After more than a year of development, green building industry leaders officially released the Health Product Declaration (HPD) Open Standard Version 1, an open standard format for reporting contents and chemical hazards in building products. The announcement was made by the Health Product Declaration Collaborative, a new non-profit membership group that will manage the HPD Open Standard.
The HPD Open Standard is available free to all at www.hpdcollaborative.org. Building product manufacturers will use it to provide standardized disclosure of product contents, emissions and health information. The HPD Open Standard streamlines the process for communicating and using this information
by defining the critical information that is needed by building designers, specifiers, owners and users to make informed decisions.
The HPD Open Standard Version 1 was developed in a process led by the Health Product Declaration Pilot Project Committee (see following membership list), with the participation of 29 building product manufacturers and 50 expert reviewers from across the building industry. The newly-formed HPD Collaborative will develop, maintain, and evolve the HPD Open Standard to ensure that the format continues to meet the needs of building users - designers, specifiers, building owners and occupants - for reporting building product and material contents and associated health information.
The HPD Collaborative is a non-profit, membership organization, governed by a 15 member volunteer Board of Directors (see board members listed below). Meredith Elbaum, formerly the Director of Sustainable Design at Sasaki is the HPD Collaborative’s Interim Executive Director. HPD Collaborative members will
participate on committees that revise the HPD over time to better serve the needs of the industry.
Individual memberships are available for $125 with reduced rates for students.
46 Founding Sponsors of the HPD Collaborative
Alpar Architectural Products; ASID Foundation; ASSA ABLOY; Boora Architects; BuildingGreen, Inc.; Cannon Design; Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems; Concenter Solutions; CertainTeed/Saint-Gobain; DPR; The Durst Organization; Forbo; FXFowle; GAF; Google; Hawley Peterson Snyder; Healthy Building Network; HDR, Inc.; HKS; HLW International; HOK; Interface; InPro Corporation; The Kendeda Fund; Kirksey Architecture; Mary Davidge Associates; Mithun; NBBJ; The Pankow Foundation; Perkins+Will; PROSOCO, Inc.; RTKL; SERA; Shaw Industries; Skanska; SmartBIM; SmithGroupJJR; SOM, LLP; Stego Industries, LLC; Tandus Flooring; Teknion; Turner Construction Company; U.S. Green Building Council; WRNS Studio; XL Construction; and ZGF Architects.
Health Product Declaration Board of Directors
Peter Syrett Perkins+Will Chair
Amanda Kaminsky Durst Organization Vice Chair
Aaron Smith ASSA ABLOY Treasurer
Susan Kaplan HLW International Secretary
Anthony Bernheim Sustainable Built Environments
Jim Coyle Pankow
Mary Davidge Mary Davidge Associates
Jean Hansen HDR
Nadav Malin BuildingGreen, Inc.
Mike Manzi Boora Architects
Roger McFadden Staples
Russell Perry SmithGroupJJR
Anthony Ravitz Google
Gail Vittori Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems
Bill Walsh Healthy Building Network
ex officio
Meredith Elbaum Health Product Declaration Collaborative
Health Product Declaration Pilot Committee Members
Anne Less Google Green Team, Mary Davidge Associates
Amanda Kaminsky The Durst Organization
Beth Sturgeon Google Green Team, Mary Davidge Associates
Eden Brukman Concenter Solutions
Jean Hansen Sustainable Interiors Manager, HDR
Jennifer Atlee Building Green, Inc.
Kirsten Ritchie Gensler
Max Richter Perkins+Will
Peggy White White+GreenSpec Architectural Specifications
Priya Premchandran SERA
Tom Lent Healthy Building Network
Pilot Program Participants
3form GAF Neil Kelly Cabinets
Alpar Architectural Globus Cork PROSOCO, Inc.
Armstrong Ceilings Haworth Scranton Products
ASSA ABLOY Herman Miller Shaw Industries
BASF InPro Corp Steelcase
CertainTeed/Saint- Interface Stego Industries
Gobian Johns Manville Tandus Flooring
Crossville Tile Knauf Teknion
Dunn-Edwards Knoll Wilsonart
Forbo LDI Corporation YOLO Colorhouse
Sponsor Statements of Support for the HPD Collaborative
Support from Building Owners/Operators
At Google, we believe that creating the healthiest work environments possible for our employees begins with transparency and cooperation. As a founding endorser of the Health Product Declaration Open Standard, we applaud all of the participating building product manufacturers for their continued leadership in advancing product transparency in the built environment.
