Housing is now a commodity, which contradicts its core function as a recognized international human right. As housing stock is in short supply and demand remains high, prices have been driven through the roof, which has implications for home ownership, rental costs, and availability, worsening the housing crisis across North America.

In Canada and the United States, there’s a strong desire amongst residents to own a home and as a result, a significant percentage of wealth is tied to real estate assets. At the peak of the subprime mortgage crisis in 2006/2007 which led to the fallout of the global financial crisis, real estate represented 6.7 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).

When interest rates were cut in 2020, residential investment represented nearly a tenth of Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP). While this number has decreased, it remains higher than the crisis levels experienced by the U.S. and while it may seem like the perfect storm is brewing, the Canadian market is far more insulated than its neighbours to the south.

While market corrections like the one that took place in the U.S. are always looming, meaning Canada is never immune to crisis, the same level of fallout isn’t likely to take place as there are marked differences in how the respective markets operate. Canada’s market is better insulated thanks to more stringent lending practices, tighter borrowing requirements, and stricter rules about housing developments and house-flipping. Land transfer taxes and other rules limit developers’ ability to freely develop multiple properties at a time and offer greater market stability.

Further, Canadian mortgage interest is not tax-deductible, rendering little tax advantage to holding large mortgages, as is the case in the U.S. where policies were developed to encourage home ownership amongst all classes, including low-income Americans via subprime lending, which ultimately led to the crisis.

There’s more to it, though. A 2021 Scotiabank study found that Canada has the fewest housing units per head of any G7 country, with two-thirds of the nation’s housing shortage in Ontario alone. This shortage is one of the biggest threats to stability so development needs urgently to be encouraged to meet the population’s needs—which the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) estimated to be 3.5 million additional housing units by 2030.

To make matters worse, it’s a market dominated by investors. During the pandemic, one in four residential properties in Ontario was owned by investors, and when it comes to investors, real estate investment trusts (REITs) are some of the biggest players in this space. As of October 2022, the nine leading Canadian REITs had a combined market capitalization of $50 billion CAD, an indication of the role these investors play in the real estate market and the value and profit that can be unlocked.

As Ontario is ground zero for most of Canada’s housing shortage, the government has invested resources to better understand the market’s needs. The Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force consulted with stakeholders to get a better sense of why home prices have more than tripled in ten years and what can be done to address supply issues.

As it stands, Ontario needs to build 1.5 million homes over the next ten years to address the supply shortage. Further to this, the Task Force identified that both land and infrastructure in the province could be used more effectively, as there is a great deal of underused or redundant commercial and industrial space.

From a legislative standpoint, many policy changes can be made to kickstart development in a way that serves both developers and the community. Amendments could be made to the Planning Act; zoning requirements could be modernized to make better use of land; and better incentives would encourage investments.

Currently, of 35 OECD countries, Canada is second to last (to the Slovak Republic) in the time it takes to approve building projects. The process is complex and time-consuming and as we know, time is money. This is especially true of real estate developments.

According to a 2020 study by BILD, every month a low-rise project is delayed amounts to $1.46 per square foot more in costs that are passed along. An easy way to simplify the process would be to digitize it and reduce the red tape to expedite development, as long as this is not done at the expense of accountability.

The red tape, in this case, includes lengthy, complicated application and appeals processes, material and building restrictions, the need for updated taxation laws and new funding models, and the high costs of doing business (materials and labour account for only half of the overall costs, with land, government, and development fees making up the rest).

Done right, real estate development can rejuvenate communities, but this doesn’t always happen. However, with better policies, procedures, and planning, the development and redevelopment of properties and land could work to create rich, vibrant communities where the needs of the entirety of the population are met. New residential development is often followed by commercial development—the shops and infrastructure, services and support that are required by any community to thrive, which leads to increased employment, additional growth, and a bump in prosperity.

It’s clear that development is an important part of the equation when it comes to growth, but it needs to be done in a way that’s thought through and meaningful to ensure that it harmonizes with local objectives and needs. If it’s sustainable design using environmentally friendly materials, even better.

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The company is best known for local projects like the Halifax Central Library, which Planning Lead Kieron Hunt describes as the project that redefined the landscape for what community engagement and design could be for the city and became a springboard for the company’s successes in turn.

The firm also gained attention through projects like the Richmond Yards mixed-use development, one of the largest of its kind in Atlantic Canada. Fitzgerald adds that the company continues to complete many projects—including schools and health care facilities, and key buildings in various communities—that have significant social value.

In the last two decades, company growth has catapulted the firm to recognition both in Atlantic Canada and around the world. Hunt describes FBM as always thinking ahead, as the company sets the stage of a project so that designers can be free to design what and when they need to, with all pre-development market feasibility and approvals taken care of. The firm also occupies a unique niche with respect to its use of market analysis to bring together community voices, so architects and interior designers can be informed of the project’s touch points with the broader community as it relates to supply and demand forces.

FBM works across Atlantic Canada with architecture and interior design as core services. Its planning wing works across North America, the larger reach allowing the team to gain more exposure to industry trends and best practices. FBM also works with architecture firms around the world and has learned that the process is far more beneficial and seamless when planning and market analysis is involved from the beginning—and it looks to claim this space.

FBM is most interested in answering the question, ‘How does a space become a place?’ Even down to elements like the appearance of a site, its sounds, and its smell, a building can resonate with people in myriad ways and stick in someone’s memory for a very long time. This means that the surrounding environments are integral to the work FBM does, from planning to design.

With projects like Hope Blooms—a Halifax-based youth non-profit—or planter benches on Gottingen Street, elements of mental health awareness, environmental stewardship, and Indigenous reconciliation come into play when designing safe places and communities that have value for all users.

“We realize the connection to the environment that our buildings have,” Hunt explains, and FBM is also aware of the effect that has had on Nova Scotia’s Main Streets. The company takes great pride in how it shapes the urban environment and wants to remain sensitive to it. “The spaces between and around buildings are as important as the building themselves,” he adds.

The company follows a credo of people-driven design, an approach based on listening to different points of view. When designing a building like a school or educational institute, the firm will listen to what the target audience wants but will also seek out different perspectives from a broad array of groups. Fitzgerald explains that the social value of a building is heavily considered during this design process, meaning whether a building is economically and/or environmentally sustainable.

Over the past decade, the nature and role of public engagement and consultation in design and planning have changed considerably. As a result, the input that people and organizations can give has magnified and has become essential to community engagement and outreach programs.

“Everything that we design must be reflective and supportive of a community’s values [and] allow for creativity and consultation,” Hunt adds. People-driven design captures how FBM works: simultaneously internally and externally with other groups, to create a successful project. The firm’s work with the Saint John City Market Strategic Plan involved a great many voices working with a historic property and is an example of how diverse voices from the community ultimately led to a stronger final product.

FBM’s involvement in its local community goes beyond the physical projects. Susan Fitzgerald is an associate professor at Dalhousie University’s School of Architecture and is involved in research that aims to benefit the company and its industry. This includes coming to a greater understanding of what learning spaces, health care centers, and spaces for wellness and dwelling mean in a community. Fitzgerald and the firm are engaging in various research projects alongside clients to develop buildings, and this is key to its operations.

There is also ongoing research in Atlantic Canada looking into mass timber construction, a newer form of building design that is seeing increased interest from clients but little initiative to begin. To help spur it forward, the company is dipping its toe into mass timber and is building its new Halifax office as a mass timber project, which Fitzgerald affirms is going very well. The project is developing interest thanks to ongoing studies by FBM and Atlantic WoodWORKS!, a local non-profit looking to expand the use of regionally produced wood products. The non-profit is looking to measure the embodied carbon of the projects to understand how mass timber construction stacks up against concrete or steel.

The crew at FBM is excited about the move to the new office and is pleased for the new location in Halifax’s North End, where it can be a part of a community with which it has worked in the past.

There are many exciting opportunities afoot in the building and design spaces, but Hunt admits that there are economic challenges across North America. However, projects are continuing in the face of this, especially as Atlantic Canada’s population continues to grow. He sees a lot of provincial support for health care and a big drive toward increasing the number of health care facilities and beds, so the company will remain active in that sector. On a residential level, the team is looking to provide both affordable and market housing and to develop housing opportunities throughout the region, which is an ongoing challenge. Fitzgerald notes that Nova Scotia is being looked at more as a destination, so there is a possibility that more projects along the coast or close to historic sites will be of increasing importance in future.

