“We’ve grown dramatically, and I think what has lent to that is our willingness to challenge and change what it means to practice architecture,” says Director of Sustainability Aaron Ketner. “We’re always innovating and we’re always evolving what’s involved in the design process—for instance, sustainability and advanced technology in our realm. It’s both an art and a science, which has always been what makes this discipline a challenging thing to pursue because of weighting the art and science. But it’s continually evolving, and I think our success comes from being able to quickly adapt and implement on our projects.”

A project to watch
Echo Cliffs Health Center is just one of the company’s many noteworthy projects. Currently in progress, the project broke ground early this year and is slated for completion by February 2026. Located in northern Arizona’s High Desert, the 125,000 square foot outpatient health center for Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation (TCRHCC) merges modern health care technology with traditional Indigenous customs, serving the Hopi, Diné, Southern Paiute, and other tribal nations in the area.

“It’s important to us and it also means a lot for the community as well,” Ketner says of this approach. “They’ve often expressed that it’s more than just the building that we’re providing; we’re addressing long-term struggles… Preserving their cultural identity is important, their history, while still being able to adapt and implement new technologies, new health care opportunities. So that whole perspective of it being more than just the building has been really powerful.”

Communications Associate Robert Salas adds, “The design-build team really went above and beyond to engage the community and to really be in line at every step of the process with the stakeholders and with the different tribal leaders [to] make sure that we’re creating a space that’s going to serve them for generations. These types of projects come around once in a generation, so we want to create a facility that is going to have positive impact for the community and for the users that’s going to last for decades.”

The center will offer a full set of outpatient services for the region alongside a cafeteria and café, drive-through pharmacy, outdoor physical therapy terrain garden, walking trail, and more.

The team’s design philosophy was grounded in the Navajo concept of Hózhǫ́, which embodies peace, beauty, balance, and harmony. The team conceptualized the exterior design as a piece of jewelry that enhances the beauty of the wearer, complementing the landscape rather than competing with it. The interior employs natural materials, colors, and textures to weave community and traditional values into the modern health care facility.

Throughout the project, “we were able to use all kinds of strategies around preserving the site, minimizing site disturbance on the tribal land,” Ketner says. “That is important.” This effort included preserving native plantings. For example, “there’s this really old Juniper tree that is important to the people that own the land, and we were able to design around it and include it in the design and make sure that it wasn’t touched.”

The structure is thoughtfully positioned to efficiently utilize the site while also preserving the natural desert landscape. “There are high winds, microclimate conditions, out in the High Arizona Desert,” Ketner says. “We were able to analyze all of those elements. We did wind analysis to make sure that the east-facing entry was well protected for visitors and employees.”

The team also connected the space with the dramatic cliffs that surround the site. “We strategically placed the building positioning to create a really nice, protected outdoor space to the east of the building between all of these cliffs,” says Ketner.

The collaborative design-build effort was a close partnership between DPS, TCRHCC, the Navajo family-owned business Arviso Construction, and the Tempe, Arizona-based firm Okland Construction. “It’s something that we really enjoy doing because [it is] such a collaborative effort between architectural engineering as well as the construction team,” Ketner says. “We’ve seen great success in this type of project delivery.”

“We’ve gone through a large process to really home in on the collaboration and partnership with the construction, the contractors, and also the community and the client themselves,” Salas says. “It really took a large collaborative effort.”

The team worked together closely to overcome multiple challenges, including the need for new energy and water infrastructure in the remote location. “It’s a few hours from the closest town,” Ketner explains. “There was no existing utility; there was no electrical. No water, no gas.”

The remote location also plays a factor in the team’s pursual of USGBC LEED Gold for New Construction, “which can be seen as difficult in very rural areas,” Ketner says. “We were able to do it fairly easy with our strategies in place early and with the whole design-build team on the same page.”

A focus on sustainability
In 2016, DPS joined the AIA 2030 Commitment. “That’s a commitment that allows us to track our progress toward the global Architecture 2030 initiative,” Ketner says. “And that’s a push for new construction to be 100 percent renewable energy, to get projects off of fossil fuel dependency. We’ve been tracking that year after year, and we’ve been seeing our progress in reducing fossil fuel dependency in all our new construction projects.”

In 2022, the firm also joined the SE2050 commitment. While AIA 2030 focuses on operational strategy, this initiative focuses on embodied carbon. “We’re starting to track and put systems in place to be able to measure the embodied carbon in structures in our new construction projects,” Ketner says. “The goal here is to reduce what is typically seen as the largest carbon footprint in the building, [which] is the structure itself.”

To do this, “we are getting into our design process. We’ve integrated a comprehensive, sustainable design standard that all our design leaders have committed to. So, as we take on new work and new projects, we evaluate against our own internal sustainability standard and determine in a consistent manner which types of sustainable criteria would be most appropriate for a project, which ones have the biggest impact.”

The positive effect is far-reaching. “What it’s really doing is creating a common language,” Ketner says. “Previously, in everybody’s architectural education, they’ve learned rules of thumb around sustainability and maybe from their own practice that they bring to the table. But this allows us to have a standardized approach on this front, and now that we have the analysis, tools, and capabilities to support it, we can actually measure it and have consistent data points to track about our project [and] ultimately be able to say a DPS project on average diverts a certain amount of waste from landfills.”

In addition, this process lays down a pathway for the next generation. “It also stands as a guideline for new designers, new, young architects. They now have a guide on how to implement sustainability here at DPS… We can establish goals since we’re measuring those criteria and really push for progress on each one.”

These goals include “reducing water use, reducing energy use, all the way to waste diversion from construction, promoting awareness around diverting from landfills, recycling more materials from the construction process. Those are all things that we’re trying to raise awareness of and promote.”

With over six decades of experience, an ability to partner in forward-thinking and challenging projects, and a commitment to sustainability, DPS is sure to continue to make a positive impact both on the built environment and the natural one.

The post Forward-Thinking Architecture<p class="company">Dekker Perich Sabatini</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

At MMW Architects, progressive design means creating balance across several spheres of design. During a time when architects navigate the housing crisis alongside climate change, it is good to know that there are firms passionately committed to doing that with as much integrity as MMW. With a growing team recruited from across the country, the company’s contemporary offices extend across two buildings in Missoula, Montana. Beyond creating modern, technically sound buildings, the firm’s strong sense of harmony informs design that serves clients, communities, and the Earth.

Senior Associate Architect and Project Manager Shane Morrissey, who has been with the company for nearly two decades, is proud of the distinct lack of ego in its offices. “It is pretty easy to have a great workplace when the people you hire are smart, talented, ambitious, and socially conscious,” he says.

Creating future-proof buildings constructed to last at least half a century is simply part of what this firm does. This company believes that no matter how many clean, alternative energy sources are incorporated into a design, no building is energy-wise if it needs tearing down a few years after construction for being dated or dysfunctional.

“We know that our work has an impact on more than just the client; it impacts the community, the Earth, the next generation,” says Morrissey. Therefore, the team leaves no concept untouched in the search for practical design solutions to modern-day concerns like extreme weather and protecting the planet.

One such high-tech project earned the company great recognition. A consciously designed building with more than 340 parking spaces, the mixed-use Park Place parking building in downtown Missoula includes retail spaces and the largest solar panel array in Montana at the time of construction. The perforated anodized panels on the façade screen the cars, shift hues with the path of the sun, and retain their appeal and connection to the surrounding landscape. Designed and built between 2010 and 2013, this project is an example of the company’s knack for future-proofing buildings through timeless design.

Park Place was selected based on a design competition, and MMW won several awards for this work. In 2014, it received the International Parking Institute’s Award of Excellence for Architectural Achievement, while 2015 saw the arrival of two more awards: the Montana Innovators Award and USGBC Montana Sustainability’s Commercial Building Citation Award, Special Jury Award of Urban Design, and the Mobility Award.

Indeed, MMW Architects is improving how local communities engage with design. “We believe that everyone deserves the right to thoughtfully designed spaces, regardless of net worth,” says Morrissey. While such altruism may go against the grain of many hardline commercial designers, the company has completed several prestigious projects that prove that well-managed generosity bankrupts nobody.

True to its ethos and to help its local communities thrive and make intelligent design accessible for everyone, the company is well-known for pro bono work that helps support and develop opportunities for young and old alike. As a result, its staff also commit to a generous amount of annual volunteering, represent the industry, and donate time and knowledge to local government boards.

