Going Green to Find Gold in Your Existing Building Series

Submitted by Tom Coalson, LEED-AP, PMP 

On  Wednesday, May 20th, the NAIOP Green Series Education Committee kicked off this year’s Sustainability Series  “Going Green to Find Gold in Your Existing Building.” This 5-part breakfast series is designed for building owners, property managers, real estate professionals, developers and others who want to build on last year’s green series with additional, pertinent and to-the-point subject matter on the particulars of “greening up” an existing building.

The premier session, “Improving the Asset,” was put together by Tom Coalson, formerly of C&A Companies and Karen Van Heukelem of Colorado Hardscapes. Session One provided specific details for taking the first steps necessary to proceed with a sustainable upgrade to an existing building.

The first guest speaker was Steve Alschuler of Beaudin Ganze Consulting Engineers. Steve not only holds an MBA from the University of New Mexico, but is a registered P.E. and an accredited LEED-AP as well. His 30-minute presentation dealt with, among other items, the real value and practical benefits of an energy audit, where to start, how to select the right help for conducting the audit and what the deliverables should be.

Steve was followed by Ben Stanley, a consultant for YRG Sustainability in Boulder, CO. Ben is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Denver and has completed his coursework in Construction Management at Colorado State University where he authored a sustainable operations guide for K-12 schools.  Ben is also a LEED Accredited Professional. Ben’s 30-minute discussion centered more on the facts and figures of sustainability, the energy audit as it applies to building certification and the overall performance (and therefore financial) benefits of applying sustainable building practices to an existing building renovation.

Moderated by Tom Coalson, a question and answer period followed. From responses received to a post-session questionnaire, the breakfast meeting was a tremendous success and Session Two appears to be headed toward a sell-out crowd.

Many thanks go to the major series sponsor Swinerton Builders.  Additional thanks to Holland and Hart the venue sponsor and C&A Companies, sponsor for Session One’s breakfast. To view copies of the presentations, Click Here.  Join us on June 17th for Session Two – Analysis of Audit: Prioritizing and Cost of Retrofitting.