by Skanska and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), is now available to the general public as a feature of the ArcSkoru platform. As the world’s first tool with aggregated LEED® green-building project data, Insight analyzes the design attributes of LEED certified buildings within a specified geographic region and allows builders and designers to adopt smart, practical and achievable sustainability strategies. The Arc platform provides solutions to achieve green building certification, measure project performance, manage portfolios and transform cities.

“As developers around the globe continue to prioritize sustainable development, Insight provides a revolutionary solution to inform best design and implementation practices that will allow buildings to achieve maximum, environmentally-friendly performance,” said Skanska USA Chief Sustainability Officer, Beth Heider, FAIA. “Through Insight, Skanska continues to deliver a holistic toolkit for developers, designers and policy makers to better understand and mitigate harmful climate impacts by minimizing a building’s carbon output.” 

Insight allows developers, designers, and engineers within a specific market to explore sustainability strategies most commonly used to achieve LEED certification. Insight leverages the depth of existing LEED data to aid designers and builders in adopting smart, practical and achievable sustainability strategies using comprehensive and actionable information on energy, water, and waste savings.

Insight supports teams pursuing LEED certification, as well as projects that are already certified, but are committed to maintaining a high level of performance or seeking recertification. Green building professionals will be able to compare and rank potential sustainability strategies to see how they stack up against the performance of other buildings. 

Insight was created in partnership between Skanska, a USGBC member company and global leader in green building, and USGBC, which is committed to transforming how buildings are designed, constructed and operated through LEED. Experts from both organizations worked together for over two years to develop the tool.

Skanska and sustainability in the U.S. 

Skanska is currently pioneering some of the most sustainable projects in the world, including The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design—a project on the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Atlanta campus that is pursuing Living Building Challenge certification, the world's most rigorous proven performance standard for buildings. The Kendeda Building includes a salvaged item for every 500 square meters of building GSF and will generate at least 105 percent of the energy that it uses. Skanska has participated in the construction of more Living Building-certified buildings than any other contractor.

Skanska has received prestigious sustainability recognition from numerous organizations, including the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark, which awarded the firm a top designation for the past two years. In 2019, Fortune featured Skanska in its annual “Change the World” list, citing the company’s work upholding “strict standards for environmental sustainability spelled out in the Paris Agreement climate accord.”