“We look at the big picture policies in our community and try to shape these policies to improve the place [we] live,” says Morrissey. MMW staff serve on a number of boards in the community. Currently these include MUTD (transit), Planning Board (zoning and subdivision), Home Resource (recycling and waste management), Historic Preservation, and Mountain Bike Missoula (trails and access).

The company’s involvement with Climate Smart Missoula is another exciting collaboration, with a range of disciplines from finance and engineering to climate activism and architecture joining forces for good. As an outflow of this, the group initiated Building(s) for the Future, a think tank where carbon sequestration in construction is the main focus. It also started the Footprint Fund, a carbon offset scheme with the potential to deliver dividends for the health of Missoula’s natural environment.

In addition to its social contributions, the company entered the 2030 Architecture Challenge, established in support of the United Nations’ Paris Agreement initiative. Just under 40 percent of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to be generated by buildings themselves, so the race is on to turn the situation around. As part of its entry, the company reports all of its energy modeling projects to the American Institute of Architects’ AIA2030 DDX program, where it can measure its performance against other new construction. With such a go-getter spirit, there have been several standout projects over the years.

One of the firm’s most recent gratifying projects was the Cornerstone Apartments. As a proof-of-concept project, these affordable units showed stakeholders that low-cost, quality building is possible while minimizing the overall carbon performance of a project. MMW was also responsible for Montana’s first new LEED Platinum building at the Missoula Federal Credit Union’s Russell Street Branch, now known as Clearwater Credit Union. Featuring many firsts, like fly ash and glass concrete, passive heating and cooling, and greywater recycling, the project was a signature step into the world of conscious commercial building in the area.

There is also the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Conference Center, a modern building that reflects the natural textures of the surrounding wilderness. Contributing to this sleek yet textured aesthetic is a selection of carbon-restricted materials, including cross-laminated timber. Current calculations estimate the sequestration of more than 100 tons of carbon on this building alone.

Other notable projects include the net-zero uptown Butte branch of Clearwater Credit Union, boasting a 66kw photovoltaic array system with air-to-air heat pumps. Another unusual project of which the firm is proud is the Tower Road Corner Farm Village. This farm village has community housing with direct access to a farmers market store, all revolving around the task of creating and retaining healthy agricultural soil.

Finally, MMW Architects is also involved in the design of the Montana State University Wellness Center, which will see its big opening celebration later this summer. Centralizing student care in one advanced space on what used to be a brownfield site, this chic building is planned to qualify as LEED Gold standard, with solar wall technology, geothermal cooling and heating, plus a full 432kw photovoltaic array.

To achieve such sophistication, staff members must keep up to date with all the relevant qualifications in the field. Several of MMW’s designers hold Phius and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certifications. While LEED certification has become an industry standard, Phius is a non-profit organization striving to establish top-quality passive building as a commonplace standard in the general market by minimizing the carbon contribution of buildings.

The firm also recently became Just-certified. Just—part of the Living Future Institute—is an organization committed to driving corporate transparency, describing itself as ‘a nutrition label for socially just and equitable organizations.’

“As the first, exceptionally proud Just-certified design firm in the state, the company is happy to illustrate its commitment to sustainability in this way,” says Morrissey. “We like to think of sustainability in our firm on all fronts—not just the work we produce but how our firm achieves sustainability in business, for the environment, and for our company.”

MMW’s Just application also allowed the company to reassess how it invests in its people. Above the standard perks people have come to expect, like family leave, 401(k) matching, fair and accessible salary structures, staff enjoy paid time off to invest in social causes that matter to them.

MMW Architects not only designs for the planet; it designs for comfort to suit customers’ daily routines, as big and small pleasures also guide design decisions. “Beyond being progressive, everything we touch, as a firm, is designed for the clients’ rituals and experiences at the forefront,” Morrissey adds.

Technology that improves productivity is also always welcomed here. “Our design work is top-notch in the inter-mountain west. Couple that with our progressive sustainability work, and I think we offer a pretty unique client experience,” he says.

While some of its software suites, like Revit, are commonplace, others have re-sculpted the company’s labor landscape. Some of these include names like COVE, software focused on improving sustainable building design; Lumion, which comes with a Live Sync plug-in for real-time syncing across most CAD tools; and Twinmotion, another potent real-time visualization package also with easy syncing between collaborators.

The company is not all work and no play, however. With a thriving and active social schedule, it welcomes anyone in Missoula and area to join its rafting, golf, fishing, running, and biking clubs. As well as having good, clean fun together, the team also knows how to get its hands dirty with plenty of environmental clean-ups, trail maintenance days, food drives, and more keeping everyone working together outside of the office.

“These aren’t really services but they are fun, and we have a good time with them!” Morrissey says with a smile. Add to that the lunch runs it hosts to get to know customers and consultants better and one understands why everyone here is so relaxed and happy.

Intelligent companies work hard to maintain and retain the talent they have, and happy offices are a part of this. In this regard, Morrissey sees the industry improving significantly. “The young people in our office and our industry are bringing their energy and social consciousness to the work we do to create the future they want to live in and hand down to their children,” he says.

As MMW sees its role as continuously progressive within the greater Missoula community, the company looks forward to even more cross-pollination with those in its industry—engineers, partners, and organizations working toward social change and improvement. The team would also like to see national leaders join the sustainability and design picture.

“We have the opportunity in Missoula to move our community forward in a thoughtful way and export the work we are doing to other communities,” he says, highlighting just how special that is.

Where there is no trail, MMW Architects builds one or several; where there are no solutions, it will create them. With such a positive attitude, there can only be many good things to come.

The post Making Missoula —Where Progressive Design Equals Thriving Communities<p class="company">MMW Architects</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

“The company was started with hard work and dedication and good morals, creating the business we still model ourselves after, almost 40 years later,” says Dan Grace, Vice President of Sales. “The founders led by example and we follow them. They demanded a high level of professionalism which was really beneficial for us to see.”

The well-drilling industry is a niche business, one that requires intensive capital investment with drill rigs costing more than $1 million, along with a service truck, a water truck, and employees that need both a commercial driver’s license and the willingness to work in occasionally dangerous conditions and inclement weather.

“It’s a tough industry to succeed in without traumatic injuries or setbacks,” Grace says. He himself “hit the ground running” with five years in the field and 12 years in project management and sales, getting out on the road, spreading the word about the company, and drumming up business. Meanwhile, his future business partners were still in the field grinding and learning other aspects of the industry.

In 1997, Jon Swain came aboard, was promoted to Sales Manager in 2000, and is now President, working with Adam Dragon, Vice President, Drilling Operations, Joe Dragon, Vice President, and Greg Dragon, Vice President, Water Treatment.

“The company has almost tripled in size in the 10 years since we’ve taken over,” says Grace of the partners, of whom he’s the only non-family member. While they all work well together meeting the challenges that arise, one of the biggest they face is finding quality, hardworking employees.

“Fortunately, younger folks can see somebody like me that came in at the bottom, worked from the ground up, and now owns the company equally with my other partners,” Grace says. “That opportunity is there for anybody. It doesn’t require an expensive education; it requires drive and enthusiasm. It’s an opportunity for somebody who may struggle in a school atmosphere but has diligent hard work and takes pride in what they do.”

It’s also a chance to learn a trade that’s not going away, he adds. People will always need water, and it’s a renewable resource that requires protection.

“And that’s another part of our mission. It’s only renewable if properly managed,” he says. “You need to be smart about groundwater, following the rules and installation practices to prohibit contamination.”

Protecting water is indeed the number one priority for Capital Well Clean Water, starting with proper construction of water wells, knowing the area, and being educated in good practices. “It’s important that everybody here cares,” Grace says. “It’s not just a job; any error can be critical when you’re creating a conduit into the planet that’s 1,000 feet deep into bedrock.”

The team is passionate about maintaining quality standards, he adds. “It’s what propels us—caring about the groundwater industry. It has led us into how we are going to manage this better, and not only that, but manage emissions.”

The green side of the business involves forging relationships with HVAC contractors installing heat pumps and the ductwork that need a ground source—somebody to tap into the planet.