Anthony Ravitz, Google
The Durst Organization strives to create the highest quality environment for tenants. The deeper manufacturer dialogue initiated by the HPD provides a unique opportunity for us to 1) better understand how a current menu of building products can best contribute to this effort now, and 2) exchange feedback with Manufacturers to continually optimize product ingredients for both health and performance as we progress.
Amanda Kaminsky, The Durst Organization
Support from Manufacturers
While working toward EPDs, ASSA ABLOY realized that the human health impacts of building products were not adequately addressed. The HPD fills that gap and offers our clients one document that fulfills all of their materials ingredient reporting requirements. I was also extremely pleased to see the HPD called out in LEED v4. We are proud to be a founding sponsor of this effort to improve product transparency.
Aaron Smith, ASSA ABLOY
We believe that it should be easy for designers and building owners to know what is in building products. We also believe that rather than responding to a diverse array of chemical "red lists," it should be easy for manufacturers to tell the story of their materials choices in a transparent and standardized format. This is the
promise of the Health Product Declaration and we are proud to support the Collaborative as a Founding Sponsor.
Mikhail Davis, Interface
Forbo welcomes and fully supports this HPD pilot as the important next step in improved transparency of the
products used in the built environment.
Dennis Darragh, Forbo
As North America's largest roofing manufacturer, GAF is pleased to include its Everguard TPO in the development of the new Health Product Declaration.
Marty Grohman, GAF
One standard for all, what a great resource that would be for our industry!! Currently we work tirelessly to meet multiple standards, all with similar outcomes, to satisfy the preferences of our clients. The end game: health and well being for the built environment with transparency is what we are all seeking. Our clients will
continue to entrust us with their health through product manufacturing and vendor supply. At Teknion, we know we have an incredible opportunity to provide these values with the help of the HPD. Once the bar is raised, there is no turning back. We look forward to the work ahead.
Tracy Backus, Director, Sustainable Programs, Teknion
Health Product Declarations (HPDs) are a next step to ensuring complete accountability for our industry's environmental claims. HPDs will complement Tandus Flooring's Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and provide stakeholders with a full, transparent assessment of our flooring products.
Lynn Preston, Tandus Flooring
The Health Product Declaration will serve to bridge a materials information gap and stimulate conversations between construction material producers, owners, designers and specifiers. As a manufacturer’s point person for disclosure and conformance documentation, I’ve seen a distinct need for a unified reporting
framework that helps everyone involved work towards improving the built environment. PROSOCO is proud to be a Founding Sponsor of the HPD Collaborative.
Dwayne Fuhlhage, PROSOCO
Stego Industries proudly supports the Health Product Declaration Collaborative. The HPD format provides a uniform template for manufacturers to publish product ingredients, promoting transparency in the industry. HPDs will help designers make informed, holistic product decisions leading to healthy indoor building environments.
Matt McMonagle, Stego Industries, LLC
Support from Independent Experts
The HPD Open Standard will soon make full disclosure of product contents the new normal in the building industry. The year-long development process for Version 1 has already set a new standard for effective collaboration between manufacturers and their customers, resulting in a commitment to product
transparency unrivaled in any other business sector.
Bill Walsh, Healthy Building Network
The Heath Product Declaration is an important tool to facilitate transparency in the building materials industry. USGBC is using these declarations to verify chemical content in products for LEED v4. They are part of an overall approach to materials that includes Environmental Product Declarations. This information from HPDs and EPDs helps paint a more complete picture of building materials and products which enables project teams to make more informed decisions to create healthier buildings and a healthier world.
Scot Horst, U.S. Green Building Council
Of all the different ways we evaluate products, assessing the health concerns tied to their ingredients is often the most challenging. The new Health Product Declaration will help us provide better guidance to designers and builders.
Nadav Malin, BuildingGreen, Inc.
In recent years, we've seen product innovations that resulted from cooperative communication between manufactures and consumers about the health impacts of material selection. The Health Product Declaration is the much-needed tool to scale up these conversations. It truly has no equal in the marketplace, and provides the building industry a common vocabulary for sharing such critical information.
