Feature image: The LEED Gold Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Patient Pavilion in Philadelphia. Photo by Dan Schwalm. Copyright 2021 PennFIRST.

In honor of USGBC's 30th anniversary in 2023, we are sharing stories of a few of our early member companies and how they have grown. As USGBC and our members work to transform the built environment, we are grateful for their continued support, involvement and insight. View more of our committed members in our organizational directory.

With 11,000 employees in 15 countries, HDR, Inc. has come a long way since its founding in 1917. The company, which specializes in engineering, architecture, environmental and construction services, has also been a leader for decades in the integration of sustainability into all aspects of its work.

HDR was one of USGBC's earliest members, joining the organization in January 1994 as part of a larger effort to integrate green building concepts into its project work. Two years later, the company transitioned to an employee-owned model, and today counts among those employees 455 LEED-accredited professionals.

Also an early endorser of the Architecture 2030 Challenge, HDR has long believed that "as a large, global design firm, we have a responsibility to demonstrate bold leadership in response to growing environmental and economic pressures," says HDR's Colin Rohlfing, director of sustainable development.

A large glass office building with pedestrians and cyclists in front. — The LEED Gold HDR headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. Photo credit: Dan Schwalm. Copyright 2019 HDR.

Growing along with LEED

Staff members at HDR were actively involved in developing the first LEED rating system and have contributed to subsequent tools and revisions as well, says Rohlfing.

HDR has worked on over 200 LEED projects worldwide, encompassing a diverse array of project types: health care facilities, data centers, laboratories, academic facilities, neighborhoods, transit centers, municipal buildings, and commercial/office structures. The portfolio includes over 69 million square feet of LEED-certified space that HDR has designed or collaborated on. The company also uses complementary rating systems from GBCI, like TRUE and PEER.

Acknowledging that sustainability, inclusion, human health and other goals are all intertwined, Rohlfing says that being a Platinum member of USGBC is "the right thing to do" to help support the company's broad ESG commitment.

"We have dedicated ourselves to transparency in our goals, practices and policies surrounding sustainability, carbon reduction, employee diversity, inclusion and equity, health, and safety, and how we engage in the communities where we live and work," he says. "LEED helps us collaborate with clients in an efficient process that focuses attention on project goals, helping to define sustainability for the project and linking the project’s solutions within the context of sustainability," Rohlfing explains. "We view LEED certification as an outcome of our holistic design process."

A colorful hospital building with benches and grass in front. — The LEED Gold Humber River Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Photo by Dan Schwalm. Copyright 2015 HDR.

Building a process for accountability

HDR professionals hold visioning and design workshops with their clients to define the sustainable design goals for a given project. Each project has a "sustainable champion" responsible for facilitating healthy and high-performance choices, from the early design phases all the way through to project completion.

Rohlfing shares that relying on LEED has many benefits for HDR. Its guidelines and metrics encourage collaboration, and the framework connects project issues and solutions "within the context of sustainability," she says. That structure helps reduce costs and provides opportunities for tax incentives.

The rating system allows teams to look at the project from new angles that "present possibilities for reducing costs, extending project life, attracting investors, appealing to stakeholders and the public, improving community well-being, and providing many other benefits that increase the owner's competitive edge and the project's ROI," he continues.

Making a measurable impact

In the triple bottom line formula of "people, planet and profit," LEED helps HDR design projects better prepared to mitigate the impacts of natural disasters and severe weather, as well as create "more livable and resilient communities with reduced waste, more opportunities to conserve and protect natural ecosystems, and residents who enjoy improved air and water quality," says Rohlfing. For businesses, it also allows projects to better prevent losses from fire and plumbing damage, as well as unpredictable energy prices, and to enhance their image and benefit from greater tenant acceptance.

Students walk past a large brick building. — Left: The LEED Platinum Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada. Copyright 2011 Ed White Photographics. Right: The LEED Platinum Georgia Institute of Technology, Carbon-Neutral Energy Solutions Laboratory in Atlanta, Georgia. Copyright 2013 Jonathan Hillyer.

A modern white building lit against the darkness of twilight. — Left: The LEED Platinum Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada. Copyright 2011 Ed White Photographics. Right: The LEED Platinum Georgia Institute of Technology, Carbon-Neutral Energy Solutions Laboratory in Atlanta, Georgia. Copyright 2013 Jonathan Hillyer.

As a design/build company following the AIA 2030 Commitment, HDR has found that LEED has helped it improve metrics toward the benchmark: a decrease of about 5% in energy use each year that will result in compliance with targets by 2030—and in the U.S., where LEED projects are more prevalent, portfolio reduction was 65%, nearly the current AIA target.

Much has happened in the past 30 years. What will our world look like in another three decades? HDR's hope: "We will have moved far beyond the tipping point of our immediate climate crisis, and we will be operating in a world where the built environment is designed and delivered according to the tenets of a regenerative design process—one that reconnects humans and nature through the continuous renewal of evolving socioecological systems," describes Doug Wignall, FAIA, president of HDR’s architecture practice. HDR’s regenerative design framework was recognized by Fast Company with its World Changing Ideas awards in 2020 and 2023.

How do we get to this better future? For HDR, it means that their LEED professionals are partnering with all clients to design diverse environments that achieve net positive impacts for ecology, health and society, regardless of the size, scale or scope of the project.

"This regenerative design framework provides a holistic view of performance metrics that should be at the center of all design. Bringing these focus areas forward as key design goals allows us to set achievable goals against existing benchmarks and consider the project in its broader context," says Rohlfing.

30th anniversary member spotlight: HDR, Inc.