NEW YORK—Perkins+Will, a global integrated design firm, announced the creation of its Perkins+Will Precautionary List. It was unveiled at GreenBuild 2009. The goal of the list is to highlight chemicals, which are listed by government agencies as having negative health issues and the classes of building materials where they might be commonly found, while offering available alternatives in an effort to push the building industry to embrace healthier buildings.
“There is an ever increasing focus in the green building movement on the relationship between humans and the built environment,” said Peter Syrett, AIA, LEED AP and associate principal at Perkins+Will and one of the creators of the Precautionary List. “There are thousands of chemicals used in a building and only a small percentage has been tested. We created this list to advocate for alternative building products and advocate care when using products that have identified chemical hazards.”
The Perkins+Will Precautionary List will live online allowing all builders and architects free access to the database. Specifically, it features 25 chemicals broken into typical building categories such as wood treatments, indoor air quality, ozone depleting gasses and heavy metals. Each entry describes the chemical and provides links to vetted government databases, such as California’s Proposition 65 list developed by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, which catalogs chemicals and their known health hazards.
Alternative Product Suggestions Provided
The Perkins+Will Precautionary list also highlights where the chemical is or may be found in specific building products and provides alternative product suggestions when available. The firm acknowledges, however, that in some cases healthier alternatives currently do not exist.
For example, mercury is a known neurotoxin that can be found in HVAC controls, lamps, resilient floors and thermostats. The Perkins+Will Precautionary List outlines mechanical controls without mercury systems, different flooring systems, mercury-free lamp alternatives and encourages builders to pursue, advocate and specify for these alternatives when reasonable.
“If we really believe in the power of changing how we deal with the built environment, we can’t keep this information siloed in a single firm,” Syrett said. “We want to allow our peers to benefit from it, expand upon it and use it to be a catalyst for change.”
The new Perkins+Will Precautionary List is one of a series of knowledge-based contributions Perkins+Will has made to the wider industry including the internal Perkins+Will Green Operations Plan, which details specific firm practices for running a sustainable business and the 2030 e2 Estimating Tool designed to help architects develop a mix of clean energy options for new buildings.
For more information about the Perkins+Will Precautionary List, visit www.perkinswill.com.