“We have the tools to do so,” Grace says. “So we got to be partners with a lot of HVAC contractors and it revolutionized the way geothermal heating and cooling was done in the state. From 2008 until 2014, there were a lot of advancements and more efficiencies made, and we were saving people 50 to 70 percent of energy costs for their homes and eliminating fossil fuels.”

Capital Well itself runs a Net Zero operation, with geothermal heating and cooling in both of its offices in northern and southern New Hampshire. It has also applied a 186-panel solar system to offset its electricity consumption, and in the big shops, it utilizes oil from its vehicles twice. The second time is when it’s burned in the shops to heat the bigger spaces where geothermal alone isn’t practical.

“We try to be as renewable as possible and practice what we preach,” says Grace. “And it’s not just because we love the planet, it also makes fiscal sense.”

Another area of sustainability is groundwater withdrawal and extraction, which helps homeowners and businesses better manage irrigation systems for lawns and gardens.

Wells in New Hampshire continue to be driven deeper to reach water, and in some congested areas where subdivisions have been put in, lawn sprinklers are utilized on many big lawns to keep them green, but they’re not properly managed. While technology has come a long way, the irrigation systems haven’t caught up.

“We figured we should be part of the distribution not only to the house but also to the lawns,” Grace explains. “We can balance the system to work appropriately with what you have for groundwater provided out of your well, because every well is different. Some are minimal in production, and others have tremendous volumes.”

The company’s newest offering is Intuitive Hydrawise Software, an easy-to-use solution for efficient water management that provides detailed oversight of irrigation controllers. By supporting the adjustment of watering schedules and the ability to monitor piping and electrical systems, the system can achieve up to 50 percent in water savings.

“It can watch the weather so it knows exactly when to run, how much to run, and when not to run,” Grace says. “If it’s raining out, we don’t want to waste the water. If it’s too hot out, we don’t want the water hitting the ground because nearly 70 percent of it is going to evaporate before it soaks in.”

And again, it’s an advancement for the company to expand and generate more revenue. It’s also about staying true to its roots and using the proper equipment to appropriately balance and maintain systems. The financial aspect can be tricky, however.

“It’s a crossroads and one of those decisions a company has to make,” Grace adds. “Are we cheap? No, if we were cheap, we wouldn’t have a box that can watch the weather and manage your water. We wouldn’t be able to use organic oils on our drill rigs, as we drill wells, so that we’re not injecting volatile organic compounds into the earth. We’re maintaining our morals. All these things come at a cost, but I think that cost is worth it and it’s justifiable to any customer who has a conscience.”

The company’s biggest challenge is staffing and keeping equipment running, he says, as well as successfully managing the amount of work the team is facing in the years following COVID.

“There are only so many hours in a day and we only have so much equipment to get it done,” Grace says. “When managing a list of over 160 people waiting for you to get a well drilled with a variable schedule, we don’t know when we’re going to be there, what we’re going to get, and how much it’s going to cost. Managing those variables to keep your customers happy is really challenging.”

More and more well companies are going out of business, he adds, particularly those that don’t have a succession plan, a younger generation that wants to take over and get their hands dirty. This has resulted in more market share coming to Capital Well.

“We have a lot of referral business,” says Grace. “Maintaining ethics and doing a quality job has gained us a tremendous amount of business.”

Despite the challenges, Capital Well has done a tremendous job over the years of maintaining a loyal roster of relationships, be it with homeowners, contractors, or builders.

This approach extends to employees as well. “We all get along and everybody’s friendly; we really don’t tolerate toxicity. Even if you have a great employee that shows up every day and they bust their butt, if they’re poison and affect the rest of the crew, they’ve got to go.”

Grace says that being of a younger generation of owners helps in relating to the company’s younger employees as well. “They can open the door and come in and bring their complaints to us. One of the biggest benefits of an open door policy at your company is that you can hear all about what’s going on.”

The company also prides itself on encouraging employees to make suggestions for improvements and offer solutions to problems.

“We alter the way we’re doing business based on that feedback,” says Grace. “We’d be foolish not to keep our ears open to what’s happening in the field. And I think having that open door squashes the festering that can occur. When somebody thinks you’re making a poor decision, it festers.”

Along with positive company culture, being family-owned has played a big part in the company’s success over the years,” he says. “Keeping those relationships without anybody getting too hostile is important. If we have trouble, we squash it right away and we don’t do it in front of the employees.”

Looking ahead, the team aims to continue growing in a positive manner while helping more clients in need.

“Our customers need water—cleaner water and safer water,” Grace says. “Those are the targets. Money is great, but that’s not our goal. We want to do a great job for everybody and the money will follow. Our focus is on that and just staying successful so we can be here for another 40 years servicing the customers who need us.”

The post Where Water Meets Innovation<p class="company">Capital Well Clean Water Center</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

“They were tumultuous times and there was a strong instinct of wanting to be home somewhere,” says Wright. That ended up being Northampton, right across the river from Hampshire College. Growing up and later on, Jonathan developed his interests and skills in carpentry as well as repairing boats and making furniture.

“My story is about hiring and working with people who know more than I do. If you think you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re not that smart. I’m a kind of restless guy. I don’t rely on conventions.”

Doing good, doing well
Northampton, just on the cusp of its rejuvenation after the 1960s, was good to Wright. “There was an underlying notion that it was possible to be a progressive employer and that doing well by staff and others working in the business was a way to do good, and doing good was a path to doing well.”

Being a progressive employer included providing fully paid company health insurance, life insurance, paid maternity leave, and adoption leave—policies to make life possible.

The business was initially a combination of building and woodworking—joint passions of Wright’s—resulting in a new woodworking facility in 1977, the first solar-heated industrial facility in New England, with systems designed by Total Environmental Energy. And while the company strove to create something unique and avoided getting drawn into building “McMansions,” at times there has been “enormous” competitive pressure, says Wright, including at least two serious recessions.

“That’s part of the history too, surviving those things, but some remarkably skilled people have kept me company over the years as time went on,” says Wright, specifically of Mark Ledwell, who joined the company as Executive Vice President in 2000, after 15 years as a general contractor in the Valley. “Mark was a remarkable craftsman and brilliant man who had previously worked as an installer for us from his own business,” says Wright.

Unfortunately, about five years ago Mark’s health began to fail and when he took ill, Seth Lawrence-Slavas, now President, bought Mark’s shares shortly before he passed away.

“It was a huge loss for the region,” says Wright of Ledwell, who was dedicated to the company’s goals of quality design and construction as well as sustainable design, including Living Buildings designed to improve the symbiotic relationships between people and all aspects of the built and natural environments.

RW Kern Center
For Wright Builders, such buildings have included the RW Kern Center at Hampshire College, where the company has been involved since its inception, and the Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst.

“The RW Kern Center is a really powerful project,” says Lawrence-Slavas. “When we talk about some of the LEED neighborhoods we do, that’s the underlying ethos of the company that naturally follows those pathways.”

These projects, as meaningful as they are, are just an extension of where the company’s mindset is anyway, he adds. “We’re teachers in a lot of ways, and students in others. I think that’s a really basic way of saying what we do every day because it’s much more complicated than that. But that’s the reality of it.”

Although the Kern Center project was hampered by a late fall start and challenging weather conditions, the company’s dedication remained steadfast. “There was a moment when the project superintendent realized that his mind went from focusing on how difficult it was to how beautiful it was going to be,” says Wright. “When the workforce gets to do something meaningful, they’ll sense they’re working on something that’s not going to poison their children. You can’t overestimate the value of that. Whether it’s recognized in the moment or not, it does create a different sense of mission.”

This sense of mission attracts like-minded people to the company, such as Lawrence-Slavas, a star graduate student from UMass Amherst in the Building Construction Technology program both BS and MS, who actually studied the Kern Center while earning his undergraduate degree.

“There are so many ways to wash sustainability in the building industry, especially, and I think my upbringing was one of true living-off-the-land type of sustainability,” he says. “We didn’t have running water at my house; I didn’t have indoor plumbing in the early years of my life, and no electricity. For me, it wasn’t bizarre or this all-encompassing way of thinking about holistically living in your environment, it was just what I was given. That’s the way I lived. I didn’t have an option.”

When he saw the institutional, commercial-size Kern Center, he saw a building existing in that same realm, except it was comfortable. Instead of burning fossil fuel for light, there was solar power and grid back with battery emergency power backups.