The company is also currently scheduled to be a part of the 18^th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice—also known as the Venice Biennale—alongside Architects Against Housing Alienation, a Canadian group looking at different strategies for housing people well and for the long term. This contingent will be further supported by Nova Scotian activist Eric Johnson, Coordinator for the Halifax-based homeless assistance program Navigator Street Outreach.

Hunt adds that the firm, in partnership with the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities, planned the inaugural Nova Scotia Main Streets Ideas Exchange, which is a conference to bring communities and organizations from across Atlantic Canada together to share ideas and rediscover the value of smaller main streets in communities.

“Bringing together groups is consistent with our people-driven design,” Hunt affirms, and both the company’s 2023 calendar and its goals are indicative that this idea will be at the front of the firm’s mind for a long time to come.

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President AJ Slivinski took over ownership of Mayfield Management Group Ltd., now Zen Residential Ltd., in 2016 after decades of entrepreneurship and business experience, including many years in the food industry managing both a domestic and North American portfolio, building a major gaming operation in Canada, and operating a world-class contact centre in Cyprus. “In three years, the contact centre went from two people to 127 people, 12 different languages, a 24/7 operation,” he remembers. “In our fifth year we became the number one contact centre in the world in customer service, beating out FedEx and Carnival Cruise Lines in the final. It was quite a journey and quite an achievement to do something in an established industry and to become number one in the world.”

While building businesses, Slivinski began investing in real estate in the early 2000s, buying condominiums across Canada then eventually selling them when apartment complexes presented a better opportunity. He retired at 45, moved to the sunny shores of Panama with his wife, and wrote a book titled The Leadership Code which explores the successful strategies he implemented when building the world’s number one contact centre. But the lure of real estate soon drew him back to Alberta.

“I thought, ‘I need to get back into the industry.’ I have a passion for real estate. I have a passion for buying, selling and managing apartment buildings.”

Slivinski returned to his home province of Alberta armed with the experience and insight needed to shake up the industry. “The property management industry is very lethargic,” he says. “It’s very complacent, very antiquated, and heavily paper-based. Since I came from a background of online marketing with the gaming industry, I thought if I went out and bought a property management company in Edmonton that maybe I could be a disruptor. Maybe I could go in and completely shake up the market, bring technology to the industry, and disrupt the industry with that technology, understanding how and where tenants were currently and where the future was going to be with tenants. And not only tenants, but with all customers.”

He made good on his vision in 2016 when he bought Mayfield Management Group Ltd., which had managed some of his apartment complexes in the past. He made the acquisition “with the sole intention of trying to disrupt the industry with the formula I used in Cyprus to build a world-class contact centre.” To do so, he focused on three core areas: people, processes, and technology, all of which are connected.

“The processes are developed by great people,” Slivinski says, “and technology is the accelerator of great processes.” While all three areas are critical, people stand out as irreplaceable. “Both processes and technology can be copied, but it’s the people that can’t be copied.”

These irreplaceable people who make up the team hit the ground running after the acquisition. One of the first goals to tackle was to make a dramatic transition from a paper-based system to a digital one. This proved a major effort that came with more than a few challenges.

“They were the typical paper-based company,” Slivinski says of Mayfield Management Group when he bought it. “So we needed to change software and start to move toward the cloud. We were trying to position ourselves in the marketplace [to be] the technology leader. Today Zen Residential is completely cloud-based—the entire tenant journey and life cycle, right from when they first find us until the time they exit, is completely paperless. We have created our own proprietary digital tracking and paperless system called RRMS (Resident Relationship Management System). The application process is digital. The signing of the lease is digital, the move-ins and move-outs are digital. The entire process is augmented with a series of drip campaigns to keep in constant contact with renters throughout the renter lifecycle,” he explains.

After becoming a technology leader within the industry, the team is ready to take on its next challenge. “We’re pivoting,” Slivinski says. “The industry here in Edmonton—major property management companies—all built their business on what we call the stick-built 1960s, 1970s walk-up 20-unit apartment buildings in the downtown core. And today’s industry is changing and evolving. The new phase of the industry is what we call purpose-built apartment buildings. These are Class A, brand new apartment buildings that are almost like resorts.”

The trend has been steadily gaining momentum for over a decade, largely because these resort-like complexes provide the amenities and community residents want. “The purpose-built buildings that we are seeing really started in the U.S. about 10 or 15 years ago,” Slivinski explains. “They have full gyms, a demo kitchen, yoga studios, bocce ball, pickleball, dog runs, barbecues, heated walkways, fireplaces. They’ve got the full gamut.”

These apartment communities appeal to multiple generations. “They’re catering to Millennials who are not in a rush to buy a home or can’t afford a home with today’s interest rates, as well as Baby Boomers who are done raising kids,” Slivinski says. “They’re leaving the suburbs and moving to these purpose-built apartment buildings, not having to tie up all of their capital in a new purchase of a home. They’re using that to live on and they’re getting their community and their social connections through these purpose-built buildings.”

Developers have proven eager participants in the growing trend as the industry evolves. “These purpose-built apartment buildings are being built by the old developers that were building condos over the last 20 or 30 years,” Slivinski says. “Obviously the condo market has dried up, and so now they’re moving into these purpose-built apartment buildings.”

The team is eager to embrace this new direction completely. “Zen Residential has taken a position of being at the forefront of a cutting-edge technology-based property management company. We’re shedding our MMG legacy positioning and reputation of managing the old stick-built city buildings and placing ourselves at the forefront of helping these condo developers build these new purpose-built apartments,” Slivinski shares.

The concept “is completely different than building a condo and selling it and moving on to the next condo building. These are buy and hold assets.”

Zen Residential offers a full suite of services that will be invaluable to developers as they navigate this completely different terrain. “We can actually do the branding for these developers,” says Slivinski. “We can do the logo design, the website design, the complete SEO, lease-up, and marketing, as well as the property and asset management. And we offer consulting services upfront. Before these developers even put in their request for their development permit, we’re helping them.”

The company’s list of services goes on, including “consulting on the design of the floor plate where the offices should be, where tenant traffic should flow for move-in and move-out, amenity design, technology stack, and all other operational designs.” These services are an exciting new direction for the company. “Mayfield itself has been around for over 32 years, but our next chapter with our new name Zen Residential is to focus on Class A assets and help developers build and manage investments,” Slivinski says.

These decisions are complex and everchanging for developers. The stakes are high. Like renters, they want peace of mind when choosing a partner. Renters want to go home after a long day at work and just relax hassle-free. This was the genesis of the name Zen Residential.

The company is making some major shifts in order to give these assets the time and attention they deserve. Slivinski just merged his condominium division with Blueprint Condominium Management Inc., another Alberta-based condominium property management company. The merger “will now allow me to focus 100 percent of my time and effort on the apartment side and the single-family side of the business,” he says.

After taking an already seasoned company to the next level, Slivinski and his dedicated team are well prepared to oversee the upcoming plans to fruition. The technology is already in place and the team is eager to use its industry experience to lead the market in an exciting, new direction.

The post A New Take on Property Management<p class="company">Zen Residential Ltd. </p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

“Penney Group as a whole has always had a very excellent reputation in Atlantic Canada,” says Nicole Perchard, Director of Real Estate and Communications.

Ches Penney’s lasting legacy as a fair and trusted man and a “really great partner in business,” has been the basis of the company’s values and the core of how it does business, she adds.

“As a whole, Penney Group has always been very generous, and we’ve always believed in building communities and giving back,” she says. “That belief is still very strongly ingrained in everything we do. We support various causes and do whatever we can do to give back to the communities we’re building in and the communities as a whole.”

One of those communities, Seven Lakes Developments, is a perfect example. This master-planned “Conservation Designed” community—now under construction on land surrounding one of seven lakes inside the established community of Porters Lake—is situated on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore, 25 minutes from downtown Halifax. Made up of several “Villages” connected by paths that encourage locals to get outside and appreciate nature and their surroundings via walks, hikes, and bike rides, the development offers a wide selection of home designs and options for homebuyers.

“With regards to services offered in Seven Lakes, it’s basically building communities for people,” says Perchard.

