History
Since it was founded in 1993, Green Building Alliance (GBA) has delivered on its mission of defining and leading a green building sector that is increasingly embraced by the marketplace. Almost 20 years later, GBA continues to define the future of healthy, high performing buildings by learning from our past as we focusing on strategic opportunities to move the market forward.
In 1993, GBA was a coalition of forward-thinking Western Pennsylvania professionals who were interested in green building. That collaboration created the first nonprofit organization in the country to focus exclusively on greening a region's commercial building sector. In years following, GBA’s profound influence on both public and private development in Western Pennsylvania has made the organization a model for similar groups in cities ranging from Cleveland, Ohio, to Shanghai, China.
In 1997, GBA hired its founding executive director, Rebecca Flora, and began focusing on three program areas:
- Education - Increasing Western Pennsylvania’s technical capacity for green building
- Public Relations & Policy - Fostering regional leadership in green building and making it a key component of the area’s regional identity
- Green Team Builders - Providing direct services to green building projects
GBA’s success in each of these programs was dramatic, helping Western Pennsylvania achieve national prominence in LEED certified buildings. The region is home to many LEED firsts, including the world’s first LEED certified convention center (David L. Lawrence Convention Center) and first LEED certified dormitory (Stever House at Carnegie Mellon University). Today, Western Pennsylvania is a leader in green building technical expertise, with 500+ local LEED credentialed professionals. Since 1997, over 9,000 people have attended GBA events.
Today, GBA recognizes that Western Pennsylvania has only touched the surface of what is possible in green building. With branches in the Laurel Highlands and Northwest Pennsylvania, GBA brings our knowledge and network to more people across Western Pennsylvania and the world, building a broader green building constituency through membership, events, and engagement.
GBA continues to leverage our early work in establishing and supporting the market for first adopters of green building practices, but have focused our continued efforts on the next level of market expansion to early majority adopters, with particular emphasis on converting the vast stock of existing buildings into green buildings toward the ultimate goal of one day having all buildings be healthy and high performing.
GBA promotes healthy, high performing places for everyone by 1) inspiring and leading the market; 2) demonstrating and proving value, and 3) equipping our community with knowledge and resources.
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