Buildings of Excellence - Early Design Support Program

Inspire the Market

The Buildings of Excellence (BOE) brand provides two distinct funding opportunities: the Demonstration and Early Design Support (EDS) programs. Together, these programs allow BOE to offer funding for both early exploration and later design phases, effectively supporting projects through both soft and hard cost investments.  

NYSERDA encourages a project pipeline that integrates both Buildings of Excellence solicitations. This approach allows projects to investigate design strategies and solidify decisions early through the EDS program, laying the foundation for a strong, future demonstration proposal based on the completed thorough research and exploration.

NYSERDA’s investment in the early design phases ensures that carbon-neutral solutions are seamlessly integrated into project designs from the start where design choices are most impactful. Prioritizing carbon neutrality in the beginning builds a firms' capacity to adopt and scale across their portfolio making it a standard business-as-usual practice.
NYSERDA is engaging with the design community to derisk emission free projects. EDS funding will assist designers to create new design solutions, integrate new systems, specify innovative materials and products, apply new third-party standards, try new design tools, and work with specialized consultants and publicly share key findings. 

Project Opportunity

The RFP opportunity is a two-part process including a partner proposal followed by project proposal submissions once a Design Partner is approved.

Project Proposals

Approved EDS partners can submit up to four proposals per calendar year.

Direct funding is available for early-stage clean, resilient, and carbon-neutral design support. Support for many different topic areas are available including:

• Carbon-neutral design and research
• Energy modeling
• Early-stage applications for third-party standards
• Embodied carbon research
• Economic analyses
• Integrated project delivery methodology
• Robust marketing and promotion plan to disseminate information out to the market

Partner Eligibility

• Demonstrated Experience
  Partners must show experience serving the multifamily market, including at least three carbon-neutral or net-zero energy multifamily or mixed-use projects located in the United States, with design work completed through construction documents.
• *Provisional Partner
  Firms without completed projects can apply for Provisional Partner status, with limitations on funding for one project per year. Provisional Partners can transition to full status after submitting three carbon-neutral designs.
• Design Services
  Partners must be able to provide carbon-neutral design services.
• Team Authority
  The Partner must be a member of the design team with authority to modify the building design.
• Qualifications
  The Partner firm's staff credentials must demonstrate successful experience in designing carbon-neutral multifamily projects in New York State.

Project Eligibility

• Location
  Projects must be in New York State, with no restrictions on utility service territory. Projects in Downtown Revitalization Initiative districts or disadvantaged communities are encouraged.
• Program Projects
  Must be multifamily occupancy as the primary use with non-residential spaces less than 50% of the building.
• Project Size
  Buildings must be at least 25,000+ sq ft of conditioned space.
• Building Type
  Projects can be new construction, adaptive reuse, or substantial renovations.
• Design Stage
  Projects must be at the programming, concept, or early schematic design stage (less than 50% schematic design).
• Carbon Neutrality
  Projects must exclude fossil fuels from building systems to qualify as carbon-neutral.
• Energy Standards
  Projects must meet energy performance standards, including:
  • ASHRAE 90.1 Appendix G: Minimum 20% modeled energy savings.
  • Passive House: Projects aiming for Passive House certification.
  • Energy Rating Index (ERI): Compliance with ENERGY STAR Multifamily New Construction Program.

Lead the Market

Early Design Support (EDS) Partners are qualified design firms that are elevating new design approaches for a zero-emission future in New York’s multifamily buildings that prioritize occupant health, safety, and comfort. Key findings from the case study investigations are curated into publicly disseminated assets to inform future industry practices.

EDS Partners prepare comprehensive resources and actively engage the market through report promotion, presentations and working with industry channel partners. These knowledge-sharing activities, gathered through the EDS funded case studies, support building owners, operators, architecture and engineering design teams in making the business case for technically and financially viable solutions for the growth and development of replicable, clean, and resilient multifamily buildings.