SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURES

Envision® Certification

We boast prominent international standards that lend our work a high degree of specialisation. For this reason, our team includes Envision®SPs (Envision Sustainability Professionals), professionals qualified to use the rating system and key figures in the certification process, as they collaborate with the project team on behalf of the client, with the ultimate goal of achieving the highest standards of sustainability.

But what is ENVISION®?

ENVISION® is the Green Certification for large infrastructural projects and a reliable tool for verifying their sustainability. This protocol guides planning and design, offering assurance to investors and the community alike. By assigning a concrete value to economic, environmental and social sustainability, it validates the rationale of sustainability as an added value.

Born in the United States in 2012 from a collaboration between ISI (Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure) and the Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, it was introduced in Italy by ICMQ.
It complements LEED®, the protocol for designing and creating sustainable buildings. ENVISION® marks the shift from the scale of buildings and neighbourhoods to that of infrastructure related to mobility, water management, telecommunications, and landscape.

Flexibility is its defining trait: it is a versatile system of criteria and performance targets that helps decision-makers and aids project teams in identifying sustainable, resilient, and equitable courses. These approaches can be applied during the planning, design, and construction phases and can continue throughout the operational, maintenance, and end-of-life phases of a project.

ENVISION® allows for investment with returns in terms of:

Facilitation of the design and implementation process;
Duration of the work;
Long-term sustainable life cycle.
Safeguarding and improvement of the quality of life.

The protocol’s structure is based on three different levels: categories, subcategories, and criteria. There are five categories, representing the macro areas of impact against which the project’s sustainability should be assessed.
The score achieved during the assessment phase allows for the quantification of sustainability performance according to the following classification:

Improved	Above-average performance
Enhanced	Performance in line with the Envision® principles
Superior	Noteworthy performance
Conserving	Performance sufficient for certifying a ‘zero impact’ infrastructure
Restorative	Performance sufficient for improving the natural or social system, restoring a previously compromised balance

Improved

Above-average performance

Enhanced

Performance in line with the Envision® principles

Superior

Noteworthy performance

Conserving

Performance sufficient for certifying a ‘zero impact’ infrastructure

Restorative

Performance sufficient for improving the natural or social system, restoring a previously compromised balance

Moreover, extra credits may be granted as an acknowledgement of added value in terms of innovation. The level of certification is determined, in percentage terms, on the basis of the achieved score:

20%

30%

40%

50%

In conclusion ENVISION® not only asks us
are we working on the project in the right way?
but also
are we working on the right project?

And helps us to carry it out.