Page 107 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

84 BARRIERS TO HIGH-PERFORMANCE BUILDINGS

information and cost sharing, so that there are not major milestones in the project
where costs are revealed and rework is required. Making minor course corrections
along the way is much less painful that finishing a phase of the work only to find out
you need to rework the design to take 20 percent out of the budget.
With regard to process, it is critical to provide clarity for the team in how you’re going
to get everybody integrated and at the table at the right time. Clarity on the decision-
making structure and schedule is also critical so that everybody knows when they
need to have something ready in order to hand it off to the next group to do their job.
Another aspect of “lean thinking” is the potential for all team members to make “reli-
able promises” to each other. A simplified example may be to ask somebody, “I’m
going to need this from you, how much time do you need for that?” They may say
two weeks. I might say, “Do you really need two weeks?” “Well, I could get it to you
in one week, but only if I knew that I would have this information from this other per-
son.” So you go to that other person and see if they can reliably promise that they can
get that on schedule. This is closely tied to “pull” scheduling, which attempts to iden-
tify what is really needed at each phase or step in the process. It’s especially helpful
on projects that have a short-time schedule and where costs are an issue.

In order to understand the benefits of reliable promising, it is particularly helpful to
track the promises kept and not kept in order for people to understand how well they
are doing. This is not to be punitive, but to learn. Being engaged with team members
that you know and trust makes this a very powerful and effective component of the
project, and helps everyone to promise better and rely on each other more.

PLATINUM PROJECT PROFILE
Lewis & Clark State Office Building, Jefferson City, Missouri
Constructed on the site of the former Jefferson City Correction Facility, the Lewis
& Clark State Office Building houses approximately 400 Missouri Department of
Natural Resources employees. The cost for the 120,000 square-feet building was
approximately $17 million. Designed to reduce energy consumption by 60 percent
over a standard building, this project by BNIM Architects uses daylighting tech-
nologies, advanced electrical and lighting control systems, an efficient building
envelope and highly integrated and innovative HVAC systems. Rainwater from the
roof is captured in a 50,000-gallon storage tank and used for toilet flushing.
Bioswales, drain tiles, and a native ecosystem along with detention ponds eliminate
the remaining stormwater runoff. Photovoltaics supply 2.5 percent of the building’s
energy needs, and a solar thermal system supplies hot water.*

*Lewis & Clark State Office Building Earns LEED Platinum Certification [online], www.oa.mo.gov/
purch/recycling/success.pdf, accessed April 2008. BNIM Architects and Missouri Department of Natural
Resources Receive LEED Platinum Certification for Lewis and Clark State Office Building [online],
http://www.bnim.com/fmi/xsl/press/archive/index.xsl?-token.arid=47, accessed April 2008.