Green Building Services

GBS is proud to announce they are a charter member of the new Oregon BEST Sustainable Built Environment Research Consortium, which launched in January of this year. The Consortium was formed to drive collaboration between industry and universities in order to enhance regional competitiveness and help solve our most intimidating built environment problems.

Consortium members will work together on applied research, development, and the commercialization of sustainable technologies and services for the sustainable built environment. In addition to GBS, Consortium members include firms, organizations, and researchers such as Oregon University System, Intel, CertainTeed/Saint-Gobain, Skanska USA, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the Portland Sustainability Institute, Portland Development Commission, Earth Advantage Institute, Cascadia Green Building Council/International Living Building Institute and ZGF Architects.

Pooled investments from Consortium members and grants will fund research on topics of shared interest, as well as a demonstration test bed for innovative emerging products and technologies in the built environment and energy efficiency.

The first two Consortium-funded projects are related to the Oregon Sustainability Center (OSC). This project will incorporate cutting-edge sustainability features and practices and GBS led the OSC’s eco-charrette to help establish its green goals and objectives.

For future projects, the Consortium’s initial focus will be on commercializing innovative technologies and processes in five key areas:

• Occupant Behavior
• Building Materials
• EcoDistricts
• Finance and Process
• Existing Buildings

As GBS brings expertise in many of these areas, we are excited to be a partner in helping the Consortium realize its vision to help the region create jobs, increase intellectual capital, and advance Oregon’s role as an internationally recognized center for the commercialization of cutting-edge innovations in the built environment.

Based on the USGBC‘s release of both LEED for Retail for New Construction  and Commercial Interiors, GBS would like to share some tips we have learned while working with multiple retailers during the LEED for Retail pilot.

1.  Consider return on investment

While a typical LEED project may have a 0-5% project cost increase, a retail project may see up to an 5-15% increase in upfront costs based on the size of the project.   It is important to recognize that many green building strategies have short payback periods and that in the long run a higher investment during construction can result in operational savings.  Identify if portions of the project budget can be taken from the marketing or operational budgets instead of the capital budget.

2.  Prototype green building strategies

It is almost always easier to remove elements of design than to include them on a case by case basis.  Since many retailers prototype their design to maintain consistent branding and to minimize design costs, why not prototype the green building strategies as well? Implementing green building strategies at a prototype level, such as the selection of an energy efficient lighting scheme, may increase initial soft costs, but these costs can be minimized by including them in the base design.

3. Practice integrated design, including integrated budgets

Green building does not just address the design and construction process, but it also benefits store operations.  From cleaner air, more satisfied employees, boosted sales, and reduced operating costs, green building affects multiple aspects of a retail space.  Why not share the cost of these efforts?  Consider using a portion of the marketing budget to pay for the initial costs of installing an innovative, visible green building element such as a wind turbine.  Or, split the cost of a higher efficiency HVAC system between the capitol and operations budgets.

4. Educate customers on the importance of your green building effort

You can’t lose with this effort.  For those customers to whom an environmental commitment is important, you are gaining market favor.  For those customers who don’t realize the importance of green building, you have the opportunity to educate them about why it is important for customers, shareholders, and the planet.

5. Allow sustainability to enter your organization’s brain trust

Using LEED as a framework can help to bring together sustainability goals across multiple departments, from site acquisition, to purchasing, to construction management. When retailers work with suppliers in order to meet LEED goals, there is tremendous potential for market transformation based on retailer relationships and buying power.  LEED also serves to verify an organization’s green building efforts and allows for comparison of buildings across different markets across the country or across the globe.

6. Explore rising technology

Green building can be a great way to explore new technologies in the market, such as LED lighting, which can save on long-term operating costs.  A LEED certified store can be a testing bed for energy efficient technologies or innovative materials and allow for retail environment data collection.   This is also a great way to market or educate the public about the company’s green building efforts.

7. Combine forces with other retailers

The more LEED retailers that enter into leases with owners and developers, the more they can impact the developer’s design, or the owner’s operating practices.  If moving into a new retail development center identify other like-minded retailers and work with the landlord to provide the desired green building amenities such a low water using fixtures, high SRI roofing products, additional on-site recycling, or separate electric and water meters.