This commitment is reflected in the planning. Comprising 634 acres, this conservation community dedicates 60 percent of the land retained to green space. “We’re very, very conscious of existing watercourses and ensuring we’re working with the land,” says Perchard. “We try not to clear cut any of our lots, and we leave as many mature trees as possible.”

Designed to be a place to live “from cradle to grave,” phase one of this all-inclusive master-planned community is almost complete, with fewer than ten of its 100 lots left. Now in the midst of waiting for approvals for phase two, the goal is to be ready to have a home built there by next spring.

“Phase one was great, it was a unique project,” Perchard says. “It took us a little bit longer to get to where we are now but it’s truly unique. And we’re hoping to bring that same uniqueness into phase two with a lot of green and a lot of space.”

Phase two is planned to have no homes on the main street, and will all back onto green space in cul-de-sacs. “That will give a real feeling of privacy that you don’t get in some of the other developments in Halifax Regional Municipality,” she adds.

Contributing to that development of a picturesque community where convenience coexists with nature is also a top priority for Penney Group member Synergy Homes, a company building houses that combine premium components with practical design. Currently building at Seven Lakes and Osprey Landing Nova Scotia, this partnership remains dedicated to preserving natural beauty while providing quality design and structures.

The company also offers a diverse range of homes, from under 1200 square feet to over 3,000 square feet, depending on the client’s needs. “From the beginning to the very end, we work on the plan, we help [clients] we get a sense of what they want for the finishes,” Perchard says. “We give them realistic allowances to align with the finishes they want. It really does vary, depending on the customer.”

While the company’s homebuilding division takes care of the building the homes, the heavy civil division is responsible for digging foundations and building roads, among other elements. “Synergy has actually grown quite a bit, mostly in our heavy civil division, which has been pretty exciting,” Perchard says. “That division is actually growing so greatly that we may be able to potentially offer services to other developers and other builders.”

Osprey Landing is a new development located in Lantz, Nova Scotia, and boasts 135 lots in the first phase with plans to break ground on the first semi-detached homes in June. With a wide variety of options including townhouses, link homes, large single-family, and semi-detached, there will be something for everyone. That includes the company’s ongoing commitment to sustainability, which factors into each area of planning and development.

“With regards to building energy-efficient and sustainable homes, we definitely go a little bit above and beyond what the code is,” says Perchard. “We definitely have a standard we try to keep.”

The company’s first passive solar home is also currently under construction, with much of the work being done by Synergy itself. “It’s been exciting because we’ve really seen that this is something we could offer people, and not a lot of builders in Nova Scotia can offer that,” Perchard says. “That in itself is very exciting. And Seven Lakes is a conservation community in itself, geared toward sustainability and more a place to live, not just a place to exist.”

When it comes to home construction, the company also goes above and beyond, using extra insulation as a standard, creating beautiful custom closets, and working with suppliers to give clients excellent experiences they may not get elsewhere, she adds.

“We try our best to be responsive and work with our clients as much as possible. If they bring us [an idea] halfway through the build, we’re never going to be the builder that says, ‘No, you can’t do that because it wasn’t originally in your contract,’” Perchard says. “We will find a way to work with the person to incorporate it as best we can.”

Along with its several homebuilding developments within Nova Scotia, Penney Group also has another arm of business—Our Homestead Rentals—located in Porters Lake and Enfield. With a housing crisis hovering over the country, particularly in the rental division, Penney Group is conscious of making a difference there as well to supplement market.

“The pandemic really caused a bit of a stir in the real estate market in Nova Scotia, because a lot of people were moving from Ontario back home east,” says Perchard. “It caused a real supply and demand issue and we saw housing prices soar hundreds of thousands of dollars over what they would have been a couple years before. We’re still seeing that now. The market has definitely changed from what it was maybe five years ago to now.”

The building industry as a whole has experienced supply and demand issues over the past few years, she adds, along with “huge increases” in pricing that the company either would have to absorb or pass on to its clients. “We still stayed strong,” she says. “We built more homes since the pandemic started than we ever had before.” Learning ways to make the process more efficient and ensure projects moved along as fast as possible was both a challenge and an accomplishment.

Other achievements include Synergy Homes’ nomination for a Canadian Homebuilding Association Award this past February, one of only two Atlantic Canadian companies selected. As for future goals, growth is definitely in the plans, with ongoing expansion within Nova Scotia and the search for more development opportunities. As for the team’s current projects, major milestones include completing phase one of Seven Lakes, starting phase two, and looking at other opportunities for remaining lands, including Osprey Landing.

“We also want to grow our rental group because we know there’s a need in Nova Scotia,” Perchard says. “We’re always looking at opportunities to build more homes for people, as everyone deserves a home to feel safe, happy and comfortable in.”

Penney Group is determined to leave their development areas better than they found them, creating spaces that are aesthetically and environmentally aware while providing more than a place for customers to merely “exist.”

“We have taken great care to understand our customers’ needs and how they think of their homes and their neighbourhoods. It costs nothing to save a tree,” Perchard says. “That tree has existed for much longer than we have. It’s not difficult to carefully plan where you’re going to place a home, and really give it care and thought.”

Indeed, that seems to be the overarching theme for this team, who strive to be community builders while creating spaces of beauty.

“We want to build communities, not just places,” says Perchard. “We want to build beautiful areas where people are happy to live. We also want to make sure that we’re not only giving back to the community financially or giving our time, but also creating enduring places that people will be proud of.”

The post Building Community With Beautiful Homes<p class="company">Synergy Homes / Seven Lakes</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Driven by overall property performance as its chief design outcome—rather than focusing on building performance alone—the team is guided by a simple, principal question when it works on integrated site and building projects. How can the client be assured of a sustainable development? This holistic approach to project design informs all planning, from the big picture down to the smallest details. This means providing clients, from land developers to building owners, with everything from environmentally responsible lighting controls and wall finishes to sophisticated upholstery fabrics.

Thinking it through
Located in Melville, New York, with a satellite office in Manhattan, this full-service architectural, engineering, and surveying leader has served customers from Montauk to New York and beyond into eastern Pennsylvania and the Hudson Valley for nearly seven decades. Today, the spirited members of the Nelson + Pope team have a “ground-up” habit of thinking things through from the moment they start all the way to project delivery.

Nelson + Pope serves a diverse array of customers across both the private and public sectors, and also works on federal infrastructure. “We’re diversified not only in our services but also in our client base. We’re trying to provide every service to every range of clients we can find,” says John Perrotta, Partner and head of the mechanical engineering department.

As a result, its teams are exposed to a vast and diverse range of work, which in turn gives them a wide frame of reference that informs and guides their design choices and decisions, benefiting customers in multiple ways.

Because the company invests in a large team of seasoned experts passing on their industry experience to younger professionals, it’s preserving and sharing generational knowledge in the best way possible—on the job. That means that Nelson + Pope (established in 1954) can realistically call itself the home of next-generation design built on decades’ worth of hard-won experience.

“Within each department is a carefully crafted organizational structure—a tiered system, if you will. As a result, there’s a high level of collaboration within each department,” says Perrotta.

Nelson + Pope evolved around providing clients with the best experience possible, and services were briskly added and integrated as the need for them arose. Beginning as a land developer doing surveys, roadway design, sanitation design and similar, the company expanded into architecture, also adding mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering services. As part of its commitment to making collaboration easy and pain-free for customers, the company provides project owners with a single point of contact.

Accessing expertise
Clients benefit from easy access to the company’s environmental planning affiliate, Nelson Pope Voorhis (NPV). This environmental, land use, planning, and economic consulting firm opened its doors in 1997, supporting Nelson + Pope in complex planning, zoning and environmental analyses, and resource assessments and management.

NPV also serves the public, private, retail, institutional, and government sectors with environmental planning services from its offices in Melville, Long Island and Suffern, New York. The NPV team takes care of planning, environmental testing, permitting, landscape architecture, and environmental assessments, working intensively on the sustainability of projects, including landscaping. The team is also responsible for restoration of the property post-construction. Apart from ecological and ergonomic considerations, its buildings are typically positioned to make economic sense, yet always in a way that makes the least impact on the environment.

On approval of a project, all departments commence work on their contribution to the final product. Each department is headed by an experienced professional in the field. Having everyone in the same building allows for easy collaboration and means every aspect of each project dovetails smoothly into the next, giving customers seamless access to information.