Taking and giving back
“It’s going back to that very basic sense of living with your environment and what you’re taking, you’re giving back to it,” says Lawrence-Slavas. “It really is a zero sum, and hopefully a positive sum, that you’re increasing the environmental awareness and work that goes into it. That’s what made me get interested.”

Ultimately, the interest in buildings that didn’t require steel frames, plastics, and poisonous environmental elements pushed him toward this position, he says. “It was understanding that you actually can build things in this environment without killing people and without killing natural resources and do it in a way that’s dutiful to the place you live. I think the most meaningful part of all of that was understanding Jonathan’s mindset. He’s a good businessman, but at the end of the day, there’s so much more to this company than keeping the lights on.”

A high level of accountability is another important aspect of Wright’s leadership, says Lawrence-Slavas, and the constant push against what’s happening in the general world of construction. “There are people who come in here, and they’re life-long industry people, and they aren’t thinking about these things. And that doesn’t fit with our culture here. Sometimes they pick up the thread and its meaningful; sometimes they move on.”

“One of the things we’ve all struggled with is that everybody’s a climate activist until it comes to the pocketbook,” adds Wright.

It’s possible, they believe, to design a building that’s more efficient in its use of space so it can be smaller than a poorly designed building—and simpler does not mean ugly. Good and inspired design is built in; it’s in the form, and it’s in the spirit of the place.

A sense of place
“Seth and I are big fans of exposed structure,” says Wright. “We really do interact with everything around us based on how it’s made and not just what we see. When we see a building made out of material that we know to be regional and by hands known to us, it becomes a place that’s related to us. Creating a sense of place is one of the key ingredients to fighting loneliness and disaffection and all sorts of things that plague us.”

Striving to embrace sustainability and net zero principles in design and construction is all-encompassing and forces you to think differently about what you’re designing and building, adds Lawrence-Slavas.

“The energy actually is the easy part. [The trickier part is] the material sciences and the way the interactions happen between the occupants and the [natural environment] and fresh air and light,” he says. “There’s something about going through a checklist and getting a building certified that makes human brains think about what they’re going through. It’s not just mindless.”

When operating under LEED principles, for instance, everybody’s forced to think about it: the design team, subcontractors, material vendors, and construction managers, right from the start. “Code compliance is a minimum standard, and we should always be learning more than that, and pressing for more than that. That’s where the certifications really come into play.”

As house or apartment dwellers, we’ve largely become desensitized to how we live, in part due to a lack of education about how much better it could be. “A lot of people don’t have an understanding of the material aspects of what they’re putting in their house, even after [the builders are] long gone,” says Lawrence-Slavas. “Some of these processes and certifications are so encompassing. Living Building Challenge is absolutely the most encompassing of all of them; LEED and PHIUS are getting there and have been key instruments to policy and code mandates, which is an incredible power to possess.”

Education to this end includes information about VOCs (volatile organic compounds), PFAS (per- and polyfluorinated substances), and the plasticizers and flame retardants found in furnishings that, for the most part, no one thinks about. “That’s generational—the awareness of toxins and aspiring to better paths moves through to the children. That gets passed down to their children, and their children are healthy because of that, and before you know it, that’s just the way of life.”

Another aspect of certifications that means a lot to Wright Builders is that the people making many building products are from marginalized communities and continue to be, even with the amount of media attention and negative publicity aimed at massive polymer companies that have poisoned populations and killed employees. “That realization as a consumer—and we’re consumers at Wright Builders—and putting ourselves in that lens has been eye-opening, to say the least.”

The company builds a house or a commercial facility and maybe that process lasts anywhere from six to 18 months—but people are living and working in it for the rest of their lives, he adds. Shifting the focus from energy to a safe and healthy internal environment with good air and material quality is an additional step the company is taking.

Perspective change
“It’s been a real change in our perspective in the last 10 years,” says Lawrence-Slavas. “We’ve got the energy part down; we know how to build a great insulative envelope. Now it’s really about the materials and systems parts of the project.”

It’s just another reason why these certifications are so important: they encourage the project teams to look around and to think and to learn. “That’s game-changing. We’re at the point now with our subcontractors and vendors where they understand what we expect, and they bring that expectation to all their work, no matter if it’s with us or not,” he says. “I think that alone is a powerful catalyst of change.”

“Wright Builders is not in the business of creating obstacles to doing work, but of creating opportunities to thrive,” adds Wright. “It’s so important to get past “how hard this is” unless you first let me tell you what is most beautiful, what it is that gives us humans the potential to thrive and also the potential to self-destruct,” he says.

Looking forward, Wright adds, it’s not about how we’ve made life incredibly difficult for ourselves and still survived, but the things Seth is working on now: galvanizing customers, gathering interest, creating a reputation and a sense of the future associated with Wright Builders that generates work, profitability, and jobs. “Everything Seth is working on can become the standards of our industry if we are patient and persistent,” he believes.

As for Lawrence-Slavas, he foresees the company continuing to be innovators in the communities they’re living in. “The biggest nut we have to crack at this point is how we give this to people who are being harmed the most by the building cycle.”

Whether it’s the River Valley Co-Op the company helped and then built to be North America’s first net zero grocery store, or the six projects at Northampton State Hospital, each with their own LEED certifications, Wright Builders will continue to create more than just structures.

“I don’t think we would survive if we didn’t have passion,” says Lawrence-Slavas. “Some of this work is really hard. It’s trying and sometimes it chews people up and it spits them out, but it’s much bigger than us. We’re not just building these buildings to make sure people have housing to live in, but that they can actually thrive in them, grow in them, and be stewards of resilient buildings just by living their daily lives.”

The post Creating Opportunities to Thrive<p class="company">Wright Builders Inc.</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

From high-rises, resorts, and vibrant town centers to modern student living, master-planned communities, and mixed-use developments, the team’s diverse portfolio of award-winning projects has touched the lives of over one million people.

Construction in Focus featured Charlan Brock Architects in April 2023. One year later, we are focusing on the firm once again to learn the latest news, from a massive project to an ownership transition.

Bringing the RoseArts District to life
What can be done with a derelict golf course that has become a community liability? Charlan Brock Architects is helping to transform the site into an asset for the entire region. The team is reimagining a concept for a new, forward-thinking Planned Urban Development master plan to repurpose this dormant, previously developed land into the RoseArts District.

This district will include 64 acres of green space bordered by 2,000 linear feet of waterfront, with tree-lined streets, 12,000 linear feet of new trails, dedicated bike and walking paths, upscale residences, and a walkable commercial center that will deliver much-needed retail stores, restaurants, and services to the area. “That’s a giant, aspirational project,” says Principal and Director of Marketing and Business Development Matt Charlan. “It’s something like $1.5 billion of construction.”

Maintaining open, public space is a priority. This means building up to eight stories high, “to get the density, to preserve a lot of the ground for public space and open space,” Charlan says. “So, something like 51 percent of the entire 128 acres is left open, and the rest is going to be infrastructure and buildings. There are no surface parking lots. Everything is structured or on-street parking.”

In addition to having high walkability, the RoseArts District will have its own autonomous, intermodal bus system. “Orlando has an autonomous vehicle company called Beep, and they’ve got pilot programs… around town,” Charlan says. “This would be another expansion for them.” The route is expected to be a one- or two-mile loop down the main thoroughfare.

The team is master planning approximately 11 buildings in all for the RoseArts District. It is such a big project that the team had to master plan the entire district, then break that total area into thirds and master plan each third. “Each third is still very big,” Charlan says. The first third, which has been master planned and approved, contains four buildings with approximately 1,500 apartments.

One challenge has been to integrate the new concepts within a pre-existing community. Many residents bought their homes years ago with the expectation that their property would always be located on a golf course—not in the shadow of an eight-story building. The team has worked hard to ensure that these residents’ needs and expectations are met. First of all, they left the open space surrounding each single-family home. “We didn’t put any buildings there,” Charlan says. “In fact, in order to deal with the water management, some of [that space] became waterfront, became lakes with park space and trails.”

A handful of homes will have an approximately eight-story building behind them, but the team was careful to situate the structure so that it does not obstruct views. “They’re 200 feet away from the eight-story portion of the building. We’ve done everything we can to reduce the impact visually on this community.”

He points out that lower-rise buildings would have actually had a higher impact on the existing community because of the additional space that would have been required. The end result would have been a sprawl of apartment complexes and pavement bordering the existing neighborhoods. “It would all be surface parking lot and there would be no public space,” he explains. “It would all be gated… By doing the high-rise, by having a smaller footprint on the ground, we’re able to bring it back to the community.”