8. Lease

When everyone in the company is aware of LEED goals, having a real estate team on board can make a huge difference in finding a site and securing the lease that will facilitate LEED certification.  Go into lease negotiations understanding what is essential for LEED certification and those items that would be nice, but are negotiable.

9. Become a market leader

While LEED has been in the market place for over a decade, retailers have been slow to adopt the program, which means there is ample opportunity to verify your organization’s green building efforts and become a market leader.  LEED for Retail and the Volume Program are great tools to assess your program and develop an approach that suits the whole retail portfolio.

Nina Tallering & Webly Bowles

A recent article on CNN.com caught my eye

Apparently the City of San Francisco’s promotion of low-flow toilets, which has saved an estimated 20 million gallons of water per year, is also having unintended consequences. The reduced water flow in the city’s sewer system is creating a build-up of odiferous sludge creating an olfactory challenge for residents. The city is faced with spending millions of dollars to address the challenge and has sparked a debate about the environmental consequences of the proposed disinfectant solution.

While I remain supportive of San Francisco and other cities encouraging, and even mandating, that individuals take responsibility for addressing energy, water and other resource issues with simple demand side solutions, this challenge reminds me of sage advice I remember from a lecture by Bill McDonough many years ago; before implementing a solution, consider the consequences if everyone did the same thing……..can it be sustained? His example, as I recall, was related to cork, a rapidly renewable material that can be harvested again and again from the same trees every nine years, and a durable, beautiful “sustainable” flooring material. However, before promoting it as the best alternative to toxic, petroleum-based flooring materials, we must consider how much cork can be produced from currently available sources and if the demand was greater, could additional Cork Oak plantations be planted without creating other environmental issues. Of course, we can advocate for a range of more sustaining flooring materials without going to the extreme of zeroing in on cork alone, but the advice is sound, understand the whole system and consider the impacts if you apply a solution broadly.

Sometimes there are unintended consequences. Seinfeld-The Shower Head

Getting back the San Fran’s stinky sewers, certainly consideration of what would happen to the system if the initiative was wildly successful and everyone in the city had a low flow flush toilet would have been a prescient. Perhaps that would have led to plans for integrated water systems, such as mini water districts with gray water and black water treatment systems. Of course there are higher upfront costs and institutional barriers to such solutions, but I would say that is a more positive forward thinking challenge to face than how to pay for environmentally friendly sewer cleaning on an on-going basis to avoid an exodus of businesses and tourists.

When we seek solutions to local, national and global problems, we must remember this wise advice to think of the whole system and consider the upstream and downstream impacts. Corn ethanol as a solution to US energy independence stands out as a prime example of where this kind of thinking is needed, but that is another discussion. What examples can you think of where overly simple solutions are creating unintended consequences, or where a elegant integrated solution is staring us in the face?

Please share your thoughts.

Alan Scott, FAIA

The promise of our industrialized vision at the turn of the last century produced unintended consequences that we can’t sustain. Inefficient fossil-fuel burning buildings have escalated climate change to a critical point, and now we’re facing an imperative in the built environment. With the evolution of the green building movement, the largest strides came in the past 10 years thanks to LEED. As the first widely accepted green building standard, LEED helped to bring about almost wholesale change in the building industry and sustainable building practices into the mainstream. But only 15% of new buildings have pursued this standard and many are at the low end of the certification scale. The necessary transformation isn’t taking us far enough, fast enough.

Mercy Corps World HQ - LEED Platinum & Future Ready

Obsolescence

What must happen in the built environment to make where we live, work and play sustainable – not just for today and tomorrow, but for decades to come? How do we keep our buildings and cities from becoming obsolete?

We take these questions very seriously. Every day, we look at what we can do to improve our own ecological footprint and that of our clients with an eye to the future.  We believe a relatively new framework called the Living Building Challenge has the power to bring about significant change in a lasting way.

More far reaching than LEED, the Living Building Challenge flips the paradigm from making buildings “less bad” for the environment to exploring how good they can be from the outset. This lens inspires us to think in terms of regenerative and restorative buildings and cities that take into account the environment, social equity and economic viability.

