Avitru and Sustainable Minds announced at the Greenbuild Expo a new partnership that will enable the sharing of environmental product transparency data so architects, engineers, and contractors (AECs) can access in one place the information they need to construct greener and healthier buildings.

Avitru, formerly known as ARCOM, is the developer of MasterSpec, the most trusted and comprehensive master guide specification system in the industry. Through this collaborative partnership the robust Sustainable Minds Transparency Catalog, which delivers simple, understandable, and meaningful product transparency content, will be accessible through MasterSpec.

Founded in 2007, Sustainable Minds has been a leader and innovator of cloud software for manufacturers by providing tools to help design and market greener building products. Today they are the leading B2B cloud provider of environmental product transparency applications and content for building product manufacturers and AECs.

“Avitru seeks to be the industry’s most trusted and collaborative source of a broad range of content to arm architects and engineers with the information they need to construct better buildings,” explained Jim Contardi, CEO at Avitru. “Partnering with Sustainable Minds, the industry leader in life cycle assessment applications and content, and offering their Transparency Catalog within MasterSpec will have a tremendous impact on how sustainable building decisions are made.”

 

Making product transparency mainstream

“Transparency is the new green,” said Terry Swack, Sustainable Minds Founder & CEO. “Single attribute certifications have told us what’s important about products in each category, but they tell only a slice of the story. Disclosing a product’s entire life cycle impacts and material ingredients tell a comprehensive story. Manufacturers who have stepped up to do both are largely the ones learning from the disclosure results and then doing real things to improve. They need to be rewarded so that they keep doing more.”

According to Architectural Record’s Top 300 list, 64 percent of the top 100 architecture firms are MasterSpec customers, representing a significant influence on construction spend. Many of these firms have made a commitment to developing and practicing sustainable design, and Avitru and Sustainable Minds are committed to delivering solutions to connect architects and engineers with manufacturers making greener and healthier products. 

“Constructing a world where better building leads to better lives is a vision we share with Sustainable Minds,” explained Contardi. “Through this partnership, we will have a real and tangible impact on that shared goal. We look forward to working closely with them to serve our industry.”

 

Better building leads to better lives

“We are extremely excited to partner with Avitru and make it easy for all AECs to reward these brands by selecting and specifying their products with transparency information,” continued Swack. “Making Sustainable Minds Transparency Catalog content available through Avitru’s solutions will, without a doubt, accelerate and help realize the industry’s collective goals.”

Beginning January 2018, manufacturers in the Sustainable Minds Transparency Catalog and their products with transparency disclosures, environmental product declarations, and material ingredient disclosures, will be accessible via selected Product MasterSpec specifications. Product MasterSpec will also be enhanced to include content specifically for manufacturers to stipulate how their products with transparency information get specified.

During 2018, the two companies will collaborate on a solution to allow architects and engineers to access the Sustainable Minds Transparency Catalog from within MasterSpec. Ultimately, the cloud-based platforms of Avitru and Sustainable Minds will work together to provide impartial and complete sustainability data.