The plan is to double the size of the community, adding an additional 5,400 homes to the 6,000 already there. This increase in size will attract vital amenities, benefiting both existing and incoming residents. “It’s going to finally have the critical mass to sustain a grocery store,” Charlan says. “They’re a food desert right now.”

Committed to sustainability
The team is committed to sustainable building, embracing best practices for a greener future in the RoseArts District and all of its projects. One area of interest is the adoption of wood over concrete.

“Concrete, although it seems like it’s such a resilient and sustainable, long-term type of material, is very environmentally unfriendly in its production,” Charlan explains. “I think a lot of us, especially the younger generation of architects and designers and ecologists, have always kind of thought that concrete was good and wood frame was wasteful and bad; you’re chopping down trees. But it became obvious years ago that it’s carbon capture, that we’re locking the wood mass into the building and preserving it and keeping it and storing it, and it’s never going to break down or release back into the atmosphere. And the wood is being ever more sourced from rapidly renewable sources. Southern pine grows fast now. So I think that there’s a little less of a distaste for wood frame construction in our field because we realize that it is very beneficial to the environment and can last a long time—longer than I think the perception is.”

The team is eager to utilize new environmentally friendly wood-building technologies such as cross laminated timber (CLT). “Our firm is extremely excited about CLT,” Charlan says. “We haven’t done any CLT projects yet, but I would love for us to do a CLT project. I know that there are several in the firm that want us to do CLT [and] we think that CLT will be another giant windfall for the development industry.”

A new structure
In Construction in Focus’s last feature on Charlan Brock Architects, the team reported that the company founders would be stepping down soon and the firm’s ownership structure would be changing as a result. Now, they can share all the details.

“We switched to an ESOP, so now we’re an employee-owned company,” Charlan says.
“We were a C Corp and we had a traditional partner ownership kind of structure.” There have been some growing pains, as is to be expected, but the long-term benefits are already proving to be worth the challenges.

The tax benefits are an obvious positive, but equally important is that the entire team now shares a common, vested interest in the firm’s success. “We’re all employee owners,” Charlan says. “We’re all in this together.”

And this team of invested employee owners has a full calendar ahead of them. “The first two buildings in RoseArts District will be keeping us busy for the next 14 to 16 months,” Charlan says. There will be more buildings to follow before that project will be completed. And, of course, the firm boasts a number of exciting projects at any given time, ensuring that Charlan Brock Architects will remain one to watch both now and well into the future.

The post One to Watch<p class="company">Charlan Brock Architects</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

The foundation of Air-Tec’s success is a simple yet effective philosophy of offering superior quality and craftsmanship with exceptional service, standing by its work by taking accountability to prove its dedication to clients.

Air-Tec established a collaboration with Computrols in 2020 that has expanded its ability to serve building owners and property managers. Computrols offers practical and economic solutions and provides end users with a user-friendly interface to control their Building Management Systems.

Core values from the start
“The core values we have today are the very core values that inspired owner Clay Dunn to branch out on his own over 56 years ago,” says Kurt Kredel, LEED Project Manager. “He is a real force in the industry and within the company. He started from humble beginnings, and he’s kept Air-Tec’s core values going 56 years later, which is quite amazing.”

And that all comes down to integrity and service first.

“We provide a level of service and we stand by our work,” says Manager, Hayley Amberg. “We’ve had instances where years later it is discovered that Air-Tec made an installation error; even out of warranty, we’ve gone back and made those corrections because it’s the right thing to do.”

These instilled values all carry over to employees, which helps to build a vibrant and loyal company culture. “We demand excellence in all aspects of our fabrication and installation; we do not settle for mediocrity,” says Amberg. “With our employees, we expect people to tell the truth, do the right thing, and maintain those values because they represent Air-Tec.”

Earning business in the best way
The company’s reputation has been built over the years on these very values. Instead of marketing, a large portion of the company’s business stems solely from reputation and referrals. Today’s customers are the grandchildren of Air-Tec’s founder’s customers. This loyalty is due to Air-Tec’s dedication to a job done right.

“We work with a diverse group of people in different tiers,” says Kredel. “On the service side, we work with owners and tenants in high-rise or standalone buildings. And now we do the same thing with controls.”

For many of the buildings in Southern California, specifically in LA and Orange County, Air-Tec is on a “preferred contractor” list based on its reputation of consistent excellence that owners recognize and appreciate. “Integrity is the cornerstone, and service to the client is everything,” says Kredel. “Everything we do is based on those beliefs. And with that said, timely response and action are demanded.”

“We can take any project—big or small, complex or simple,” Amberg says. “Once our design is approved by the client, we can immediately begin fabrication in shop.”

Clay Dunn’s initial vision continues to live on in aspects of Air-Tec’s work, Kredel adds. “Clay expects us to constantly look for the most efficient application that we can put together. That could be in the shop, in what we’re building and what we’re doing on the service side, or in what we’re doing on the control side,” he explains.

The highest standard of technology is also something the company continually strives for—and strives to improve upon. “What’s out there? How can we better ourselves? It’s a constant. And with this in-house fabrication, Clay has pushed to get the most up-to-date equipment there is to get the best product out to the client.”

“It’s very important to stay one step ahead of current trends and available technology for the client,” adds Amberg, explaining that most of Clay’s time is spent researching, coming up with ideas, and asking questions while ensuring everyone, from field installer to truck driver and receptionist to project manager, has been provided the best tools available to excel at their jobs.

A workplace that works
This attitude also evokes a positive and conducive workplace atmosphere that encourages innovation and strategic planning.

“We have more than 150 years of combined experience with project managers here, and this is a team Clay relies upon to get the information that they need. One of his main goals is to provide the most engaging atmosphere for us to move onward and upward as a company.”

Air-Tec’s forward motion is clearly propelled by its design shop and the quality CAD teams that service clients with construction drawings: the foundation from which quality projects are launched.

“We stand by our CAD teams and their designs,” says Kredel. This is a practice the company takes pride in and a standard it has maintained, unlike some competitors. “It’s one of the areas where we feel we’re giving the client a tangible product that they can see, review, and approve,” says Kredel.

Controls as a discipline is fast evolving throughout the world, and HVAC is no different from any other industry. Air-Tec’s controls division is constantly growing, with each new product installed meeting Clay’s superior standards.

Customer collaboration and satisfaction are also paramount throughout the process, Kredel adds. “It’s everything. We’re in the service industry and we have to take care of the client’s bottom line by providing them the information they need upfront so they can then make a decision and aren’t blindsided later on with extra costs.”

Delivering projects on time is of utmost importance to the company. Efficiency, says Kredel, is key, along with promoting sustainability wherever possible. “If we’re creating drawings on CAD versus paper, or providing equipment that runs more efficiently for the client, that’s where we see the big savings for both the client and Mother Earth,” he says.

Always there
Air-Tec aims to provide clients with exactly what they want, working hard to be there for them throughout the process.

“We’re made for emergencies,” says Amberg. “We’re the people who are called when our buildings have an issue. That sense of urgency along with our ability to perform on large-scale projects is what perpetuates our returning customer base. Air-Tec is a company where we have what we need to get the job done, but we have that intimate experience with our customers and their needs, and they recognize that.”

Air-Tec’s reputation for an exceptional labor force is remarked on throughout the industry, says Amberg. Union workers have told her that if you can make it at Air-Tec, you can make it anywhere, which Amberg calls “a testament to our high standards and how we can take someone who has no career or training and, with hard work and dedication, give them an opportunity,” she says.

“I have a security guard from one of our buildings who’s now running work for us—huge jobs, huge projects. He was brought through the ranks at Air-Tec and is now well-qualified and trained, with a family and a house and a career,” she says. “I believe the way we approach a project is the same way we approach a person, an employee—that we have the capability of building something that’s long-lasting, and has depth and weight.”

This is a devotion and dedication that has not only served the company well for decades but has continued to encourage employees today to create long-lasting, high-quality products that meet the demanding standards. “We don’t settle for mediocrity,” says Amberg. “We have high expectations of our employees; we expect integrity and purpose, and we uphold Air-Tec’s core values.”