The Living Building Challenge calls for buildings to be at least net-zero energy, net-zero water and have no toxic materials as part of the 20 imperatives listed. We acknowledge that for many building developers and owners, that leap seems so far from where their buildings are now, that it’s tough to imagine how to arrive at such high aspirations. Concerns of tight budgets, lender financing, availability of materials, code impediments, and the shortage of technical know-how keep them from even trying.

When  society builds buildings that are merely incrementally better, we tend to build-in the energy use and environmental impacts for decades to come and forgo thinking about the potential for better performance in the future. This puts buildings at risk of becoming obsolete.

Begin with the End in Mind…

We help clients cross the distance between the building they can afford to develop now and where they aspire for their building to be in the future. Because the Living Building Challenge is not prescriptive, it doesn’t provide a roadmap to tell owners how to get from point A to point B. GBS can. With our Future Ready Building approach, we have developed a methodology that prepares buildings to remain viable in a future of advanced green buildings.

The process begins with the end in mind. We help foster the vision for a project and determine the best solutions to progress a  building to new sustainable heights. Then, we devise an intentional approach to meeting the goals over time. The key to creating an extremely green building is to conceptualize the building to be designed and built to meet high aspirations, such as net-zero energy or Living Building Certification, and then backcast that building to today’s reality of budget, schedule and program.  We work to explore what’s possible now and help the project team to design the building to evolve as resources allow. We determine what  can be done now, what needs to be put in place to prepare for the future, and which items make sense to do later. The process operates with a phased approach on a chronological continuum, but our holistic perspective pollinates ideas across the project for increased value.  This effort culminates in a detailed project master plan or roadmap to get  there.

We begin the process with a visioning charrette that lays the groundwork for the project and the master plan.  Once the essential elements of the “future” high performance buildings are defined, we consider each component of the building and plan an approach for bringing those elements back to the current project scope.   Then we assess and identify the measure that need to be put in place to make project goals viable in the future. We evaluate the alternatives with respect to their impact on design and budget, and use computer modeling to support the decision-making process.

For example, if  client wants to add rainwater harvesting to irrigate the plant life on a future “green” wall, we can identify the necessary measures – from negotiating to set aside additional space for water storage and treatment, providing separate supply and waste plumbing for grey and black water, and providing larger or additional chases to route plumbing, to making structural accommodations for a new green wall – that pave the way for a less intrusive, cost-effective installation later. Another important consideration is flexibility. Today’s design process revolves around the planned occupant activities, but the building may outlive the current program. For a building to be viable over the course of its life cycle, it must be adaptable so it can be repurposed. This view affects the layout, structural system, floor-to-floor height, capacity and building materials. Examining all these concepts leads to deeper, richer conversations about what the  building can achieve. There’s no doubt that The Living Building Challenge sets a high bar, but by leveraging our expertise to develop a series of practical measures with thoughtful analyses behind them, this new framework becomes approachable and attainable for any building, today.

Photo curtesy of Bruce Forster and THA Architecture

Our message to clients is simple: don’t ignore your aspirations of owning and operating truly green buildings. Once you dive in, you might find that it’s not that hard to get to your goals. And for the items you can’t implement now, we can help you create the path to get to where you want to be with a Future Ready Building.

Ralph DiNola – Associate AIA, LEED AP BD+C, LEED Faculty

As noted in the post on February 2, GBS is participating in the Jardín Portland project in Guadalajara and supporting the planning and execution of the Sustainable Guadalajara 2040 Summit. I was fortunate to travel to Guadalajara for this event. In addition to sampling some really good tequila, it was an incredible opportunity to exchange ideas and learn.

My trip started with a brief visit to Mexico City where I learned of the nascent but rapidly growing interest in green building and LEED. Currently, there are approximately 10 buildings with LEED certification in Mexico, but there are many more registered and in process. Mexico faces many of the same challenges in implementing green buildings that I’ve seen in other countries and experienced firsthand in the U.S.10 – 15 years ago. In some cases, we still face these challenges here today. There are also some unique opportunities based on local environmental imperatives. For example, to address aquifer depletion, water use restrictions in Mexico City led to the now-common use of grey/black water collection, treatment and reuse systems in new buildings. In the U.S., these systems tend to be reserved for high-end projects seeking LEED Platinum or Living Building Challenge certification. Although the severity of water issues in the U.S. is not as grave as those faced by Mexico City, the writing is on the wall that we need to address water issues much more aggressively than we have been.