Eden Brukman, Concenter Solutions, co-author of the Living Building Challenge
The Health Production Declaration is the missing piece to support transparent, verifiable information about
the chemical composition of building materials and products that will level the playing field and create a
formidable market catalyst to innovate the next generation of healthy building materials that will benefit all.
Gail Vittori, Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems
Support from Construction and Design Firms
We believe in transparency and that it is essential for people to know what is in building products. We also believe that to bring about transparency, it should be easy for manufacturers to tell the story of their materials in a forthright, clear, and standardized format. This is the value of the Health Product Declaration as a tool and why it will transform the building material marketplace. We are proud to support the Collaborative as a Founding Sponsor.
Peter Syrett, Perkins+Will
It has always been difficult to determine to which chemicals we designers are exposing the people who live, play, work and study in our buildings. Increasingly manufacturers have been willing, and in many cases, eager to share this information, but the vehicles available to us have been clumsy. Finally, with the
HPD, we have an agreed to format to facilitate these communications.
Russell Perry, SmithGroupJJR
Full disclosure of material content as proposed by the Health Product Declaration format will enable
designers, specifiers, builders and those who own and occupy buildings to make informed decisions about
the environmental and economic costs and benefits of building materials. Turner supports this type of
informed decision-making and is pleased to sponsor the Health Product Declaration Collaborative.
Michael Deane, Turner Construction Company
The HPD will be transformational in our industry. By providing manufacturers with a common standard for transparency, it will greatly reduce the time required to identify and research the healthiest building materials. Ultimately, it will help drive the market to developing healthier products and making them commonly available.
Mary Davidge, Mary Davidge Associates
The HPD allows me to finally specify products with full knowledge of what’s in them and how they will impact a building’s environment and occupants. No other certification or disclosure system is as comprehensive or transparent.
Mike Manzi, Boora Architects
The Health Product Declaration is a huge value added for manufacturers, architects and building owners. How many hundreds of times have I driven manufacturers crazy with product content or chemical info requests? How many hundreds of times have they driven me crazy with non-standard formats for product literature? The HPD is about making this simple. It’s also about honesty, transparency, and doing the right thing. I look forward to the day that HDPs are available for all the products that I specify.
Mara Baum, HOK
HPDs will make it much easier for Kirksey to pursue aggressive goals for minimizing toxic materials in our buildings.
Colley Hodges, Kirksey Architecture
21st century high performance buildings require healthy material transparency. SOM have always been cognizant of our buildings' place in our environment and the Health Product Declaration helps us to collaborate with our colleagues together as better stewards for today and tomorrow.
Luke Leung, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP
We see the next step in creating and maintaining healthy environments for humans to live, work and play within is establishing complete transparency in building products. The HPD aligns with KMD Architects' commitment to healthy and trusted places. As a founding sponsor, KMD Architects supports the tremendous benefits of the HPD to make positive transformational change in the industry. We recognize the importance of transparency and convenience provided by the HPD to help create building products that will streamline research, protect future generations and sustain our environment.
Chris Hellstern, KMD Architects
Hawley Peterson Snyder ardently supports the Health Product Declaration open standard, which will advance profound change for good in the marketplace and support the delivery of a more healthful built environment – a critical objective of our Firm since its inception.
Sharon Refvem, Hawley Peterson Snyder
Mithun enthusiastically supports the vital work being done by Health Product Declaration Collaborative to create a standard for material manufacturers to disclose the chemistry behind their products. Information provided by our industry partners and the Collaborative will elevate our collective effort to create healthy places that benefit our clients, our children, and all living things.
Bert Gregory, Mithun
Support from Philanthropic Foundations
The HPD ushers in an era of much-needed transparency in the building sector. The HPD Collaborative has taken leadership in transforming our understanding of building materials, and how we can select them for maximum health in our buildings and communities.
Diane Ives, The Kendeda Fund
The release of the Health Product Declaration is welcome news to the interior design professional. Its standard format and transparency will greatly enhance our ability to provide healthy and productive environments for our clients and all of the occupants of the interiors we design. The ASID Foundation is proud to be a founding sponsor of this important initiative.
Donna Vining, ASID Foundation
Health Product Declarations will become a standard in our industry, as we extend the horizon on how we value buildings. Cost will force this, now or later. If we have learned from asbestos and similar hazards, we will choose now.
Jim Coyle, Pankow
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