Some of NPV’s customers are municipalities needing to improve the quality of water resources in and around entire service regions like villages or towns. The team not only helps municipalities develop ideas for the future of their properties but also guides them through finding grants and applying for funding.

“We look at their properties as a whole. We evaluate what they have as options. We then get into looking for where the great opportunities are. In a company version, we go out and look at how we do a master plan for the entire property to make it a good, sustainable property,” says Rusty Schmidt, Senior Landscape Ecologist.

Future-proof
Design is always informed by the future and people’s needs within the context of that projected future. “Energy efficiency and occupant comfort is what drives our design, whether it’s new construction or renovation,” says Michael Sciara, RA, Senior Partner and head of the architectural department.

“An interesting question that arises when looking at these aspects of comfort within an energy-efficient building is lighting control.” Considering that every client looks for some level of cost savings on the capital outlay, optimizing performance is paramount to selling these concepts.

“We’re trying to wring every bit of energy efficiency we can out of a building. How do you make sure the lights are only on—and only on enough—when somebody’s in a room? And light is necessary,” Sciara continues, underscoring the importance of daylight harvesting systems and occupant controls in such energy-efficient buildings. “It’s not just LED lights; it’s about making sure that lights are only on when they’re absolutely necessary.”

The company is also well-versed in decarbonizing buildings through fuel conversions, such as moving them from natural gas and oil consumption to all-electric heat pumps, bringing down operating costs and reducing the use of fossil fuels.

Nature by design
Reflecting its goal of achieving the highest level of environmental responsibility and resource efficiency possible, the company also creates high-performance, low-maintenance garden spaces.

Investing in native flora that will flourish within the natural rainfall profile of the area, the team does its bit to encourage the presence of native flora and fauna. Its designers work to the rhythms and provision of nature rather than to imported ideas of status and beauty. “If an irrigation system is required, it’s a smart system that only turns on when the plants need it,” Schmidt says. By not having watering systems on set schedules, green spaces use far less water and energy to thrive.

NPV’s designers take particular cognizance of the shape and character of the native plants they use in the landscapes that frame its buildings. Plants that do not need maintenance through pruning or any other form of manicuring present minimum cost. They also tend to live longer. Schmidt points out that it’s rare to find people who fully understand how to manage these modern, eco-efficient properties, as most people are so schooled in outdated ideas about landscaping that education is imperative if care and maintenance are to run smoothly.

Customers, the best marketing
The company’s devotion to its customers is reflected in the return customers and referrals Nelson + Pope gets from its clients, with the result that the company has never had to market itself.

That continues, even in economically tough times. During COVID-19, the company grew so much that it had to move premises, bringing its teams a much better-appointed new workspace. Now, as staff numbers continue to escalate in response to new clients and projects, its rapid growth has the company leadership wondering whether it shouldn’t have gone for even bigger premises.

In the team are people in their seventies and youngsters in their first position. Culturally, there is a good level of diversity too, and the company has a high proportion of women in its teams.

“We have more diversity in our office than many around. In the time I’ve been here, it has improved. It just doesn’t matter who you are; as long as you bring the skill set to the job, that’s the most important thing,” says Perrotta.

Prestige projects
There are scores of projects that do the affiliated companies proud. One of the larger projects was the architecture, interior design, and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering of the New North Shore Company 2 Fire House in Rocky Point, New York.

Multiple interior offices and amenities including a community meeting hall, recreation room, sleeping quarters, and training rooms stretch across the beautiful 11,000-square-foot facility with its stone floors complimented by timeless wood wainscoting and crown molding. Here, the company was responsible for a large range of activities like topographic survey and mapping, preliminary and final designs, plans and specifications, soil borings, landscape architecture, construction oversight, and so on.

The replacement of an HVAC system at New York’s Southampton Town Hall was also key. Town Hall, a former school building, was previously tethered to a steam supply from an adjacent schoolhouse. The company developed a streamlined solution that gave Town Hall an independent HVAC system, a 130-ton variable refrigerant-flow air-source heat pump system with heat recovery that ensures an even temperature throughout the building. The system comes complete with a custom-designed 600-amp, 480-volt electrical service, single room controls, and overall full building control for ambient comfort in every season. An outdoor air system also distributes fresh air throughout the building, ensuring good indoor air quality.

Another project that stands out for NPV is a landscape master plan comprising sustainable landscapes complete with ecological wetlands, created for the 200-acre campus of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood, New York. Since adoption of the plan in 2018, NPV has been working with the Sisters on implementing various elements of the master plan, including installation of multiple green infrastructure / stormwater management projects, installation of a four-acre solar array with specifically designed native pollinator habitat, management of Southern Pine Beetle infestation, and installation of a large native meadow.

The client’s objective was to create a space not only supportive to the growth of the parish but also to reflect the church’s progressive view on land preservation, management, and diversity, embodying its Land Ethic Statement. The team collaborated with the Sisters and the Peconic Land Trust to bring into being a verdant sanctuary conducive to peaceful spiritual reflection and sustainable activities like gardening; to develop good quality water infrastructure; and to protect and restore the site’s sensitive historic and natural heritage areas.

As part of the solar array project, Schmidt ran a complete wildlife survey and ecological monitoring. While taking care of the native plantings around the solar panels, establishing and maintaining the presence of pollinator populations, especially bees and butterflies, was at the heart of the study and was made possible by the Nature Conservancy.

As industrial shipping grows in tandem with online shopping, the company has also seen a sharp rise in the building of warehousing facilities, fulfillment centers, trucking terminals, and similar logistics facilities. But that does not mean that old-fashioned retail is standing still, the company leaders point out.

On the contrary, they’re seeing a significant increase in demand in the retail sector. “We have a tremendous amount of brick-and-mortar retail work. And there’s a lot of shopping center rehabilitation, a lot of new construction and renovation. Those retail property owners are doing what they can to draw customers back to the local shops,” says Sciara.

With this continued drive toward economic expansion, Nelson + Pope’s customers are no doubt poised to keep this industry leader even busier than usual. We look forward to seeing what the future brings.

The post Thoughtful From the Ground Up<p class="company">Nelson + Pope</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Orcutt | Winslow was founded in 1971 by Herman Orcutt and Paul Winslow. Ashley Mulhall, the company’s Senior Associate, High Performance and Sustainability Leader, who co-chairs or serves on several national and state committees which focus on the reduction of greenhouse gases from the built environment, says, “From the beginning, the founders were very much about being responsive to the environment. I don’t think it was just a coincidence that the company was founded shortly after Earth Day was initiated and has evolved as a LEED pioneer in Arizona, supportive of building certifications and the standards that are prevalent now.”

LEED and leadership
When the U.S. Green Building Council, which developed the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification standards, opened its third chapter in the country in Arizona in 2002, Orcutt | Winslow was one of the first firms to join. For the past five years, Mulhall has served on the council’s Market Leadership Advisory Board.

“There was a lot of momentum when the USGBC was formed, and a small group of individuals—before my time—worked with state legislators through the Governor’s office to have LEED Silver certification be a requirement for any state-funded building. Our company designed some of the first LEED-certified buildings in the state, including the first certified high school. So that’s something we can hang our hats on.”

By 2013 Orcutt | Winslow had grown to be one of the two largest firms in Arizona. “Leadership realized,” says Mulhall, “that if we wanted to keep growing, we needed to expand and look outside Arizona. The Southeast is one of the fastest growing areas in the country, so we followed the work and expanded there.”

Currently, the company has offices in Nashville, Tennessee; Jefferson, Indiana; Shreveport, Louisiana; Orlando, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; and Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.

High-performance
Orcutt | Winslow’s portfolio of high-performance buildings—hospitals and clinics, schools, themed entertainment and hospitality, sports and recreation facilities, community gathering spaces, and senior living residences—reflects projects that were designed not only to meet stringent environmental building certification standards but also to meet the needs of the end-users by supporting and sustaining the purpose for which they were built.

In contrast to Orcutt | Winslow’s designs today, the human comfort standards of much of the architecture designed during the 1970s were at an all-time low. Mulhall recalls the windowless school that she attended, built in 1974, and says, “I think my career path, in part, has been influenced by how horrible that educational environment was. Before air conditioning, buildings had to have windows that opened, and because there were windows everyone had access to daylight, so buildings designed before air conditioning were much better for health and for supporting positive learning environments. Now we’ve come full circle, and we’re valuing those things again because scientific evidence shows that connection with nature is important for human health.”

