Page 34 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

12 THE RECIPE FOR SUCCESS IN HIGH-PERFORMANCE PROJECTS

[At Turner], because of the number of green projects we have in our portfolio, we’ve
done almost everything at least once, including seven Platinum projects. We just com-
pleted the first Platinum-certified high-rise residential building. We have completed
several LEED Gold projects that have come in at or less than two percent more than
a standard budget.
If we use the integrated design model we, the builders, can provide real value in
a focused discussion. We can add a lot of information that will inform the design
choices. If we’re not at the table, those things don’t always come up. Therefore,
the finished product, by way of the design, may not be as good as it could have
been if it had the benefit of the builder’s perspective.
My advice for other contractors is simple: Speak up for a seat at the table. Make sure
that the rest of the team understands the value that you bring to the table. Then when
you sit down at the table, you better have done your homework and know what you’re
talking about.

As more projects start to move toward zero net energy and zero waste solutions, the
architectural and engineering systems will need to become more adventurous; without
active participation from the general contractor and key subcontractors such as the
mechanical, electrical and controls contractors, these projects are not likely to work as
well as they could. Since the general contractor spends more than 90 percent of the
project budget in a typical building program, integrated design without the contrac-
tor’s active participation is likely to yield suboptimal results.
If so many people are willing, able, and interested in designing and delivering high-
performance projects, what then are the real barriers to high performance buildings?
There must be some obstacles, otherwise there would be no need for this book. Dan Nall
is senior vice president and director of advanced technology for Flack + Kurtz, one of
America’s premier green building engineering firms. Here’s his take on this issue:*

What is the chief impediment to creating sustainable or high-performance buildings?
It’s a failure of will—failure of will by the owner and failure of will by the principal
designers. You’ve got to just keep in there; when faced with the “Oh my God, it’ll cost
a fortune,” or “This will never work,” or what have you, you just have to keep in there
plugging away to do what you have to do to make it work. You read that in all of the
self-help books about anything from losing weight to becoming a millionaire, but it is
true. In order to do a high-performance building, you have to be working with the
right team so that all of the principal members are united in the cause, the cause of
doing a superlative building. Once that’s there and the trust is there and everybody is
united in this endeavor, you just have to keep working at it together and searching for
ways to overcome those hurdles which inevitably will get in your path.

It’s really that simple and, in terms of human relationships, that complex. The very
act of doing something different and more challenging than conventional practice calls

*Interview with Dan Nall, March 2008.