Page 194 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

170 GETTING STARTED—PREDESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

4 What do we see as the key important environmental issues (in our region/to our
company or organization) and how can we make a positive contribution toward
addressing them with this project? (For example, water conservation in the south-
western U.S., habitat preservation, or restoration in most areas.)
5 To what degree do the project’s financing sources (lenders and equity investors,
for example) and other project stakeholders (public agency funders or university
presidents or deans) hold the same philosophy with regard to making the project
as green as possible?
6 What is the expected lifespan of the building (50 years, 100 years, 200 years)? How
will this affect decisions relative to energy systems (e.g., passive vs. active, structural
vs. mechanical), durability of materials selected, flexibility for future technology
upgrades, allowance for changes in use (such as increases or decreases in occupancy),
potential expansion of this building or nearby additions to the building stock, growth
of vegetation to shade solar collectors, time-of-day use patterns, and flexibility issues?
7 What sources of financing and incentives (state/local/utility/other) are available
for a sustainable project or for specific “green building” strategies? (I find that it’s
useful to look for outside money sources at a very early stage in most projects, to
help pay for studies that aid decision making about green options.)
8 Who is responsible for investigating and securing these sources of financing?
(Someone on the design team or owner’s project team should be taking the lead
in this effort.)
9 Are the stakeholders willing to spend the resources needed to secure required
expertise (modeling/commissioning/additional design analysis/documentation) to
implement high-level sustainability goals?
10 What is the minimum acceptable ROI or maximum “payback period” for costs
that exceed the budgeted project costs? (Often, asking this question is very useful,
since it alerts key decision makers of the need for looking for additional funds,
e.g., for energy efficiency upgrades.)
11 What is the initial cost budget for the project? How and when (and by whom) was
it determined? Are cost estimates still relevant; do they need to be revised to
accommodate both inflation and green building goals? (“Where did this budget
come from?” is a useful question, especially to expose assumptions and biases
that may be hidden at the beginning of the project.)
12 Is the project cost realistic in light of construction cost inflation since the original
budget was prepared? If not, are there alternative sources of funds, or does the
project budget, scope, or scale need to be revised?
13 What economic, environmental, or cultural values does the client or owner ascribe
to sustainable design? How will these be visible in this project?

One of the many significant high-performance projects finishing in 2008 is a new
$270 million (Canadian), 690,000-square-feet, 22-story headquarters building for
Manitoba Hydro, a provincially owned electric utility, in Winnipeg (Fig. 9.2). I spoke
with both the owner’s project manager and the architect and came away impressed by
how hands-on the owner has been, without appearing to stifle the creativity of the
design team. This project faced huge challenges, including an annual temperature