It should be emphasized, however, that from the inception of Orcutt | Winslow, the founders and staff understood the importance of designing buildings for people, buildings with natural light and fresh air.

Many of these buildings also meet the WELL Building Standard®, another certification program under the auspices of the USGBC, which combines best practices in design and construction with evidence-based medical and scientific research.

For example, WELL Building Standards include such things as attractive, open stairwells that encourage exercise, as opposed to narrow stairwells that serve only as emergency exits, and nutrition consultation with cafeteria managers.

AIA’s 2030 Commitment
In 2009, Orcutt | Winslow was one of the earliest signatories to the 2030 Commitment of the AIA (American Institute of Architects), an actionable climate strategy that provides a set of standards and goals for reaching net zero emissions in the built environment by the year 2030. In the past five years, signatories have doubled with over 1,100 committed firms and more than 56,000 architectural and engineering construction professionals represented.

Mulhall co-chaired the 2030 Commitment Committee for the years 2021 and 2022 and received annual reports from members. As she explained to Greg Menti (in “New report outlines progress of 2030 Commitment,” October 26, 2022), “One of the most interesting metrics is that we’re only tracking about a 50 percent reduction over our original baseline, while the current target is 80 percent. We’ve plateaued as an industry and we’ve been trying to get to the bottom of it and help firms over that hurdle.”

She cites factors that caused the plateau in 2021, including the pandemic, supply chain issues, and an ‘uneven political landscape’, noting also that with an increase in signatories, a lot of firms are just getting started and moving a bit slower.

“But we also need to stop thinking of 80 percent as our target and make a move toward 100 percent net zero as the real target. That’ll move the needle faster,” she says. “I don’t think all architects recognize how much of an impact they can have on climate change—the reality is, a huge impact. Once you start on that path, the lift gets lighter. It gets simpler, and you really begin to make a difference.”

The greenest building
With the knowledge and technology that’s available now, “we could design new net zero buildings all day,” Mulhall says, “but unless we fix the buildings we already have, we’re not going to meet our 2030 goals. The next frontier is taking the existing building stock and making it meet the standards.

“From a carbon perspective, existing buildings have a great story because the materials that have the greatest carbon absorption and sequestering abilities—concrete, steel, glass—are already there. Therefore, any renovation will have a lower carbon footprint than that of new construction, and that’s exciting. There’s a saying in the industry that the greenest building is one that’s already been built.”

Scope one of the process which will enable an existing building to meet the 2030 Commitment starts with a greenhouse gas inventory, looking at the direct use of fossil fuels, followed by scope two, which focuses on anything that uses energy directly, while scope three involves intentional use—for example, how employees commute.

Clients are helped to reduce the amount of energy they consume and consider how to replace equipment that uses fossil fuels with electric equipment. Whatever is left over can be offset with renewables and carbon credits.

“Some of the biggest challenges we face involve working in occupied buildings such as hospitals and schools,” she says. “How do you take a working, functioning hospital that uses fossil fuels to produce heat and steam, that has to remain operational and can’t be closed for months, and make it carbon neutral? This is something the health care industry is investigating now.”

According to Mulhall, hospitals as an industry in the U.S. use more energy than some small countries and will require an industry-wide shift in how they’re heated and cooled, including the invention of new technologies to achieve goals on that scale.

“It’s a step-by-step process and most of our clients are looking at 20 to 25 years to accomplish it. The goal for 2030 is that any new building will be net zero, but for our clients who own large hospital campuses with millions of square feet, it will take a couple of decades to fund the project, because we’re talking billions of dollars over 20 years.”

The Living Building Challenge
The Living Building Challenge (LBC) was launched in 2006 by the Cascadia Green Building Council (a chapter of both the USGBC and Canada GBC) and is overseen by the International Living Future Institute, a non-profit organization located in Seattle, WA.

Mulhall describes the LBC which is based on consideration and integration of seven components: place, water, energy, materials, health and happiness, equity, and beauty, as being even more “deep green” than LEED or WELL. Designers have been talking about “doing less bad,” but LBC seeks to turn buildings into “positive, regenerative spaces.”

The Living Building Challenge is not only about reducing energy; it’s about producing more energy onsite than what is being consumed, and rather than just reducing water use, it’s about design that allows for the collection of more water than is being used. Each aspect of the building: the site in relation to the environment, the choice of sustainable materials, and the aesthetics as well as its impact on the health and well-being of users, is carefully considered.

Architecture of the spirit
Mulhall was excited to share news of a unique LBC building project Orcutt | Winslow designed and which was completed this past March for the TSG Foundation for Spiritual Development.

This foundation, which was originally centered around publishing, is based on the writing and teaching of Torkom Saraydarian, a spiritual scholar who focused on ancient wisdom as found in all religions. After he died in 1997 at the age of 80, his work to help individuals make decisions that result in happiness, health, creativity, and success was carried on by his daughter, Gita, who recognized the importance of having a facility to bring people together.

“Essentially it’s a health care project because it’s about healing the soul, the opposite of how we start healing the body in standard hospitals, but we went through the same principles we use for health care,” Mulhall says.

The 12,000 square foot building is set on 11 acres of pristine land in the Sonoran Desert, surrounded by the scenic mountains of Scottsdale, Carefree, and Cave Creek, and is designed to harmonize with the environment and prepare visitors for the joyful learning experience within.

For example, landscaped parking areas are constructed from stabilized, decomposed granite or gravelcrete surfaces, which are permeable to minimize the heat island effect. A pedestrian bridge crosses a shallow desert wash with native plantings, and links the parking areas to the building, giving visitors a time to pause and reflect as they enter or leave. Bicycle racks are also provided. Principles of Feng Shui as well as passive and active energy strategies are integrated into the design of both the site and the building.

As Mulhall concludes, “It’s an extraordinary story of working with nature and healing the desert as part of our work to heal people. It’s a beautiful project and everyone who comes in has experienced beauty, calmness, and joy.”

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Since then, E&S has celebrated its 40^th anniversary and has been hard at work on a number of new, noteworthy projects. We sat back down with Principal Kevin Braughton and he filled us in on the exciting details.

The Hanover, Maryland-based firm has been in business since 1982, when the original partners, Erwin Everett and Robert Stearns, founded the company, lending their initials to the name. “At that time in ‘82, we were just a small regional consulting firm,” says Braughton. The humble startup grew steadily and, in 1992, the company reincorporated as E&S Construction Engineers Incorporated and began offering a larger range of services.

The next major milestone came in 2002, when new partners William Kingsland and Allen Poist assumed day-to-day firm operations. Braughton joined the partnership in 2015 and, in May of last year, E&S achieved its 40-year benchmark.

This history culminates in the opening of a brand new, state-of-the-art office in February of this year, after operating out of the same location for nearly four decades. The relocation was timed perfectly. “We moved in as a recognition of our 40^th anniversary,” Braughton says. And the relocation isn’t just a surface-level change; the new space is a “completely different concept in the way we do business.”

Staying in business for 40 years isn’t easy. Braughton credits the team’s conscientiousness as a key factor in the company’s ongoing success. “We’re a white glove, high-touch consulting firm who really takes care and custody of our customers’ projects as if they were our own. We like to spend our clients’ money like it’s ours. And through that approach and being service-oriented and really nurturing our clients, it’s just led to a lot of repeat business. In fact, much of our business is through existing customers, some of which we’ve been doing business with for 40 years,” he says.

E&S delivers a comprehensive range of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) design and construction management services, from project conception all the way through to commissioning. These high-quality services cover multiple markets, including retail, entertainment, restaurant, mixed-use, indoor agriculture, industrial, assisted living, multifamily, hospitality, education, and more. Several recent projects and benchmarks showcase the team’s expertise.

In April 2021, for example, E&S was awarded a Master Service Agreement to provide MEP design services for all Mid-Atlantic Starbucks projects.

E&S also designed the $45 million renovation for Baltimore, Maryland’s iconic Lexington Market. Over 200 years old, this historic site is the oldest continuously operated market in the United States. The project included the planting of more than 500 trees and plants along the public plaza adjoining the market.