In Guadalajara, I spent the week with a small but devoted delegation from Portland and a brilliant, dedicated and infinitely hospitable gathering of Jálesenos from the public, private and academic sectors. The Portland delegation included Former Portland Mayor Tom Potter and his wife Karin Hansen, and Jardín Portland Foundation Board members Maria Alanis Ruiz, Ron White, Ozzie Gonzáles Mario Espinoza and Glendon Smith as well as several other volunteer supporters of the project. In addition to conducting the summit, part of our mission was to build support for the Jardín Portland project. If you are interesting in finding out more or becoming involved, please visit the Jardín Portland website .

The day before we arrived, there was a celebration of Guadalajara’s anniversary. This municipality was founded 468 years ago, and now has a metropolitan area population of 4.3 million people including seven surrounding municipalities. Guadalajara and Oregon share the same birthday!

The first day of the summit began at Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara with welcoming statements from local dignitaries followed by an overview of Guadalajara’s sustainability initiatives presented by Maria Magdalena Ruiz Mejía, the Secretary for the Environment and Ecology for Guadalajara. I was impressed by the city’s important accomplishments and ambitious goals. I had the honor of following Sra. Ruiz with a presentation on 20 Years of Sustainability in Portland. My recollections actually extended back more than 20 years to invoke some of the seeds of sustainability in Oregon starting with Oregon Beach Bill, the Bottle Bill, and the birth of land use planning in the state. I also touched on the formation of the Portland Metropolitan Area’s urban

growth boundary and the establishment of our Metro Regional Government before discussing the City of Portland’s Climate Action Plan, green building policy, support for sustainable affordable housing and the recent focus on EcoDistricts, along with private sector interest in green building and LEED and the birth of the Living Building Challenge.

Former Mayor Potter followed my presentation with his wisdom and insight regarding the importance of history and what we can learn from it. Most importantly, he noted that initiatives like the bottle bill shifted the psyche of Oregon citizens from one of looking outward for solutions to a greater understanding of the need for personal responsibility and action.

During the rest of the day we enjoyed presentations by three professors from Universidad Autonoma speaking on issues related to energy and carbon emissions, transportation and water. Carlos Romero Sanchéz, architect and Director of Non-motorized Transportation for the State of Jalisco, shared both successful initiatives and ambitious plans to improve mobility in this region plagued by traffic congestion. Not surprisingly, their plans are as comprehensive as Portland’s with expansion of bus system, bus rapid transit, and light rail, and plans for streetcars (just like so many U.S. cities, Jalisco used to have them from the 19^th century into the 1940s) and pedestrian and bicycle systems. Dr. José Arturo Gleason gave a rousing talk about water issues in Guadalajara including its diminishing aquifer, declining watershed quality and more frequent flooding (including severe floods in August 2010). In particular, he called to task local government for failing to fix the aging water distribution system (leaks cause massive waste and regular erosion problems under streets), as well as pointing out the hypocrisy of placing buildings touted as “green” over critical aquifer recharge zones, which exacerbates both water supply and flooding issues thanks to increased imperviousness.

On the second day, I had my hands full facilitating the visioning charrette and teaching a workshop on using LEED to support high performance building projects, entirely in Spanish (my second language with which I am far from fluent). The visioning exercise challenged participants to look ahead 29 years and define what a sustaining Guadalajara would be like. While the picture they painted was not surprising – a decrease in auto dependence, integrated water management, green buildings, renewable energy, eliminating waste, etc., – the passion with which they expressed their ideas was inspiring. Just as Mr. Potter had spoken about personal responsibility the day before, these people were ready to take the bull by the horns and get ‘er done! No more waiting for others to fix the problems, the time has come for action. The last segment of the charrette was focused on what steps must be taken to start the journey toward 2040. It was interesting that each of the small groups identified education among the top priorities. They recognized that people need to understand little things they do can cumulatively add up to big changes.