The rewards of nimbleness
An emphasis on nimbleness has served the company well over the years, seeing the company through recent travails of both the economy and the commercial real estate sector, where constant adjustments have to be made.

“We’re very good at making those adjustments, and that’s part of the whole business of forecasting and trying to be one step ahead,” Amberg says. “We’re able to keep our finger on the pulse and redirect as needed.”

Kredel strongly agrees. In particular, being nimble has served the company and its clients well. “If the clients are more in the tenant improvement market, then we’re there,” he says. “If they’re more in the hospital market, or hospitality, we’re there. We have that ability and that structure, and also the different departments within the company.”

Reiterating the sentiment of providing accountability, quality, and maintaining customer service above all else, Kredel feels these ideals are a testament to Clay’s vision and his continuing drive to ensure that everybody marches to the same drum, which, basically, is taking care of the end user.

“Ultimately,” he says, “Air-Tec is a company that can take care of its clients from start to finish, from conception to completion.”

The post From Conception to Completion – Large Company, Small-Company Feel<p class="company">Air-Tec</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Founded in 1973, Central Construction Group’s core competencies include civil earthworks, energy services, environmental reclamation, Hydrovac and water services, and aggregate sales. As befitting its corporate name, the company primarily works on projects in central Alberta, although work sometimes takes it outside this region. Services are rendered with a vast privately-owned equipment fleet.

The company’s services within the civil earthworks segment range from asphalt paving to highway and municipal road construction, site prep and grading, concrete surfacing, mass excavation and hauling, subdivision/industrial/commercial development, and landfill construction and capping.

For customers in the energy sector, Central offers a fully integrated delivery model for construction, maintenance, and procurement. The company works on both fossil fuel and renewable energy projects. Specific services include oil and gas lease preparation and construction, well abandonment, logging and trucking, lagoon and water storage pond construction, solar and renewable energy site grading, road construction, and winter snow removal. The company’s work with solar and wind power is geared toward boosting sustainability.

Environmental reclamation and remediation are two other areas where Central Construction Group excels. Central can perform topsoil treatment and placement, lease and right-of-way reclamation, bio-treatment of contaminated soil, emergency cleanup of spills and reclamation, erosion control, facilities decommissioning and demolition, and contaminated soil excavation and hauling.

Central also boasts a Hydrovac fleet consisting of water trucks and vacuum trucks. Water trucks can be used on oilfields and other sites, while the firm’s vacuum trucks handle waste removal, fluid transfers, and land spraying, among other duties. Equipment for this segment features agitator systems, suction screens, flow meters, and pressure controls.

On top of construction work, Central is also an aggregate supplier. The company owns and manages several Alberta-based gravel pits containing an assortment of materials such as clay and topsoil, road crushed gravel, fill and bedding sand, pit run gravel, washed gravel, and sanding chips. For the convenience of its customers, Central also provides trucking services; instead of having to pick up supplies themselves, clients can place an order and then have aggregates delivered to their worksite.

Central boasts a substantial heavy equipment fleet consisting of more than 300 machines. These include roughly 100 bulldozers (including D6, D7, D8, and D9 dozers from Caterpillar), as well as excavators (capable of handling 250 to nearly 500 tonnes), graders, earthmovers, loaders, compactors, water/steamer/Hydrovac trucks, and tractors, trailers, and gravel trucks (for highway work).

The firm also has over a dozen pieces of forestry-related equipment including mulchers, lumber skidders, and lumber processors. Reclamation work can entail the use of tractors, rototillers, seeders, and other gear. In addition to Caterpillar, Central purchases vehicles from the likes of John Deere and other top-of-the-line manufacturers. Central Construction Group keeps its fleet well-maintained and serviced daily to minimize downtime and maximize productivity and efficiency, utilizing service shops and service trucks for this purpose, and aims to keep all its equipment in perfect running condition.

Regular maintenance and servicing enhance the firm’s nimbleness. Central prides itself on being able to quickly deploy to new jobsites, and such speed would not be possible with a rundown fleet.

Central Construction Group takes the same conscientious approach with both its workforce and the environment, and places a strong emphasis on health and safety. The firm runs a comprehensive Health and Safety Program and has a Certificate of Recognition (COR) issued by the Alberta Construction Safety Association (ACSA). The latter is an industry-funded organization to which Central belongs, and the company is also involved with the Alberta Roadbuilders & Heavy Construction Association and the Edmonton Construction Association.

The COR program is voluntary and run by the government of Alberta. To obtain a COR, a company must have an Occupational Health & Safety Management System that meets the requirements of an external audit. The COR program is available for all ACSA members and associate members.

Field and office personnel at Central receive safety training and the company stays on top of new safety courses and regulations, with the ultimate goal of having zero workplace accidents. “At Central, we are committed to the prevention of incidents and injuries on all of our jobsites. We empower each employee to ensure the health and safety of themselves and others,” states the Central website.

In a similar fashion, Central prioritizes environmental stewardship. Employees are trained in fuel, waste, stormwater, and air quality management, as well as spill prevention. Central maintains an Environmental Management Plan and, as it does with health and safety laws, strives to stay abreast of new environmental legislation and regulatory changes.

“Our team takes every step to identify sustainable practises on our job sites to minimize our collective impact on the environment,” notes the Central website.

Central maintains an online presence with a website packed with photographs of projects, personnel, and equipment. “The pressure to produce really starts when temperatures drop to minus -30°C,” reads an Instagram post by Central regarding a wintertime project. “Our crews pulled through on this project through record cold temperatures, keeping dirt moving 24 hours a day.” A recent LinkedIn post, meanwhile, promises a “little teaser of the year to come” and features a short video of crews at work.

New hires receive thorough training in order to maintain Central Construction Group’s decades-old reputation for excellent results, and going forward, Central Construction Group is eager to attract prospective employees. The firm offers competitive wages complete with performance bonuses, plus dental and health benefits. Potential workers are encouraged to apply online, by mail, or in person at the Wetaskiwin head office to join this dynamic and growing team.

The post Alberta Firm Focuses on Quality, Safety, and the Environment<p class="company">Central Construction Group</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Offering a unique approach with a focus on energy-efficient facility operations, the family-owned company simplifies managing HVAC projects, design-build projects, and maintenance tasks, to name a few, with precision, care, and commitment to quality.

“My grandfather started the business out of the basement of his house in 1951,” says Todd Albrecht, owner and CEO. “He wasn’t an engineer by education, but he had a lot of skills that would lend themselves to engineering.”

This was during a time when homes still burned coal as the primary fuel for heating, but the conversion to natural gas was emerging.

“We started in that residential world and eventually worked our way after about a decade into the commercial construction business. From there, we splintered out and grew. But we’ve been family-owned and operated the entire time we’ve been in business which is pretty cool.”

Family values
Owning and keeping the business in the family has strongly contributed to the company’s success, he says. “My dad always says one of the greatest compliments anybody can pay me is the employees wanting their sons or daughters working here,” Todd says. For Perfection Group, that’s exactly the case. “It’s not just our family’s history here; we have lots of family members that are non-Albrechts working here,” greatly contributing to the overall culture.

“It’s unique, and it works really well for us,” he says. “It’s about commitment and longevity and having that history with people and their families.”

Everyone comes together like a family to uphold Perfection Group’s newly rebranded mission and vision, which has allowed the company to focus on the purpose of its work, much of which involves sustainability and educating clients about efficiency.

A new purpose
“We’re going after the savings,” Todd says. “30 percent of all the utilities that go to power buildings is wasted. A lot of the time we lead with those types of messages when we talk to building owners.” And more and more businesses are responding favorably and looking to embrace going green.

“Since we’ve shifted our talk-track focus to this higher purpose, going after the savings and the big problem of wasted energy out there in the world, it has completely changed the conversation in a very positive way. People connect to that bigger purpose and it’s making a huge difference.”

Todd’s brother John Albrecht, owner and COO, adds that the company’s energy side of the business works to save money for people in kilowatt hours and gas. “That’s a big saving for the Earth part because of our ESCOs (Energy Saving Companies) business.”

Perfection Group also stands out for its varied capabilities that include service, regular maintenance, construction, green solutions, energy savings, and performance contract work.

“It’s pretty unusual to have all that under one company,” says John. “We can build a building from the ground up brand new, we can service that building for the life of it, and then we can replace all the equipment with new energy-efficient equipment 20 years later, and you’ll deal with just one company.”

