Time is running out for LEED APs to take advantage of a limited opportunity to add a specialty to their green building credential for free.
The staggered enrollment windows close beginning in August. Specialties identify a LEED AP’s expertise within a specific segment of green building practice, and each directly aligns with a LEED rating system. The LEED AP with specialty is available for Building Design + Construction, Interior Design + Construction, and Operations + Maintenance, Neighborhood Development and Homes.
Following the introduction of specialty designations to the LEED AP credential, all LEED APs who tested between 2001 and June 2009 were offered a two-year window of opportunity during which they may earn the new specialty credential without having to take the full exam -- and at no cost.
The LEED AP with specialty credentials allow green building professionals to demonstrate their proficiency in a specialized field within green building.
Maintained through 30 hours of flexible continuing education every two years, the specialty credentials ensure that credential holders are keeping pace with the rapidly evolving body of knowledge around green building design, construction and operations. They allow professionals to grow their skills and show clients and employers that their expertise and sustainability knowledge is current and meaningful in today’s dynamic green building marketplace.
Industry professionals who hold LEED AP with specialty credentials are frequently sought out in hiring announcements and requests for proposals. Additionally, all candidates for the LEED Fellow distinction, which honors the most accomplished green building practitioners in the field, must hold a LEED AP with specialty credential to be eligible for nomination.
Alexa Stone, LEED AP O+M and Principal with Florida-based ecoPreserve, enrolled to add the Operations + Maintenance specialty to her credential last year. “My specialty credential confirms my experience in implementing upgrades and process innovations to improve the operations of existing buildings,” said Stone. “It also qualifies me to work with organizations that are not yet ready to move directly to LEED certification but do want to take strategic steps toward increased sustainability.”
Next Page: The two ways LEED APs can add a specialty.
Great, clear article on this
Great, clear article on this subject- thank you!
I am planning to upgrade the credential, just waiting to opt in because my company will pay for it this year. I don't want to get left behind, especially when they start requiring specialties on the new LEED rating system to get that point. To be competitive at the level of work I want to be in (and to run with the big dogs), I know I need that specialty.
To the above point, yes allowing us to start using the title right away is just an incentive to do it I think, but to actually maintain the specialty, you have to keep yourself current and put in the time, there's no way to get around that.
It will be really interesting to see what happens in a few years from now, if the LEED AP will become obsolete and all those folks will have to start all over again.
And the final marketing push
And the final marketing push has begun.
If all an AP needs to do is opt-in to gain the "with specialty" credential I am failing to see how this shows "proficiency" over someone that doesn't click the opt-in box.
All the AP has demonstrated is a proficiency in memorizing the LEED reference guide. I see no training or demonstrated knowledge in designing a green building.
The AP is just a marketing term that customers have been convinced they need.
In the first 18 months only 22% have opted in. How much effort will it take in the final 6 months. Let me know when the fear mongering begins again to scare people to opt-in.