Participants were very interested in the LEED workshop focused on a certification system’s value in facilitating the successful planning and implementation of a green project. Keeping the owner and the design and construction team focused and committed to common goals eclipses the value of a plaque on the wall. Because energy and water costs are relatively low in Mexico, the direct short-term payback from a green building investment is not a huge incentive to create green buildings. However, with a history of development stretching back over 450 years and a development community that views buildings as long-term investments, the long-term value of green buildings is a natural fit.

The bureaucratic barriers, limited support infrastructure (e.g. recycling facilities) and short-term economic hurdles certainly create some challenges for green buildings in Mexico. However, my feeling is that culturally the people of Mexico are poised to leap ahead in this arena. Compared to the U.S., there are simple things like the short decision tree that large developers enjoy in Mexico, which allow for a broader perspective in assessment of risks and rewards. Perhaps more importantly is the resourcefulness factor. Perhaps more importantly is the resourcefulness factor. While there is a wide range of variance and stark exceptions to every example, in my experience the majority of people in Mexico must work harder to get what they need than those of us in the U.S. where – for the past 50 years or so – we have become generally accustomed to things coming easily to us or being readily available. Let’s face it, compared to other nations the U.S. is a culture of privilege. I believe that the hardiness and resourcefulness that remains a part of the average Mexican citizens’ experience will drive wonderful, creative solutions to sustainability and their green building challenges once they are connected to the movement. The triple bottom line is very close to home for them, and I know this will lead to great things.

If you live in the U.S. and have experience with sustainability related issues in other countries, I would love to hear about how they support or contradict my hypothesis. If you live outside the U.S., I am eager to hear about your experience or thoughts on the opportunities and challenges of being green in your country. Please contribute to the dialog.

Alan Scott, FAIA

I just returned from my first ever visit to Moscow. Although my stay was short, I had a wonderful time and gained some perspective I would like to share. Russia’s rich history and culture, and its unique position as a crossroads between Europe and Asia is evident even in this modern and ever changing city. I was able to visit Red Square and historic Arbat Street, and sample local food and traditional tea prepared in a Samovar. I also experienced the city’s clean and efficient Metro system. Although built in 1930’s, the system still moves much of Moscow’s 10 million people around, day and night, between unique and beautifully designed stations, 50 meters underground.

The purpose of my visit was to conduct a training for Ernst & Young staff and clients. Ernst & Young Russia has a great team of consultants focused on assisting their clients with the implementation of green buildings. We spent three days discussing the process for high performance building design, construction and operation, and the use of LEED as a tool to support this effort. The workshop was focused on the tools and strategies to design energy efficient buildings and operate them for optimized performance. This was the first ever LEED-related training in Russia, and I appreciate Ernst & Young’s leadership in raising awareness about the benefits of green building and helping to drive the market forward.

Not surprisingly, one of the things that I learned is that Russia faces many barriers to the implementation of green buildings. Some are nearly identical to the prior and on-going challenges faced in the US, while others are unique to Russia. Some of our common challenges include:

• Lack of knowledge and awareness among building professional and owners
• Lack of infrastructure and resources such as recycling infrastructure and availability of green products and services
• Relatively low energy costs, reducing motivation for savings
• The disconnect in commercial real estate between who pays for improvements and who benefits from cost savings

We have made significant progress, and in some cases overcome, these barriers in the US and I expect with time, Russia will do the same – perhaps more rapidly than what transpired in the US over the past 10+ years. Russia also faces a few distinct barriers to green building. In general, the bureaucratic approval process for building is challenging, creating a risk associated with any non-standard elements that might be proposed for green building. There are also specific barriers, such as the current utility rate structure that creates a disincentive for energy savings. Some commercial customers are obligated to use and pay for a minimum quantity of natural gas each month. If they fall short of this usage, they must pay both the minimum charge and a hefty fine.

