Buildings are complicated. There’s a bigger learning curve than ever for the people who construct, operate, and manage high-performance buildings—and there’s more demand than ever for skilled workers across the sustainable building industry.

In this episode, Ellen Honigstock, Senior Director of Education at Urban Green Council, sits down with Kelly Westby, Managing Director of the Building Operations, Decarbonization, and Efficiency (BODE) team at Steven Winter Associates. They chat about what it takes to effectively educate the workforce to ensure occupant comfort, energy and carbon reductions, sustainability, and the overall performance of a building.

This is a crossover episode! Go to the Building Tomorrow: Conversations with Climate Solvers podcast feed to hear Ellen interview Kelly about all-things building commissioning.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Pandora | More

(more…)

Our accessibility consultants work with design and construction teams to ensure that facilities are compliant with the architectural accessibility requirements of applicable laws and codes. But once the building is operational, and management and maintenance is turned over to an entity not involved in the design and construction process, unintentional violations of accessibility requirements often crop up post occupancy.

It’s not uncommon for litigation to result from observations of violations made by testers that are caused by unknowing operations and maintenance staff.

Once a facility is complaint with accessible design and construction requirements, it must remain so for its life, so it’s important for everyone to understand how to maintain compliance.

Here are some of the more common violations of accessibility requirements that occur post occupancy: (more…)

The ideal building is cost-efficient, energy-efficient, and comfortable for its occupants. But executing all three of these elements to perfection can be complex and costly. Can there ever be a win-win-win across all three?

In part two of our roundtable episode with Michelle DeCarlo, Saeideh Kirby, Erin McElwee, and Buildings + Beyond host Kelly Westby, our guests discuss how to find a balance between meeting project objectives and creating sustainable and healthy buildings. They also share how they’ve seen the COVID-19 pandemic change project priorities and building operations.

Did you miss part one of this roundtable? Go to the previous episode to hear our guests’ moving discussion on gender equity in the building industry.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Pandora | More

(more…)

In part one of this blog series, we established that buildings are only sustainable if they are equitable and accessible for all occupants. In part two, we detailed how to apply these principles to the planning stages and provided resources for improving social outcomes in your projects. In this post, part three, we will outline ways in which we can integrate principles of social equity into the design, construction, and operations phases.

Design Phase

Stakeholders

The earlier you commit to an inclusive and integrative design process, the better. The broader the group of stakeholders involved, the better. For example, consider including members from the following groups, among others, to participate in early visioning and planning discussions and workshops:

• Leaders of local community groups;
• Members of future user groups (occupants, tenants, staff, operations team, people with disabilities, etc.);
• Public health professionals;
• Local policymakers and government officials;
• Representatives from local cultural organizations;
• Specialists in the local natural and social history, ecology, economy, ethnography, building code, etc.;
• Subject matter experts in sustainability, energy, accessibility, etc.

When possible, recruit project team members from companies that have committed to social responsibility by publishing a JUST Label or other social responsibility report. Companies can pursue a JUST Label and become a resource for others.

(more…)