Sustainable Development Focus
Proud Green Building - Oct 5 Sustainable building practices are becoming more common, but are still seen as cost-prohibitive by many building and real estate leaders, according to a recent study by construction management firm Structure Tone. The anonymous survey, which was sent to a select group of senior corporate real estate and facilities management professionals, was intended to take a snapshot of sustainability in practice across the real estate community. The responses revealed several key trends, including the following. Sustainability is more commonplace, but still seen as cost prohibitive: 66 percent of respondents reported incorporating green features to lower operating costs, and 36 percent are looking to eliminate red-list building materials, but upfront costs are still seen as the top hindrance to true sustainability. LEED is still the most prevalent program, but others are growing. Eight percent of respondents plan to do a Living Building Challenge within the next two years. Employee wellness is also a rising factor, and 95 percent of the respondents consider wellness essential, expected, or emerging in the built environment.
GreenBiz - Oct 7 The early results of a new study dubbed COGFX are being buzzed about for finding 26 percent higher scores on cognitive tests for workers in LEED-certified buildings. Green-building benefits extended beyond the office and waking hours, according to the researchers at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health and SUNY Upstate Medical University. They cited a 6.4 percent uptick in sleep quality scores with 25 percent higher cognitive results the next day among occupants of green-certified workplaces. Study participants in LEED buildings reported 30 percent fewer sick building symptoms, in addition to feeling happier with temperature, humidity levels, and air flow.
Multi-Housing News - Oct 6 Representatives from the California Building Standards Commission and the Department of Housing and Development spoke on a panel at the 2016 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in Los Angeles last week to discuss the importance of the California Green Building Standards Code (CALGreen) for residential and non-residential construction, and what improvements are being made as we head into 2017. Since its creation, CALGreen has been updated on tri-annual cycles to modify and clarify its requirements, and the panel revealed the updates to this year’s code, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2017. Some of the key updates include: increased requirements for electric vehicle infrastructure regulations, an increase in the construction waste diversion requirement, and a new provision to ensure resident recycling.
Government Technology - Oct 5 It will have an open office plan. Work will be mostly digital. It will produce as much energy as it consumes and capture as much water as it uses. The toilet system will make compost. There will be a food-growing garden. This isn’t a tech startup or some deep-pocketed institute. It’s the new city services building for Santa Monica. It will house 250 workers, or about 12 percent of the city’s current workforce. When Santa Monica moves into its new city services building in 2020, it may just be the most eco-friendly municipal building ever. When city workers applied for certification from the Living Building Challenge, a standard even more stringent than the commonly used LEED system, the organization behind the challenge informed them that they were the first city in the world to apply.
Patch.com - Oct 10 The Acute Care Tower Replacement Project at Oakland’s Highland Hospital, an extensive $668 million modernization of the historic hospital campus, will receive special recognition at a meeting of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors this week for design achievements that will save energy and conserve natural resources. An official with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) will be on hand to officially notify Alameda County and the Alameda Health System, jointly responsible for Highland and other facilities in the AHS network, that two new facilities at Highland have received national Gold certification through the USGBC’s prestigious LEED green building program.