The good news is that Russia has a new law that mandates energy efficiency improvements in existing building and new construction. Although the bylaws are still being written with detailed requirements and enforcement mechanisms, it is sure to drive some change. More importantly, however, is the power for change resident in individuals. If the interest, intelligence and enthusiasm of the workshop participants I met is an indication, there is tremendous potential for the rapid adoption of high-performance building practices in Russia.

Alan Scott, FAIA

I’ve been thinking about the controversy over the recent lawsuit leveraged against the USGBC. The issue stems from a few individuals who allege that that the LEED framework and LEED Accredited Professional credentials have overpromised what they can deliver.

In my opinion, both the plaintiffs in this lawsuit, and many people who have publicly commented on the issue are completely missing the point of LEED and the LEED AP credential, and perhaps are blinded by their own sour grapes. The LEED accredited professional credential was designed to signify a person who is knowledgeable of the LEED rating system and certification process, PERIOD. It has never been intended to replace the critical credentials of licensed architects and engineers and competent contractors and facility managers. Savvy building owners and developers know this and hire a good team first, some of who may also have a LEED AP credential if the project will pursue LEED. Those owners who don’t, get what they pay for.

It is true that the original process for becoming a LEED AP allowed both experienced and inexperienced people to gain the credential. The new system of LEED Green Associates and LEED AP + specialty will go a long way to correct this. The LEED AP+ specialty exams are more rigorous than earlier versions and candidates must have demonstrated LEED experience to qualify. But again, I don’t believe that smart owners will blindly hire any LEED AP to guide the design of a project, without checking that person’s other credentials and experience first.

With regard to the actual performance of LEED certified buildings, I have a similar perspective. LEED is a tool for measuring the expected environmental performance of a building. For any tool to be effective, it has to be used with care and competence, and that factor is squarely in the hands of owners and the project teams they hire. The USGBC gave us a tool, it is up to us to use it responsibly. If a building fails to perform as expected, it is probably due to design flaws, construction deficiencies and/or failures in maintenance and operation, or perhaps just simple but unanticipated process energy uses (e.g. more computers, equipment and big screen TVs) and variances in operating schedule, not due to a failure in the LEED Rating System. And when this happens, who is harmed? The owner who pays higher energy bills, but certainly not the stubborn and bitter consultants who missed out on working on the project. Worth a lawsuit? I don’t think so. The plaintiffs might be better served by investing their time in a marketing plan to better sell the value of the superior services they claim to provide. Just a thought. I am tired of this petty bickering and will instead focus on making better buildings with all the tools we have available to us.

What do you think of this lawsuit and the perception of LEED? Share your opinion by clicking at the top of this post and adding a comment.

-Alan Scott FAIA LEED AP

In a response to the requirement that all city owned buildings achieve LEED Silver Certification, PGE Park has been working toward LEED for Existing Buildings for the 1926 portion of the building for the last year.  The Park:

• uses a very low amount of energy compared to other buildings of its type due to implemented energy efficiency measures and a large amount of unconditioned spaces.
• has installed low flow water fixtures throughout that will save 30% of the potable water used on site.
• has a green cleaning policy in place and is purchasing 100% green cleaning products.
• has completed a waste stream audit to set a baseline for recycling rate in the facility
• employees use a high percentage of alternative transportation: bus, light rail, bike and walking
• supports the feral cat program by spaying/neutering all cats in the vicinity
• purchases low mercury light bulbs
• donates or recycles all old electronics including computers, monitors, cell phones, printers…
• reports emissions related to energy use
• 

Great work by the city of Portland!  With the new team poised for big things it is a win win all around.

The Value of Knowledge

Understanding your base building performance is one of the first steps to successfully managing your facility. Base building performance allows you to examine your energy uses, water consumption, and materials flows within the building. In addition to these items, you should identify specific building inventories such as lighting, plumbing fixtures, chemical use and construction waste management. It is also important to record activities like green cleaning, transportation or indoor air quality surveys of building occupants.

Many building owners outsource facility management services, which may change over time. Changeovers in personnel also alter building activities and practices. These changes make it difficult for a building owners, facility managers or property managers to adequately track what’s happening in their facilities. One of the biggest challenges is having a common database of building information in one location. Once you benchmark your base building performance in all areas, you can begin to identify opportunities for improvement and realize cost savings strategies, which is critical information for a building manager to establish an ongoing capital improvements budget.

