ISI Charter Member VHB reaches 100 credentialed sustainability professionals

WATERTOWN, MASS. — VHB, a Charter Member of the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI), announced that it has credentialed more than 100 employees as ISI Envision Sustainability Professionals (ENV SPs). VHB — civil engineering, planning, design, and environmental services firm — strives to incorporate sustainability into the delivery of services to clients and into day-to-day operations.

“This is a great milestone for VHB. Having 100 Envision credentialed professionals indicates our commitment both to sustainability and to our belief in the Envision process to achieve better outcomes for the projects we plan and design,” explains President and CEO Bob Brustlin. "Sustainability is at the core of who we are and what we do at VHB. Being a leader in the Envision process helps us in two ways. First, it is the right thing to do. Envision is the most highly supported and sophisticated tool for evaluating sustainability of horizontal infrastructure projects. Second, it is good for business. We are already seeing client RFPs that include Envision project assessments, and we stand ready to address our clients’ sustainability needs.”

At the forefront of Envision credentialing, VHB is one of only 12 engineering firms that have committed to training and credentialing at least 100 professionals in the ISI Envision program. VHB is committed to the Envision rating system framework, which provides a basis for our designers to incorporate the social, environmental, and economic benefits into our projects, including land development, energy, and transportation. Envision will benefit VHB’s clients in a number of ways including producing cost-effective and smart design, helping the public perception of a project; assisting in receiving regulatory buy-in; and providing a guiding framework.

ISI’s Envision is an industry standard providing how new horizontal infrastructure should be planned, designed, and built to incorporate sustainability. “In today’s environment, the conditions and constraints under which infrastructure must perform are increasingly challenging,” said ISI Executive Director Bill Bertera. “Communities are facing new challenges arising from environmental regulations, ever more scarce financial resources and pressures associated with climate change and global warming. We need to respond to these conflicting priorities in ways that speak to broad public and societal interests.”

Bertera said. “The Envision rating system is a part of the answer…to help us not only do the projects right, but to do the right projects,” he said.

VHB’s concentration of 100 credentialed ENV SP employees is part of the company’s commitment to improve how its teams plan, design, build, and operate infrastructure. In the fall of 2013, VHB hosted training sessions to encourage staff to become credentialed and more importantly, to understand a framework for sustainable design decision-making.