FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti and FMG Industrial Slabs products have been certified compliant with the LEED assessment system in the construction materials category, since they are produced using at least 40% recycled material. When these products are adopted in building works submitted for assessment by the US Green Building Council, they will win points (relating to the reuse of resources in the materials category) which will help to increase the overall score assigned to the building.
For FMG, this is simply the confirmation of the company’s ongoing commitment, since its foundation, to the environment, society and its customers, reinforcing the idea that it is only through research and development focusing on the quality of every slab produced, and only through a consistent ethic of quality throughout the corporate system, that we will win the informed confidence of our community of professionals, contractors, distributors and people in general who appreciate the value of our materials.

The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards are sustainable building parameters developed in the United States and applied in 40 countries world-wide.
Drawn up by the US Green Building Council in association with US and Canadian corporations and university researchers, they lay down the requirements for the construction of eco-compatible buildings, capable of “functioning” sustainably and self-sufficient in energy; in other words, it is a rating system (Green Building Rating System™), for the development of “green” buildings.
The organisation that sets and promotes the LEED standards is the US Green Building Council, a non-profit association founded in 1993, which now has more than eleven thousand members.
As well as a “technical” role, the USGBC also sets itself the task of informing and awareness-raising, with the aim of guiding the community towards ecosustainable building, bearing in mind that every project, assessed on the basis of its environmental impact, necessarily has effects on human health.

LEED, a tool for measuring buildings’ actual environmental impact, is a flexible, complete system that sets different regulations for new buildings (LEED for New Construction and Major Renovations), existing buildings (LEED for Existing Buildings), schools (LEED for Schools) and homes (LEED for Homes), while maintaining the same basic approach across the various contexts.
The system is based on the award of points for each aspect of the building’s sustainability. The level of certification achieved depends on the sum of the points awarded.

The criteria subdivide into six categories, each with compulsory prerequisites and a number of environmental performance parameters, which decide the building’s final score:
Sustainable sites (1 prerequisite – 14 points):
LEED certified buildings must be built on the basis of a disposal plan that reduces waste production and uses recycled or locally produced materials.
Water efficiency (5 points):
the installation of systems for recycling rain or tap water with flow regulator must ensure the maximum efficiency in water consumption.
Energy and atmosphere (3 prerequisites, 17 points):
by making optimal use of energy from renewable and local sources, it is possible to significantly reduce external energy use. In the United States, every year LEED buildings emit 350 metric tons less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than other buildings, with a reduction of about 32% in electricity consumption.
Materials and resources (1 prerequisite, 13 points):
in the LEED assessment procedure, buildings constructed using natural, renewable, local materials, such as wood, receive higher scores.
Indoor environmental quality (2 prerequisites, 15 points):
the building’s interiors must be designed in such a way as to more or less balance energy intake and output and provide the highest level of comfort for the final user.
Innovation and design process (5 points):
the use of construction techniques that improve the best practices is a value-added factor for the purposes of LEED certification.

Adding together the points gained in each of the six categories provides a specific certification level, which guarantees the building’s performance in terms of environmental sustainability. LEED certification comprises the following grades:
Certified (26 requirement – 32 points):
Silver certification (33 – 38 points):
Gold certification (39 - 51 points)
Platinum certification (52 - 69 points)

By covering the entire process (from design through to construction itself), the LEED system opts for a holistic view of sustainability, making use of every opportunity for reducing environmental impacts of various kinds, and the noxious emissions of buildings under construction. It thus identifies and defines the best practices for architects, engineers, professionals and the entire community in the sector, and transforms them into guidelines for third-party certification.
The competitive advantages for those who adopt the LEED standards, whether professionals or firms, lie above all in third-party certification, considered fundamental for a positive market response in terms of a positive impact on human and environmental health and a reduction of the costs the community is forced to meet every day. Moreover, this voluntary certification allows the professional to join the sustainable building network, generating visibility in the media and increased competitiveness in bidding processes; in other words, there are advantages for both beneficiaries and practitioners.
The LEED system supplies the market with a standard definition, a shared objective and a measurable voluntary norm, adopted by the market through a process of consensus creation.
LEED is thus the equivalent for the construction industry to the labelling system adopted on the packs of all food products, which provides information about the ingredients, calories, fat content, etc. The aim is to supply this same level of detailed information for buildings, usually valued at hundreds of thousands of euros. In the case of buildings certified under the LEED parameters, the evaluation procedure itself generates detailed information: combining the LEED criteria of the LEED key-areas (see areas listed in the table above) indicates which buildings have the best performance levels.
Since the construction industry has considerable impact on the consumption of energy and environmental resources (in Italy alone, according to the data published in the scientific literature, buildings use 40% of energy and 40% of natural resources, and produce 25% of waste, apart from the heat loss caused by poor building insulation). As the European Union has also established through standards which aim to rationalise architectural and town planning projects by means of organisation and management deriving from and intended to achieve sustainable practices, it is absolutely essential that we deal with the problem of pollution and drastically reduce energy consumption, using rules but above all with the aid of responsible voluntary behaviours that lead to sustainable progress, and meet the needs of current generations without putting those of future generations at risk. LEED is a direct example of this approach, which is not only possible but really, and from all points of view, inevitable.

FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti®, a division of Iris Ceramica S.p.A., is a full member of the Green Building Council of Italy.
The mission of the GBC of Italy is to work in accordance with the guidelines shared by all members of the international LEED community to develop the characteristics of the LEED system in Italy, bearing in mind our country’s specific weather conditions, construction traditions and regulatory framework.
At present, the GBC of Italy has adopted the LEED Rating System used in the United States, pending the conclusion – with the assistance of the Trentino District Technology Consortium, the companies involved and the University of Trento – of the process of translating and transposing the contents of the LEED system to suit the national context.