| Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh recently announced that the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) and the city of Boston’s Department of Innovation and Technology have entered into an agreement with WiredScore to give future residential and commercial developments access to broadband.
The city of Boston is the first city to work with WiredScore to integrate the technical principles of broadband ready building design into the real estate development process. WiredScore is the company behind Wired Certification, the first and only international rating system for commercial real estate that allows businesses looking for office space to find best-in-class connected buildings. It also allows landlords to promote their buildings’ internet connectivity and infrastructure to tenants.
By including the questionnaire in Article 80 filings, the BPDA will not require that developers pursue Wired Certification. If developers determine that they would like to pursue Wired Certification for their building, the developer will enter into a relationship with WiredScore that is separate and apart from the city’s integration of the themes of Wired Certification into the broadband questions posed in the Article 80 Design Review process. At this time, the questions will not be used as a regulatory tool.
WiredScore has certified over 20 million square feet of office in the Boston Metro area for landlords including Jumbo Capital, National Development, Jamestown, Beacon Capital, TH Realty and Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
Wired Certification is available for existing commercial buildings, new constructions and redevelopments. The newly released Wired Certification Guidelines for Commercial Developments and Redevelopments is a free telecom design resource available to developers, architects and engineers. The Wired Certification standards were developed in collaboration with the New York City Economic Development Corp. and an Advisory Committee consisting of leaders from tech, telecom and real estate including Google Fiber, Cisco, eBay, Time Warner Cable, Rudin Management, WSP / Parson Brinkerhoff and the Telecommunications Industry Association.