Owned and operated by the Whitman Family Development, Bal Harbour Shops is South Florida’s premier high-end luxury shopping center. E&S designed, and is currently building, a $550 million expansion and renovation, which will add approximately 250,000 square feet of gross leasable area (GLA). Restrictions on the project site add an extra challenge.

“There’s not a lot of real estate for supporting activities,” Braughton explains. “So there are a lot of logistical challenges in managing contractor flow, material and delivery flow, the sequence in which things are constructed and demolished. The phasing of the project is [such that] we had to build a new parking garage in order to demolish the existing parking garage and build the expansion within the footprint of the old deck that’s being demoed. That’s the arrangement on-site and how they’re achieving the additional square footage.” The project is scheduled for completion in November 2025.

Currently, the company is working on two indoor agricultural facilities. One of them—a 180,000-square-foot state-of-the-art indoor cultivation and processing center—will utilize LED lighting technologies and leachate reclamation. “Essentially, that’s runoff,” says Braughton. “When the plants are irrigated and the irrigation runs through the soil medium, it’s collected and it goes down a series of drains. We catch all of that in a storage tank, and then we treat it, and then we’re able to reuse it for irrigation again.”

Leachate reclamation is often underutilized, making its incorporation particularly significant. “It is unusual in that not many people employ this approach because it’s cost-prohibitive in the initial infrastructure,” Braughton says. “But over the course of operating the facility, it saves the client a tremendous amount of money and utility cost.”

Covering eleven acres, the second indoor agricultural facility features cultivation, processing, and retail elements. Noteworthy aspects here include condensate reclamation and liquid-cooled LED lighting technology.

No matter what the project, the E&S team strives to take the most environmentally friendly approach. The company employs LEED-certified engineers who can provide clients with cost-effective green building solutions that meet the project’s objectives and budget. This is particularly important when clients face tough budgeting choices. “Our work in wanting to contribute to a greener planet lies in finding cost-effective solutions in which our clients can keep some of those green initiatives in the project,” Braughton explains.

To this end, the company’s LEED & Energy Efficiency Services include LEED Design, LEED peer review, ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) energy audits and studies, Energy Conservation Measures (ECM) analysis and recommendations, conditions assessments, energy incentive calculations and applications for utility rebate programs, energy modeling, heating and cooling load calculations, equipment replacement and upgrades, comparative mechanical system studies, and building automation.

With this breadth of tools at the team’s disposal, the company’s commitment to the planet is expressed in a variety of ways, depending on the project. “From an MEP—mechanical, electrical, and plumbing perspective—we do it by finding ways to reduce utility cost: primarily water and electricity.” Take the Mall of San Juan project in Puerto Rico, for instance. “We designed a rainwater reclamation system where we would capture rainwater, store it in a below-ground cistern and treat it, and then make use of it in a number of ways—use it for makeup water for our cooling towers, we could use it for irrigation, et cetera.”

The two indoor agricultural facilities currently underway are two other prime examples of the company’s commitment to preserving natural resources. Leachate reclamation and condensate reclamation are both planet-friendly, water-saving techniques.

After 40 years in business, it could be tempting for the firm to slow down and rest on its laurels. But company leaders are having none of that. Instead, the team will “continue to execute on our strategic growth plan,” Braughton says. “That includes breaking into markets that we’re not currently in over the next five years. That’s always a part of our business development model and is in our overall strategic growth plan.”

From a small, regional consulting firm to a national powerhouse of market-leading design and construction management services, E&S has proven its ability to take things to the next level. Construction in Focus, and the industry at large, will be keeping a close eye on the next developments as they unfold.

The post A Fresh Perspective for 40 Years<p class="company">E&S Construction Engineers</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

At ESa, good design purposefully translates into sustainable design thanks to the team’s pragmatic philosophy—one that underpins its reputation for innovating and establishing spaces for healing and wellness that make a real difference to the lives and recovery time of its clients’ patients. The company’s team even produced a whitepaper addressing the mental health crisis amongst college students and how the design of healthier spaces can help alleviate the problem.

Ginny Webb, Project Manager, was instrumental in writing the whitepaper, which emphasizes the importance of having easy access to nature, something that goes hand-in-hand with sustainable construction if humans are going to get health and wellness right.

“One of my favorite catchwords in sustainability is resiliency. The response to a changing planet is, arguably, more important than the mitigation measures we put in place,” says Jordan Fay, Project Manager.

For this team, wellness starts at home. The company’s offices are LEED Platinum certified. In its interior design department, it decorates with safer materials that are as toxin-free as possible, with few volatile organic compounds. To support this mission, the company partners with Material Bank®, a leader in delivering responsible, sustainable design materials. This allows for combined shipments to reduce travel-related carbon emissions, and designers can return their samples for recycling.

ESa’s sustainability efforts are data-driven and include interventions like rainwater harvesting and finding improved ways of dealing with stormwater in the face of higher flooding rates. “While we are architects first, we also know that we are advocates for the environment. We hope our sustainability efforts can trickle down to the firms that also may not have full-time employees dedicated to focusing only on that [aspect],” says Fay. As a signatory of the American Institute of Architects’ 2030 Commitment since 2022, the company has a relentless drive toward achieving sustainable design and collecting relevant data to guide future design decisions.

ESa is well regarded for its insight into all aspects of the construction and design industry, and it graciously shares these with its customers as a matter of course. “We’ve heard many times that they appreciate us being like an advisor to them. Our work goes beyond just drawing and documenting. We like to walk alongside our clients and be partners,” says Webb.

When it comes to the inspiration behind its exciting designs, Webb insists that no single project is ever designed in a vacuum. The team is as much guided by its customers’ vision and the function that its buildings will perform as it is by aesthetics and sustainability. “We run the gamut between greenfield sites, urban infill sites, and adaptive reuse projects, so it is the context that points us in the direction of what we end up delivering,” says Fay.

The company has done a lot of work toward giving a more tangible shape to the wellness and sustainability principles on which it was founded and that it continues to uphold. To this end, it has recently published another comprehensive whitepaper outlining its ethos in great detail to serve as a guideline for the future.

Earl Swensson Associates, now ESa, began in 1961 when it was founded by Earl Swensson, who passed away at the age of 95 just over a year ago. One of the company’s legacies is a signature on the Nashville skyline: the AT&T building, affectionately known as ‘the Batman building’ by locals and still the tallest building in the state since its erection in 1994. After this project, and several famous hotel buildings it designed in the region, not even COVID-19 could keep this team down. Despite the hospitality industry being one of those hardest hit, the team still completed a few projects in this sector during that challenging time.

To be sure, the company’s tenacity is rooted in its staff. People enjoy working there, as is clear from its median tenure that spans well over a decade. Nearly half of ESa’s staff members have worked there for 20 to 30-plus years, and with around 190 architects working under one roof, that is no small achievement.

“One of our biggest points of pride is that we are a single office,” shares Fay. “Everybody knows each other and goes to lunch together. We call ourselves the ESa family. We are the largest in Nashville and Tennessee based on our number of architects.” Other firms may have as many architects but work will be spread across multiple offices.

Naturally, maintaining clear lines of communication is imperative in a world where calculation errors potentially cost lives, and this is where the company’s ingenious hive structure and state-of-the-art technology become invaluable. With a comprehensive software platform, nothing gets lost in translation, and ESa’s quality management team also pores over all drawings before signing them off and releasing them into the field.

“The quality management of our drawings is unparalleled. I have worked in a lot of firms, and there’s never been this level of expertise reviewing the drawings. We partner with a lot of consultants and third parties that check our drawings as well,” says Webb, highlighting how invaluable it is to have networks of professionals across the country to be able to uphold its high safety standards.

All of ESa’s projects stand out and perform optimally, and one particularly eye-catching building is The Lodge at Fall Creek Falls in Spencer, Tennessee. This stunning two-and-a-half-story lodge features rustic elements combined with sleek modernity. Three fire areas invite people to gather around and engage in conversation or enjoy quiet togetherness if they so choose. The textures and warm ambiance reflect the hospitality of the people who make this lovely destination so singular. Upholding Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards throughout, the building performs every bit as well as any fully certified project would, only without the certifications.

Another project guided by sustainability and innovation is Miles Nashville, a 22-story building that offers everything from below-grade parking to retail space and over 600 rental units. The building was designed based on LEED Silver standards and comes with what the company refers to as micro-units: small but well-appointed apartments.

