While typically Lorax is tirelessly working to help our clients meet their sustainability goals, this quarter, we took a moment to share our expertise in the fields of green building and wellness in the built environment. The green building and sustainability industry is ever evolving and adapting to the changing market. Lorax has seen trends in our local market as well as changes on a national scale to what building occupants are looking for and how we can best engage key stakeholders in green building. With new rating systems and benchmarking opportunities, it is no wonder local and national periodicals are looking to us to shed some light on the subject.
Featured in Baltimore Business Journal:
While initially a challenge and a differentiator, over the last 20 years since its inception, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), has become the standard for developers, architects, engineers, contractors, building operators, and occupants for their projects and developments. More and more of these stakeholders are looking to stay ahead of the curve to differentiate their properties from the rest.
Lorax is finding that the demand for health and wellness in the built environment is trending up. Specifically, WELL and Fitwel are two new building rating systems that measures a building’s performance based on their health parameters rather than their environmental enhancements.
According to our Managing Director, Krystal O’Hara, health and wellness “is the second tier of sustainability.” It goes beyond efforts that have become common place in the design and construction industry.
Visit the link to read the full BBJ article featuring Krystal’s expertise on the topic as well as contribution from our friends at Hord Coplan Macht!
Contributed to Building Operating Management – October Issue:
Have you flipped through the October “Green Issue” of Building Operating Management magazine yet? If you get the chance, make sure to check out Katie’s contribution, LEED Guidance for Green Interiors article on page 20-22, co-authored with Stuart Kaplow of Kaplow Attorneys at Law.
Geared specifically towards facility managers and their opportunities for involvement in maintaining a green building, this write up dives into LEED v4 Commercial Interiors updates as well as what USGBC’s new Arc platform has to offer for tenant spaces. The article outlines specific LEED V4 CI credits that present an opportunity for facility managers to get involved, and also highlights the major benefits of benchmarking building data regardless of the type of green certification of the space.
Are you involved in a LEED v4 CI project, or plan to kick one off soon? Check out Katie’s BOM article for tips to prepare, or give Lorax a call to join the team!