While there are service companies, construction companies, and ESCOs, rarely is all that covered in just one company. “We like to say we can take care of everything from cradle to grave, from the beginning to the end,” John says.

Sustainability and “going green” have also proven to be a good fit with Perfection Group’s clients, especially as more clients grasp their benefits. “Government, schools, cities, and counties embrace it first because they have a longer horizon for a payback threshold, and they’re more willing to accept that eight- or ten-year payback.”

Making a difference
Perfection Group is making a difference in a variety of projects.

One such is Utica Elementary School in Jeffersonville, Indiana, where the company modernized the school’s HVAC systems to improve ventilation, air quality, energy efficiency, comfort, and the learning environment while reducing operating costs. Funding came largely from federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funding (ESSER) and a bond issuance.

There is also the Boyle County Fiscal Court in Danville, Kentucky, one of the company’s numerous projects in the area, where it covered upgrades to six facilities.

The energy conservation measures included installation of an energy-efficient multi-zone Variable Refrigerant Flow system at the courthouse, gas-fired generators at the courthouse and jail, and the replacement of 22 roof-mounted package HVAC units at the jail with high-efficiency rooftop units.

The new rooftop units utilized economizers and environmentally friendly R-410A refrigerant. All of these measures brought guaranteed savings of $549,943 annually.

“On the private business side, the number one focus is still, ‘what’s the payback?’ The environmental impact is further down the list of what’s important, but this will change as the technologies get better and the prices get cheaper,” John says.

This commitment to making a difference—not only in people’s everyday lives but in the world—is what drives the company, says Andrew Apro, President of the Green Solutions Group.

“Fundamentally, for the longest time, the company had a culture of sales, and that would drive revenue,” he says. That was important, as the group was selling more efficient equipment, lighting retrofits, and green roofs, and for a long time, it was of financial benefit not only to the employee but also to the organization.

Changing our world
“Now,” he says, “we’ve changed our mission, our vision, our values, and our purpose, and I think we truly believe a well-managed building can change our world, not only because of financial benefit and because our customers save money, but because it has a direct impact on the environment we live in.”

It can be as simple as changing the filters at the office building for better ventilation, Andrew adds. While large, comprehensive energy projects are vital, the simple things, from maintenance to a roof replacement to changing lightbulbs, can make a true difference in the company.

“We’ve changed so much over the years, all of it for the better,” says Andrew. “We’ve become more diverse, but we haven’t lost that touch. Even though John and Todd are the leaders, they understand it’s critically important to feel that way because we then convey that to our customers. It makes for a better all-around experience for the end user who is our client, and also for the world we’re serving, through sustainability.”

The future also looks bright for a company striving to make a difference. As a younger, more idealistic generation enters the workforce, their principles and beliefs seem to align more directly with companies like Perfection Group.

Youth on a mission
“Some of the younger talent we are interviewing and looking to bring on to our company have their own mission,” says Andrew. “They want to do something impactful beyond the paycheck. And it’s a fantastic industry because we can help a client in a lot of ways, and provide an environmental benefit.”

This passion for serving clients while making a difference in the world is one that Andrew deeply understands. Working on the energy side of the business, his main focus is helping clients reduce their consumption, overhead, and operating costs, and modernize and fix all buildings to make them as healthy and sustainable as possible.

“We’re proud of the work we do in the educational environment, both the K-12 level and higher ed, because we believe those are spaces that need to be efficient; they need to be healthy buildings,” he says. “And we have to balance that efficiency, that comfort, and that health. Those three things are critical to any building, whether commercial, restaurant, or school.”

Andrew notes that many of the school and office buildings the company goes into have hardly any fresh air coming in. “Our focus is designing to enhance that. We need outdoor air. One, it’s good for efficiency, and two, it’s good for health, which is critically important. We’ve opened many people’s eyes to building health and sick building syndrome. It’s not only been great for our business, but it’s also been super impactful on our mission.”

The meaning of work
And that mission is one Perfection Group aims to instill in all employees, both current and future.

“The vast majority of the people we hire are skilled labor,” says Todd. “We’re trying to get that group to understand that the work is more than just hanging sheet metal or doing maintenance on rooftop units. There’s something bigger you’re doing here, and you need to understand the impact you’re having on the world. And that message is resonating.”

It’s a message that’s been entwined in the company’s DNA from the very beginning: a focus on making facilities more efficient that has powered the company’s sense of purpose.

“We believe a well-managed facility can transform our world,” he adds. “By making those facilities more efficient, making them run better, seeing the energy savings reduce operating costs, we’re not only improving the customer’s bottom line, but we’re also improving the world we live in.”

While understanding efficiency is the name of the game, there’s no sacrificing comfort, he says. It’s a fine balancing act.

“When we go in and evaluate these facilities, we look for savings, but we also have to balance people’s comfort and the building’s health. We understand that kind of holistic picture. We like to think comfort, efficiency, and health, and how they are three concentric circles. And our job is to hit the target right in the middle where those three circles combine.”

The post Transforming the World One Building at a Time<p class="company">Perfection Group</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

With an extensive background in green building, LEED consulting, sustainable architecture, and interior design, Christman is Vice President of Architecture and Sustainable Design at EI Associates. A full-service architectural and engineering design firm in business since 1934, EI’s expertise encompasses education, design-build, process industrial, science and technology, and sustainable projects.

Long-term vision
Christman says that ‘sustainability’ gets a varied reaction when he makes presentations. To him, sustainability is about spending money wisely and creating quality, well-designed structures.

“It’s about being conservative with resources and investing in structures, especially your building,” he says. “You’re typically spending millions of dollars, and you want it to last a long time and not be replacing major components within 12 to 24 months. So it’s spending the time upfront to identify those strategies that make the most sense and give you the most bang for your buck.”

The emphasis, says Christman, is on return on investment and focusing more on the long-term versus short-term. “That’s really what sustainability is about.”

Although clients need to look at initial costs when commissioning a project—including architect and engineering fees and the price of materials, installation, and labor—it is crucial to design the structure to be as efficient as possible. “You need to afford the building, but the last thing you want to do is spend millions of dollars and realize you can’t afford to run it because of how inefficient it is,” says Christman. It’s important to think in the long term, including the expenses that come with operation.

Christman has long been involved with LEED and speaks of sustainable building from a place of deep understanding. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) was unveiled in 1998 by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and has rating systems encompassing the design, building, operation, and maintenance of structures.

Over the decades, the program has seen more than 105,000 buildings LEED-certified, and has been successful in creating a greater awareness of environmental responsibility in construction worldwide.

Along with LEED, EI Associates is taking steps toward meeting Net Zero and ASHRAE (the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) standards. Founded as a professional association 130 years ago, ASHRAE has over 50,000 members in 130 countries worldwide, including architects, building owners, equipment manufacturers, and mechanical contractors.

With a mandate to “advanc[e] human well-being through sustainable technology for the built environment,” ASHRAE develops and publishes technical standards on high-performance buildings, air conditioning, solar heating systems design, geothermal heating and cooling, decarbonization, commercial building energy audits, and other elements of green building.

Even with additional costs, says Christman, investing in sustainable structures and practices makes environmental and financial sense. “A tighter building envelope will save you money ultimately when you look at it as a return on investment—or if you’re lucky enough to downsize your mechanical equipment because you have a tighter envelope,” he says.

The art of collaboration
Much of EI Associates’ success results from the relationships the company has forged with clients, 80 percent of them repeat customers. Rather than working within a defined dollar range like many other firms, EI’s work is relationship-based. Understanding the importance of smaller projects, EI wants customers to take advantage of its architectural, engineering, and construction services.

Decades of experience mean the firm can handle modest works of a few thousand dollars or major projects of $50 million or more. By covering the entire spectrum, the company maintains trust and relationships with clients.

To help clients understand the overall operating costs of structures, EI Associates taps into its many years of industry experience and the latest technology. This includes building information modeling (BIM) software like Autodesk® Revit®, which enables the team at EI to create highly accurate 3D models of structures and collaborate on designs that make economic and environmental sense.

Another tremendous advantage technology brings is enabling EI Associates to access the building energy model mechanical engineers use as a design tool. By plugging in different variables regarding the building envelope, inflation values, and materials, EI gets a sense of what annual operating costs will be.