“These small, 345-square-foot, fully-furnished apartment units come with all of the luxury and amenities you’d expect in a larger unit. This appeals to those wanting to limit their carbon footprint and live more minimally,” the company describes. The building also features a well-appointed park, and rainwater is harvested for use in the building’s sewage system. In response to the times, residents’ parking spaces are limited to half the number of units.

ESa also designs to the WELL Building Standard, which takes an all-inclusive approach to considering human behavior, building function, and health in design. One of its most outstanding examples of a WELL-standard project is the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based Moravian University’s Haupert Union building, or the HUB. The university takes sustainability seriously so before taking on this transformation, the company designed the institution’s health sciences building, which received LEED certification.

In keeping with its sustainability philosophy, the design of the new facility also adheres to all areas of the WELL-standards profile. Stringent WELL guidelines demand easy access to outdoor spaces on all three stories. To manage noise, an acoustician designed a solution that includes spacing silent and noise-friendly zones in such a way as to make both areas fully functional. Realizing ideal indoor ambient temperatures through innovation and next-generation materials added another layer of sophistication to the final result.

Easy movement around the building and surrounding areas while blending with the rest of the campus was a further factor in the final design. Other spaces allow for mental health breaks and rest, multi-faith spiritual devotion and reflection, and a health and counseling facility, and all are near safe and accessible natural spaces. As it stimulates lively and active community engagement through its design, the campus offers a lovely event and conference facility, a spectators’ terrace facing the athletics field, and a range of suites that allow for group engagement of all types.

Moreover, there is the extension of the Saint David’s Women’s Center of Texas in Austin. One of the project’s final goals, apart from being modern and perfectly functional when complete, is to comply with the Austin Energy Green Building (AEGB) two-star rating code as stipulated by city bylaws for all such facilities within the St. David’s North Austin Medical Center’s unit development district. The final product will also adhere to the practices dictated by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) guidelines. As the facility serves the community, it is also in line with the vision of the Imagine Austin comprehensive plan, which seeks to reuse and renew properties that are already available in a bid to improve quality of life.

As such, the expansion was built on campus land, which meant causing minimum impact on the surrounding environment. The design was completed with an acute awareness of light pollution and ways to eliminate it. In the same vein, easy access to surrounding facilities was accomplished by establishing comfortable, safe walking zones. The building also exhibits excellent performance, with a nearly ten percent reduction in energy use compared to the norm, and it uses 35 percent less water than the standard consumption rate while harvesting stormwater using existing infrastructure.

The designers also went out of their way to create fresh, healthy spaces that are as human-friendly as possible. The use of environmentally responsible and sustainable materials also contributes to the already great user experience in the spaces.

Looking ahead, ESa is approaching the future of design and construction with a healthy dose of curiosity in terms of how the economic effects of geopolitics, in tandem with climate change and advances in technology, will change how we arrange our lives in relation to our living and work spaces. Word around the industry, according to Webb, is that adaptive reuse is on the rise, as is leveraging technology and innovation to enhance such spaces for quality living. The advent of autonomous vehicles, for instance, is leading to a rise in parking garage conversions and electric car charging station retrofitting.

No matter how the market may change, however, the ESa team is ready to adapt and build upon the principles of sustainable design and construction for generations to come.

The post 61 Years of Health and Wellness by Design<p class="company">ESa</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

These benchmark projects include Saginaw Valley State University’s Pioneer Hall, the first construction project to acquire LEED Certification in the region; the Dow Chemical Company’s 210,000-square-foot Business Services Center, constructed and occupied in just 11 months and honored with the Build Michigan Award in the Environmental category for its impressive sustainable features; and the company’s largest contract to date, the $72 million Genesee County Water Treatment Plant, delivered three months ahead of schedule. These works and others provide a great tribute to the company’s legacy of exceeding expectations for its clients and project partners.

A true family organization now in its fourth generation, Spence Brothers knows the importance of loyalty, integrity and skilled craftsmanship.

“Myself and the other three Spences that are still in the company, were raised doing construction the right way from when we were little,” says President and COO Ed Spence. “Our fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers worked in the business, and didn’t force it on us. We all grew a sense of honor and leadership through family, and grew a love for construction the right way.”

This included working in the field for years alongside tradesmen to learn the business, he adds.

“We grew [our skill sets] working side-by-side with subs, and we gained respect that way from the workers. We formed bonds with those folks, and now we have second generation laborers and carpenters that work for us as well.”

This commitment and dedication extends to the company’s sense of community, he adds. Spence Brothers has made the Great Lakes Bay region its home going on 130 years, and giving back to the community is vital. “We pride ourselves on repeat customers,” says Spence. “We try and do things the right way with an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. That’s been our mindset for 130 years.”

It’s a mindset that has resulted in a wealth of strong relationships, such as with the University of Michigan, for whom the company has constructed numerous enduring projects.

“The Spence leaders are very humble guys,” says Dorian Banda, Senior Proposal Manager / Technical Writer. “They weren’t just handed positions in management, and as an employee working for Spence, I can tell you that I see the difference it makes in their leadership every day.”

While other companies’ leadership might say they have an open door policy, she adds, there’s a very distinct difference between firms she’s worked for previously who may carry a family name but don’t necessarily have any family working there.

“Here, the Spences in leadership have been brought up through the ranks from the ground up,” says Banda. “When I walk in with an issue or concern or have input about a project pursuit, they’re very open-minded. It’s clear they’ve had to apply their hard work and dedication to get to the roles in leadership they have today. They have a very strong appreciation for hard work, dedication, and the knowledge their employees have to offer, no matter how new you are, no matter what gender you may be.”

The company is also highly community-focused, choosing to remain in the City of Saginaw when other firms have expanded and moved on. “Spence leadership has always been very clear that ‘this is where we were founded, and this is where we’re going to stay,’” says Banda.

That commitment extends not only to the broader community but to employees and work ethic as well. Celebrating 130 years in business is no small feat, and it’s one Spence Brothers takes great pride in.

“The longevity of being a fourth generation [company] speaks volumes to a solid base and anchor in a trustworthy firm that has high levels of integrity,” says Vice President Brian Keeler. “That’s the Spence name on the door. You can call anytime and they’re going to take that phone call. They’re not sitting somewhere that’s unreachable.”

This includes getting involved in projects, he adds, a hands-on approach that ensures projects are dealt with properly and any issues are fixed or corrected. The owners get involved and sit down with project managers on a regular basis to see how projects are going, where the company can improve, and how they can help.

Improvement, of course, also includes an ongoing commitment to going green wherever possible.

“We’re very much involved in the sustainability movement in the construction industry of this region,” says Keeler. “We’re promoting it within our employees, encouraging them to become LEED accredited and to understand Green Building Principles. We’ve hosted workshops locally that encourage Owners and other project partners to be more green and sustainable, as well.”

Projects in pursuit of sustainability are of particular interest to Spence, he adds. “I want Spence to have the kind of identity that sits right up there with green building. So, if Owners in this region are thinking about building anything green or sustainable, Spence is the first place they call to get involved with the project.”

Part of the sustainability movement is rehabbing existing facilities, including the company’s own 9,350-square-foot headquarters in Saginaw. Spence Brothers moved its corporate offices to the SVRC Marketplace as part of its 125_^th anniversary celebration, carrying out a thorough renovation of the Saginaw News Building, which Spence Brothers had built in 1960. Half of the third story of the structure is occupied by the company’s headquarters, which is a mix of various conference rooms, private offices, semi-private offices, and open concept workspaces.

Another notable rehabilitation project is the Webster Community Center Project in Pontiac, Michigan, a 57,496-square-foot historical elementary school being converted into a community center. Renovation plans include a communal kitchen, event and meeting spaces, youth services, an indoor grow room, community gardens with hoop houses, and an outdoor athletic field on six acres of land. Modifications will be carried out with consideration for maintaining the building’s historical integrity while focusing on offering areas for a culinary hub, physical fitness, an indoor transportation hub, arts and culture, and space for launching small enterprises through co-working facilities that support regional entrepreneurs and innovators.

“It’s very much a feel-good story for the city of Pontiac that’s working toward the development and revitalization of their downtown districts,” says Keeler. “We’ve been involved in many sustainable and historic facility renovations where the goals involved breathing new life into existing buildings.”

