Colorado Real Estate Journal - May 4, 2016
Green buildings always have been a hotbed for innovation and at this year’s Rocky Mountain Green, the largest green building conference in the region, emerging technologies and new U.S. Green Building Council initiatives took center stage. Taking place on Earth Day, the conference convened over 500 industry professionals across varied sectors and showcased 30 exhibitors. The focus of transforming communities where we live, work, learn and play was a focal point of the conference with over 20 sessions that provided attendees with inspiration and excitement for new technologies in the industry. “The survival of our species depends on how sustainable we make our cities,” said Ignacio Correra-Ortiz with Regional Transportation District. The new 22.8-mile Colorado A Line linking the Denver International Airport to Denver Union Station in the heart of the city opened on the same weekend as the conference. RTD FasTracks raised industry standards by implementing different sustainable ideas and technologies to make the RTD Commuter Rail Maintenance Facility LEED Gold certified. The facility includes efficient mechanics and lights for a 32 percent energy savings, water efficient plumbing fixtures for a 39 percent reduction in water use, radiant floor heating served by an 89 percent efficient water boiler and specially designed windows that prevent thermal transfer. The industry also reported seeing an emerging interest in the WELL building standard, which focuses on the health and well-being of a building’s occupants. WELL is composed of over 100 features that are applied to each building project, and each feature is designed to address issues that impact the health, comfort or knowledge of occupants. Many WELL features intended to improve health are supported by existing government standards or other standards-setting organizations. Some features are intended to change behavior through education and corporate policy or culture, and provide information and support for making positive lifestyle choices. “The building industry has the skills and technologies, today, to create high-performing buildings,” said Rachel Bannon-Godfrey, director of sustainability at RNL Design. “The more important question is what is needed for high performing people in these buildings? The current health and well-being revolution finally brings the human aspect of sustainability to the forefront.” After a huge undertaking that took over four years, the Aspen Community School was successful in earning a $4.1 million BEST Grant in 2013, as well as reaching key milestones in an intensive fundraising campaign. The efforts have made it possible for ACS to complete various campus renovations and construct a replacement gymnasium and K-8 classroom building, both seeking LEED for Schools Gold certification. “During the planning, design and construction, it was apparent that project success would only be possible with an effective fusion of three aspects: design, to engage the buildings to the beautiful campus surroundings; culture, to reflect the exceptional history of community and academic excellence; and performance of systems to minimize energy use and cost,” said Kari-Elin Mock, associate principal with Cuningham Group Architecture. “The result is a very special facility that can serve as inspiration for many projects in the Rocky Mountain region.” Recent climate change impacts are increasing demand for the adoption of environmental, social and governance initiatives. Investors and tenants are creating a greater push for more energy- and water-efficiency investments, climate change resilience preparedness, and workplace health safety and productivity. As ESG becomes increasingly important, investors and regional and national regulators will progressively mandate greater transparency in these topics from the real estate sector. GBCI’s recently acquired Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark is an industry-driven organization committed to assessing the sustainability performance of real estate portfolios around the globe. While LEED is the measure of an asset’s performance, GRESB is the measure of a real estate portfolio’s performance. GRESB was created in response to large investors who continue to call for more robust sustainability analytics, a desire founded in research that continues to tie sustainability to higher returns and performance. The conference explored the requirements of GRESB reporting and the relevancy to those in property management, development, design, construction and investment. “The worlds of real estate financing and green building design and construction have historically been fairly ignorant of each other. But this is changing – hence GRESB,” said Stephanie Barr, Institute for the Built Environment. “Investors need clear, quantitative metrics in order to integrate ESG (environmental, social and governance) factors into their analytics. They also need a standard benchmark in order to make apples to apples comparisons.” Despite a strong focus on new programs and industry trends, USGBC Colorado returned to its roots as the conference closed with Val Walsh’s reminder of the threat climate change poses to communities and businesses. Walsh worked on a team of experts to develop the new LEED resiliency pilot credits and she challenged the audience to incorporate resiliency strategies on every project. The next big event hosted by USGBC Colorado will be the Commercial Real Estate Forum Aug. 10, which aims to highlight the key players and projects of an emerging development in Colorado.