Benefits

Sustainability is becoming a common part of a facility manager’s vocabulary and standard practice in state and government legislation. In many states, groups and organizations are trying to pass laws that require building owners to make their base building performance public knowledge. Up to now, energy has been the key focus, with water and waste stream tracking and recording not far behind. If a building owner is proactive now, they can stay ahead of impending government legislature and be seen as a leader in their region. In addition, they can take advantage of incentives that may be available in their specific regions.

The purpose of Continuous Building Improvement – Tracking and Performance is to establish ongoing goals once your baseline has been determined. Depending on your budget; internal or external resources; and your overall improvement schedule, continual building improvement tracking will assist in communicating and demonstrating how your building is performing in any given area – whether that is energy use, purchasing or integrated pest management practices.

Gathering and understanding the data is the first step, followed by recording and tracking your performance. Then, implement any improvements necessary to support your building goal of continuous improvements. The final steps are to continually track, record and make improvements to your building. Continual building improvement is a process that will serve your facility well by reducing overall maintenance and operational costs, support the well being of building occupants and reduce your overall environmental footprint. This, in turn, ensures long-term viability in a changing marketplace and keeps you in a leadership position.

Tools you can use

It’s important to develop the right infrastructure to ensure continued success. One way to accomplish this would be to develop spreadsheets and software tracking systems tailored to your management systems and overall maintenance and operations practices. LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance requires that you re-certify your building at least once every five years, more often if possible. Developing a plan for the future can support your efforts in this area. LEED for Green Building Design and Construction 2009 requires that you submit your building for EB certification, allow the U.S. Green Building Council to have access to your building utility data, or begin tracking your energy performance under the EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager.  Having a Continuous Building Improvement – Tracking and Performance tool will allow you to do this successfully.

Ongoing education is important as well. Facility staff turnover, new building tenants and employees, and changes in the scope of operations and maintenance present potential challenges to your commitment. Protect your investment by using the right tools to help you track and record your ongoing building improvements.

GBS along with BOMA Portland has created a tool that helps building owners baseline, track and set goals for continuous improvements.

Elaine Aye

Reflecting back on 2010 and looking forward to 2011 is a wonderful way to motivate yourself, your company and your industry towards positive changes.   While some great things happened in 2010, the consensus is that the best thing that 2010 did was set us up for a critical 2011.  It is time to move the bar and put the studies, assessments and long term planning into action.  Turn it all the way up!  So, in honor of the New Year and a GBS favorite “Spinal Tap” we plan on turning it up to eleven for the latest edition of the Green Building Services predictions.

1.      Credentialing Maintenance: Training

Credentialing maintenance and internal capacity building are critical for organizations with commitments to sustainability.  With over half of the fortune 500 taking on BSR type mandates the internalization of skills and maintaining a staff that can deliver on the promises of green buildings and sustainable O&M is critical.  We do this at all scales and have some great success stories that have us motivated to get more.

2.      Future Ready Building

While the majority of new construction or renovation projects can’t get to net-zero energy today, that shouldn’t prevent owners and project teams from anticipating a time when they could and preparing for that.  GBS is working to facilitate teams to create Future Ready Buildings ™.  These projects are designed to accommodate and incorporate future strategies rather than preclude them.  By incorporating structure, chase ways, risers, dual piping, ect, these projects can phase advanced strategies in later when budgets, technology and the market provide the right conditions.  We see this initiative gaining significant traction this year.

3.      Portfolio Approach:

This will be the year of the Portfolio.  With the opening up of the USGBC LEED Volume frameworks organizations are preparing to turn up the volume (all the way to 11).  With a few of the pilot projects completed successfully and the lessons learned in place a number of additional organizations will be making organizational wide changes to improve the performance of their entire portfolio.

4.    Process Innovation:

With a huge focus on technology in the previous years it is time for our process and tools to catch up with our technology.  With the LEED online automation announcement you are seeing the beginnings of a trend of tools that will deliver real process related savings to our industry.  The GBS answer to this call is our Building Insights™ O+M Track tool for our clients focused on implementing a standard sustainability program for their buildings O+M practices and automate their LEED Online submission for initial or recertification.