When it comes to leading the way in sustainable practices, Spence also embraces a position of mentorship in helping other construction partners, from architects to subcontractors, by offering seminars and learning opportunities in LEED and other sustainability measures. And while Spence is looking to continue growing in all areas, one of the biggest challenges it faces in building is tied to manpower. The Michigan construction market is busy, which is a good thing, but getting qualified tradespeople to perform work is “very difficult” right now, shares Spence.

“We’re trying to step outside the box and do more recruiting through various avenues. It’s a hard sector to grow right now as far as finding tradespeople. We’re turning down opportunities because of manpower shortages across construction, which is unfortunate.” It’s an experience the entire industry shares at present.

Setting the company apart is the fact that it’s big enough to handle $80 million jobs, but is also comfortable with much smaller projects, adds Keeler. Maintaining a family feel is a big part of what contributes to that success as well. “Everybody knows people by name inside the company, which I think is important,” he says. “We’re very in touch with the employees and each other, but we’re big enough to handle some of the coolest and most interesting projects in our region and across the state.”

Understanding the importance of family and home life beyond daily work routines is also key, he adds. “There’s a definite balance. We haven’t pursued work out of state for a couple of reasons, but one of the main reasons stems from our value for a better work-life balance—people being able to sleep in their beds and be home with their families.” When it comes to recruiting, it’s a big draw to know you’ll be working within Michigan and close to home, he adds.

It’s difficult to imagine milestones more impressive than 130 years in business, but hitting 150 would certainly be one of them.

“We want to grow,” says Spence. “Moving forward means increasing diversity across all aspects of construction, which is very important. We want to grow more diverse within our personnel, supporting women in the workforce and welcoming more minorities to our team, which we’ve been working on as well.”

When it comes to construction management, there are many large firms that no longer self-perform, adds Banda, while Spence continues their tradition of performing concrete, carpentry, general trades, and selective demolition.

“I can’t stress enough the hard work and dedication that really speaks to Spence leadership,” she says. “They’ll recognize foremen or laborers with potential out in the field and make an effort to grow that expertise toward a position as superintendent.”

Growth also includes more opportunities to get involved in career fairs and trade shows where students will be visiting and making an effort to have a presence at these events to educate and foster interest in historically underrepresented groups.

“We’re very proud of our roots and the idea of honesty, integrity, and above-board transparency,” says Keeler. “Those are all words we live day in and day out. It’s important in this business and to be around as long as we have, we have to have people trust us.”

That trust is particularly imperative when it comes to telling clients something they may not want to hear. Cutting corners is not in the company’s playbook, so doing a job quickly and cheaply—even at a client’s request—just doesn’t happen.

“That word integrity gets a bit overused in marketing, but this company truly brings it to the table of operations,” says Banda. “Instead of telling Owners what they want to hear simply to win, it might instead be, ‘we’ll always be here if you need us, but it just can’t be done for that price.’ To witness the level of integrity it takes to walk away from a project is truly impressive.”

Michigan’s a tough construction market, but Spence Brothers started out as essentially a general contractor and has experienced great success by maintaining a diverse team and a rich skill set, says Keeler. Regardless of each individual’s background, underpinning it all is an underlying love for construction.

“One of the reasons for our long-term success is the diversity we’ve been able to maintain in the construction business,” Spence says. “We have a love and a respect for the people who work for us. As far as the last name Spence, we are a family, but we’ve brought in people from all backgrounds to help grow our leadership to maintain our edge in the Michigan market. And we’ve diversified that market to remain successful today.”

The post Diversity, Integrity and a Love for Construction<p class="company">Spence Brothers</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

From its inception, McStain has been focused on the twin principles of design and sustainability. The company’s founders, Tom and Caroline Hoyt, kept those values at the core of the company philosophy throughout their managerial tenure and they remain at the heart of the business today.

The business continued to grow to a point where it was installing three hundred to four hundred homes annually by the mid-2000s, making it one of the more notable private home builders in the market at that time. Vice President of Operations Rick Lambert remembers that after the 2008 financial crisis, the company seriously downsized itself in a matter of months but held on to a piece of land it owned in Lafayette.

From that land, it managed to reenergize itself over the ensuing fifteen years, bringing it to where it is today, a business of over thirty employees installing seventy to eighty homes annually. “We’re back and will continue to grow and maintain our reputation as an important builder in the market,” he emphasizes.

The company has made its name around its home area by developing communities in many recognizable parts of Colorado. These include developments in places like Indian Peaks South in Lafayette, homes and condominiums built in the Del Mar community of Aurora, Casitas at Stapleton (now Central Park), Greenbriar Mobile Home Park in Westminster, and many more.

In 2022, McStain was named the Energy Star Builder Partner of the Year, a nationwide award that Lambert says is a big feather in the company’s cap. It also recently won the Department of Energy’s housing innovation award for a townhome it built in the Arras Park project, which he feels speaks to its commitment to sustainable building practices, and its being on the leading edge of its industry.

These ventures on the sustainability front are hardly new to the company. McStain’s commitment to sustainable building practices can be seen most distinctly in its BeWell homes. The business began this all-electric home project in 2022 and is still deeply involved. The company is excited about that, as well as that the community of Arras Park will soon be a WaterSense community, meaning the Environmental Protection Agency will certify that the homes in the community will use forty percent less water than a typical new home.

Vice President of Sales and Marketing Danielle Davis describes BeWell homes as involving many aspects of home and community building including land-planning, neighborhoods, green and open spaces, connecting communities to other neighborhoods, and more. BeWell also includes a commitment to customer satisfaction.

As clients journey from initially interacting with a community to finally becoming a homeowner, McStain and its workers are dedicated to helping them through the whole process. Lambert underlines that the customer experience is key to company operations, as it focuses on details that other builders often do not, including—and most importantly—what is best for a customer’s new home.

McStain backs up its sustainability-focused marketing, as its homes are certified by many third parties involved in renewable energy. “One hundred percent of our homes are certified by the Department of Energy as zero-energy ready,” Lambert states, and the homes are Energy Star-rated as well as Indoor airPLUS and WaterSense-compliant, and have a solar energy system to provide renewable energy for homeowners. He believes it is important that these certifications also come from larger organizations so that customers can better understand the standards to which the company holds itself.

Davis admits that the past twelve to eighteen months have been both the best and the worst of times for a business like McStain, thanks to the challenging environment in which the housing market currently finds itself. Fluctuations in the market and homebuilding costs have led to situations where company sales have been stronger than anticipated—or even desired—followed by interest rates doubling and home buyers being scared off. This unpredictable environment is beginning to even, according to Davis, and demand is creeping back into the market while McStain and other home-building businesses are more constrained by low inventory.

“Colorado is an in-demand place,” Davis explains, “Many people feel they don’t want to give up a 2.5 to 3 percent interest rate to make what they see as a lateral move.” The company is hoping that the newfound balance in the housing market will reset operations, especially as supply chains are beginning to come back to a healthier state, and hard-to-get materials are more available than they have been of late.

McStain will remain steadfast in its efforts, especially as an influx of private equity money in 2022 has helped it balance its finances and is allowing the company to be more aggressive in land acquisition, which will further fuel its goals for the upcoming few years.

The company is optimistic about the future, as the market seems to be heading to a place where new homes are the only game in town in some areas, which is the opportunity for the industry to step in and provide inventory at a more sustainable pace. Moreover, McStain continues to find itself at the forefront of an industry push toward improving homes by equipping new units with safer, all-electric appliances and greater weather readiness.

Lambert notes that several of the company’s projects are recently completed or will soon be, so attention will now be paid to kicking off projects while keeping an eye toward potential future endeavors. McStain’s teams are focused on buying land and establishing the building pipelines needed for them over the next two to four years so that it can return to its goal or re-attaining the previous company benchmark of two hundred homes per year. He admits this goal will likely not happen by 2024 as the company’s average sits now at about seventy to eighty homes annually but the potential is still high for 2025, so it must be ready for the jump to be made in the next two years.

McStain Homes is optimistic for both the future of the housing market and the business itself, as it continues to prepare itself for what could be the next great business boom which would propel it through the decade with renewed strength and a continued focus on design and sustainability.

The post Bringing Design and Sustainability to Colorado Home Building<p class="company">McStain Neighborhoods</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.