For more than a decade, Brightview Senior Living has been committed to building and operating sustainable, healthy communities to enhance the well-being of our residents, families, and associates. Across the portfolio to-date, nearly 25% of Brightview communities have already achieved or are actively pursuing LEED Certification. Brightview’s Green Building Design Standards use LEED as a guiding principle to help improve efficiency, lower carbon emissions and create healthier places for people to live, work and play.
The most recent example of our company’s commitment to sustainability is Brightview Hunt Valley, located in Cockeysville, Maryland. This community opened its doors in June 2024 and consists of nearly 180 apartment homes across Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Memory Care plus an abundance of amenity spaces. In September 2024, this community earned LEED Gold Certification under the USGBC’s New Construction (BD+C) v4 rating system. The community surpassed its initial goal of silver certification by incorporating additional sustainable design elements, including an on-site solar PV system to generate clean energy.
“Brightview Senior Living's achievement of LEED Certification for their Hunt Valley community is a testament to their unwavering commitment to sustainability and the well-being of their residents. I applaud their efforts in creating healthy and vibrant living environments that not only enhance the quality of life for their residents and families but also set a benchmark for resilient development in our region," said Sade Dennis, Director of Market Transformation and Development for Maryland, National Capital Region, and Virginia, U.S. Green Building Council.
Highlighted LEED Strategies
The Hunt Valley project team achieved LEED Gold Certification by documenting more than 40 sustainable building strategies that were implemented during the design and construction process. Below are just a few highlights:
- Location and Transportation: This community is located within the Hunt Valley Towne Centre, which includes a number of publicly available and diverse uses within ½ mile walk such as a grocery store, banks, doctor offices, restaurants, and much more. Residents, families, and associates also have easy access to a light rail stop, a bus stop, bicycle storage, and electric vehicle charging stations.
- Sustainability Sites: To promote biodiversity and encourage social interaction with physical activities, 25% of the site area has native or adaptive plantings and 45% of the site area is dedicated to open space for residents to connect with nature and each other.
- Water Efficiency: By specifying efficient fixtures such as toilets, faucets, shower heads, and appliances, the total indoor water consumption is expected to be reduced by over 35%. Native and adaptive plantings combined with an efficient irrigation system reduced outdoor water use by 80%.
- Energy and Atmosphere: To improve the community’s overall energy performance and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the design team modeled an expected 38% reduction in site energy consumption compared to an industry baseline.
- Materials and Resources: To promote the use of environmentally preferable materials, more than 20 different building products were installed that have compliant environmental product declarations (EPD) and minimize the use of chemicals or harmful substances.
- Indoor Environmental Quality: The team implemented enhanced indoor air quality strategies quality by installing CO2 monitors in densely occupied spaces, using low-emitting materials for flooring and ceiling products, providing thermal comfort controls, and dimmable lighting.
- Innovation: The project achieved several innovation points, with one of these being green building education. The design team provided the community with educational resources to highlight key features and benefits of sustainability strategies to residents.
- Regional Priority: This community was built on land that had been previously developed, which helps to reduce the environmental impact from the location of a new building. The project was eligible for an additional point because this focus is considered a priority for the region.
To review the final LEED scorecard and learn about other strategies implemented to earn LEED Gold Certification, please visit the USGBC project profile.
Rooftop Solar PV
The community also includes Brightview’s newest on-site renewable energy installation. Brightview Hunt Valley’s 173kW rooftop solar PV system includes more than 360 panels, generating 10% of electricity demand or 225,000kWh of clean energy directly from the sun. This is equivalent to planting 180 acres of U.S. forests annually. Brightview has committed to installing more than 2MW of on-site solar PV systems across multiple properties by 2026 and has a goal to install solar at every newly developed community.
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Resident Wellness
In addition to green building initiatives, all Brightview communities offer resident wellness activities that focus on physical activity, socializing, and healthy eating. Our SPICE program is the foundation for ongoing wellness efforts and the model on which vibrant living programming is based. Including five holistic elements of wellness - Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Cultural, and Emotional – SPICE uses a blend of programs to create meaningful, healthy, stimulating, and positive lifestyles for residents. Residents enjoy a daily calendar full of enriching and inspiring SPICE programs, important for the well-being of people of all ages.
We are thankful for the design, construction, and operations teams who are committed to Brightview’s sustainability journey. The development of Brightview Hunt Valley included a number of dedicated partners: BCT (Architect), Kibart (MEP Engineer), DMW (Civil Engineer), Landscape Designer (LSG), Harkins (General Contractor), Solar Gaines (Solar Contractor), and Lorax (LEED Consultant).
A special thanks to our residents and the Brightview Hunt Valley operations team, who live and work in this community and support Brightview’s Sustainability Council goals by taking simple actions to reduce our carbon footprint and protect the environment.
Learn more about Brightview Senior Living’s Sustainability Initiatives.
Brightview Senior Living builds, owns, and operates award-winning vibrant senior living communities in eight states along the East Coast: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. We offer senior Independent Living, Assisted Living, Enhanced Care, and Wellspring Village™, a specialized neighborhood for people living with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Schedule a personal visit to experience our communities firsthand.