5.      LEEDing Retail

Time to shop ‘till you drop.  As the economy emerges this year, the pent up demand for goods will drive significant retail expansion.  McGraw Hill states in the 2011 an anticipated 30%  growth in retail this year.  Perfect timing, the USGBC has finally released LEED for Retail in time for this expanding market.  Retailers are responding to CSR demands and customers with green retail construction practices.  Retailers working to institutionalize best practices and are competing to lead the sector as well.  Bank of America, Wells Fargo, YUM! brands, Aveda, Under Armour, Nike are just a few of the large retail brands off the top of my head that are making real changes in their buildings and sustainable practices.

6.      International Expansion

Green Building Councils around the globe are gaining momentum and new ones are forming as we speak.  The World Green Building Council is fostering additional expansion and collaboration.  The U.S. Green Building Council also leading international collaboration and working to create common performance metrics that can be used around the globe.  We are seeing significant activity in Latin American countries and the efforts in the Middle East continue to mature.

Here is a great case study for the first LEED certified project in Peru.

7.      Real Performance

California’s AB1103 legislation set the stage for this year finally bringing actual building performance to the fore.  Along with mandatory disclosure, the USGBC’s Minimum Program Requirement to share energy performance information with them will begin to play out with projects certifying under LEED 2009 rating systems.  In addition, many of our clients are using Energy Star’s Portfolio Manager across their building portfolio to drive their capital investment decisions.   Ultimately this comes down to measurement and accountability.  If real resilient performance is your goal you need to make sure you have the right services and products in place to gain real building insights and improve your decisions around capital improvements and code/certification compliance.

8.      Deep Retrofit

The term deep retrofit refers to a practice that goes well above and beyond the current common practice of performing energy efficiency work.  This involves substantially improving the exterior building envelope, installing new or relocating existing windows, as well as a slew of more aggressive improvements to radically improve “brown” building performance.    This speaks to the value of building reuse over new development as well as the importance of a strong approach to the rest of our buildings.   This term and approach will continue to gain steam and become part of our building owner/facility manager vernacular.

9.      District Scale: Living Blocks

Resource allotment and direct collaboration with the private and public stakeholders will continue to provide opportunities for district scale “living blocks.”  Taking a page from our European counterparts, block scale solutions have enjoyed a large amount of attention in 2010.  2011 should represent the year when these practices get put into action in cities like Portland and Denver.  The Living City Block and the Alliance for a Sustainable Colorado are working to advance a model that we be implemented throughout the U.S.

10.  Mainstream Green

Green building will learn to move away from an elite culture and adopt the language and practices which will deliver a more accessible industry.  The mainstreaming of green building is a tough practice given that you are dealing with topics connected to professions like architecture and engineering where acronyms and obscure scientific terms grow like weeds.  As it becomes more and more important to provide relevant products and services to the mainstream user, the industry must consider how they name and market their products and services.  A bioswale landscape feature does not naturally engage the community it is located in until they start to think about the beautiful “rain garden” in their neighborhood.  Positioning our technology, products, and services in a way that engages the people, business communities and municipalities that they serve will decide who stays in a market that is quickly filling up with competition.

11.  Wholly Shift!…More Living Buildings

Recognizing that we need to wholly shift our approach to the design, construction and operation of building, infrastructure and landscape projects, the International Living Building Institute’s Living Building Challenge maintains its position as the leading standard for advanced buildings that take a quantum leap from being green to being living buildings.  In 2010, the first two Living Buildings were certified, proving that it is possible to achieve the standard here and now.  Many other projects are nearing certification around the globe.  In 2011, the standard will be translated into many of the world’s major languages, leading to further expansion of its use.  LBC continues to become a viable and real framework and represents the future of how we develop and create buildings that are addressing our major environmental imperatives.

Thanks again to all our friends, family and clients who have partnered with us during 2010.  We look forward to another great year of progress and can’t wait to see what all you brilliant people out there have in store for us all in the coming year.

- GBS Staff