“It puts the power back in the owner’s hands to make the best decisions based on their facility,” says Christman. This is especially important for clients since many, such as schools, must answer to a board of governors, taxpayers, or both, regarding projects. “The more education we can provide our clients, the better decisions they’ll be able to make to meet their needs and make sure they are seeing the whole picture, not just the outset cost.”

Another driver of EI’s success is the solid relationships it has built with contractors over the years, which ease stress during the building process. If a contractor suggests cost savings that are lower than expected, EI will work with them until everyone is satisfied without burdening the client.

“Building owners want to know things are done ethically, that they are in good hands, and that the company is fighting for them. That’s what we pride ourselves on doing,” says Christman.

To keep clients informed of progress, EI holds regular meetings and check-ins, depending on the project phase. Early on, the team typically meets with customers on a biweekly basis at a minimum; as the project progresses, it may be every three or four weeks, and clients are kept informed along the way. EI’s team ensures that every stage is transparent and that owners are happy with their space. “If the owner is unhappy at the end of the day, I feel we haven’t done our job,” says Christman. “We have to balance the cost an owner needs, and that’s where we, as architects, are trained to solve those problems and make things match up.”

“Single Source Responsibility”
As a full-service firm, EI Associates prides itself on creating sustainable and cost-effective project solutions for all customers, and one way the company achieves success is through Single Source Responsibility. Embracing architecture, engineering, and construction services, Single Source Responsibility makes every stage of project completion, from design to handover, successful. By carefully listening to clients, understanding their needs, and valuing their input, EI develops “innovative, functional architectural and engineering designs that efficiently serve each facility’s purpose.”

Construction is a business with plenty of moving parts, including cost estimating, feasibility studies, environmental assessments, grant applications, and more. Through time-tested planning, EI Associates brings all these factors under one roof. Working as a highly coordinated, unified team from the start means designs are delivered quickly, costs are well-managed, and high-quality work is completed on time and within budget.

“Having that single source or representative from EI who can quarterback and bring it all together provides our clients with a level of comfort that things are under control and they don’t have to chase things down,” says Christman. “Nobody likes chasing.”

In the search for new customers, EI believes in old-school, face-to-face relationship building. Affiliation with organizations such as the International Code Council (ICC), the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA), New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program, the American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE), and others helps the company meet potential clients.

“Because we have such a long history of doing schools, we are very well known in the industry,” shares Christman. “It doesn’t take long for us to drum up a conversation, so to speak. It’s a matter of getting in front of the school board, making a presentation, or meeting them at one of the events.”

To help build relationships in education, the company recently hired a former Pennsylvania school district superintendent, and he has opened many doors for EI Associates through his relationships and insider knowledge. “We’re looking for competitive advantages, and it gives us a different perspective on how to approach clients and what’s important to them. You want to meet their needs and really understand their business.”

Closing in on a century
As EI Associates celebrates its 90^th anniversary this year, the company welcomes business from new and repeat customers alike. With 70 to 75 percent of its work in education, including both K-12 and higher education, EI nevertheless looks forward to all types of projects, especially long-term relationship-based work.

“Especially with the bigger projects, there are a lot of stops and starts, and you need a nice mix of project sizes to smooth things out in our profession,” says Christman. “But we’re still focused on relationships because we’ve found over the years that the key to our success is developing good relationships with our clients.”

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Over the ensuing two years, CMTA has integrated itself into Legence more deeply and has adopted the identity of an energy transition accelerator™, meaning that the company is now an end-to-end solution for providing and facilitating changeover to sustainable energy. CMTA is now one of many companies under the Legence umbrella, and all parties within the group work to create the ultimate turnkey solution. Now, the business specializes in consulting, engineering, planning, and building with a huge cross-country network at its disposal.

CMTA has been working in decarbonization and electrification for two decades now and has long been ahead of the curve in electrifying building systems and offsetting with renewable energy. CMTA Vice President Jess Farber says that decarbonization is a newer term and has to do with reducing and eliminating fossil fuels like natural gas or propane on site as well as during the construction process.

Vice President Tony Hans says that, for most users, decarbonization typically focuses on what you buy (i.e. electricity and gasoline) and what you burn (i.e. natural gas), classified as scope 1 and scope 2 emissions by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Every project is unique, Farber says, and because most clients want to incorporate decarbonization either immediately or within the next couple of decades, CMTA works with its clients to meet these goals in a way that makes financial sense for all involved.

To bring decarbonization goals to life, CMTA designs buildings, getting them to perform the operations for which they are created, and optimizing them for performance. Farber says that a building must use drastically less energy than a typical one, so the company’s workforce studies every part of a building and invests in its infrastructure as well as studying the local electrical grid to reduce power usage by at least 80 percent when compared to the typical building.

Many factors need to be considered when entering these kinds of projects. Decarbonization planning should use energy modeling, specifically parametric energy modeling, to adjust one factor at a time and interpret how it affects building decarbonization. System approaches to similar projects should also be considered. The electrical grid and grid optimization need to be examined to apply resilient design specific to the region in which the building will be constructed to ensure a sustainable long-term product.

Today’s clients are also much more aware of sustainability and will request information on energy performance and decarbonization results on specific projects. “Owners select us because of our track record and proven results,” Hans says, and CMTA boasts a robust portfolio that can match any desired result from customers.

When it comes to incorporating greener practices into construction, he says that decarbonization is not a planning goal but a performance goal. Some of the most successful clients that have worked with CMTA have been those who have declared carbon neutrality, looked at their existing buildings to determine outliers, renovated buildings by replacing HVAC systems, and are drilling geothermal thermal wells all within a compressed timeframe. Speed to market is a strong goal for decarbonization.

While many of the company’s clients have been exceptionally happy with the movement toward achieving their decarbonization goals, others are still struggling with their plan, which is where holistic design comes into play. “We try to connect in our projects on the ‘why’ of a building and making it a better place for occupants,” Hans says.

CMTA sees a lot of movement in the industry today toward decarbonization, but many people are not yet ready, willing, or able to make the jump immediately. Many cities and states across the country have their own regulatory planning, such as Boston’s disclosure ordinance where all buildings over 25,000 square feet must comply or pay fines toward a green fund to bolster the renewable energy industry and support decarbonization projects. Columbus, Ohio employs a digital map of energy consumption. These types of actions vary by region but are beginning to drive more people to act against climate change, especially in locations that are more affected by events like coastal flooding.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 has provided nearly half a billion dollars for businesses that want to invest in clean energy technologies, a sign that the federal government has recognized the need to jumpstart these types of green initiatives. Both the White House and the U.S. Department of Energy have been helping municipalities and states develop programs to make energy consumption transparent, which helps the public understand how much energy consumption goes into modern-day buildings.

Thanks to the grants and incentives being offered by the federal government, funding decarbonization goals is more lucrative and efficient than ever, which further emphasizes the need to undergo changes in construction for the sake of health and wellness. According to Farber, CMTA is in a great position to lay the foundation to shift the market down the road; however, the IRA takes time to implement, and there is always a need for qualified people who can accomplish it.

This means that workforce development is a key area on which CMTA wants to focus so that more people can understand the great jobs that exist in the sector, whether in design, engineering, or construction. CMTA is proudly participating in this workforce initiative as a Legence company through initiatives like the Solar Decathlon with the U.S. Department of Energy, a student competition that challenges the next generation to build more sustainable buildings and infrastructure. Events like this help young people understand what companies like CMTA want to do and give them the tools to jump into the workforce and solve these problems.

Although the process of making buildings more energy-efficient can be time-consuming, it is never short of victories. Hans says that one of CMTA’s clients recently had a building, John Lewis Elementary in DC, that hit zero energy, meaning complete decarbonization and as much renewable energy being created as being used on site yet also certified LEED Platinum and WELL Platinum. This project is the first building in the world to hit this milestone. Hans says that it is amazing what can be accomplished when the company’s clients move in tandem with the firm to further green energy goals.

As CMTA sees it, decarbonization is about reducing emissions, which has an impact on exterior and interior air quality. As humans spend around 90 percent of their time indoors, CMTA wants the best environment possible for that, but the exterior environment is also very important.

“Anything we can do to move the needle has had a marked effect on populations,” says Farber, and that effect will continue to be felt as decarbonization becomes more accepted in construction and CMTA itself continually asserts itself as one of the premier providers of sustainable solutions.

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