New York Launches $30 Million ‘Buildings of Excellence’ Competition for Low Carbon Builds
In a press conference yesterday, the office of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo revealed the details of the state’s new Buildings of Excellence competition. The competition is a key part of the governor’s Green New Deal, which aims to eradicate New York state’s carbon footprint and to significantly reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The competition, which will be administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), will award up to $30 million in financial incentives and will run in three rounds. The first round focuses on multi-family buildings in the low to moderate income brackets, with projects in any of the following phases of development:
Early Design: Projects in the schematic design or design development phase; eligible for an award of up to $1,000,000.
Late Design: Design development is complete, and the construction documents are being developed, but the building permit has not yet been issued; eligible for an award of up to $750,000.
Under Construction: If the building permit has been issued, but the first Certificate of Occupancy, whether temporary or permanent, has not been issued; eligible for an award of up to $500,000.
Post-Completion Performance Optimization: Projects must show how additional proposed enhancements and/or optimizations demonstrate replicability and improve the living environment; eligible for an award of up to $250,000.”
Given the considerable difficulties and expense posed by retrofitting extant builds with low carbon or carbon neutral measures, the competition encourages architects to focus on the measures from the earliest stages of new builds.
More information on Buildings of Excellence can be found on the competition’s official website. Submissions for the first round of the competition are being accepted from now until June 4.
Looking for more sustainability-focused builds? Check out the new Center for Fiction in Brooklyn.
