Today we are releasing Perkins+Will Precautionary List. The goal of the list is to highlight chemicals that are listed by government agencies as having negative health issues and to associate them with the classes of building materials where they might be commonly found. The Precauationary List, which will be formally unveiled next week at GreenBuild 2009, also describes available alternatives in an effort to push the building industry to embrace healthier buildings.

"There is an ever increasing focus in the green building movement on the relationship between humans and the built environment," said Peter Syrett, AIA, LEED AP™ Associate Principal at Perkins+Will and one of the creators of the Precautionary List. "There are thousands of chemicals used in a building and only a small percentage has been tested. We created this list to advocate for alternative building products and advocate care when using products that have identified chemical hazards."

The Perkins+Will Precautionary List is available online at http://transparency.perkinswill.com. Access by builders and architect as well as the public is free. The list features 25 chemicals broken into typical building categories such as wood treatments, indoor air quality, ozone depleting gasses and heavy metals. Each entry describes the chemical and provides links to vetted government databases, such as California’s Proposition 65 list developed by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, which catalogs chemicals and their known health hazards.

If you are going to Phoenix for Greenbuild, join Perkins+Will for a panel discussion on radical transparency in materials followed by a review of our materials precautionary list. Our expert panel is moderated by Joann Gonchar, Senior Editor at Architectural Record and contributing editor at GreenSource magazine. The event will be held November 10th from 5-8pm at the Arizona Biltmore Grand Ballroom.

We look forward to seeing you in Phoenix!