Brokering for Sustainable Potential

HOK Compares Spaces for its New Chicago Office

by Colin Rohlfing, LEED AP

When a large design firm that values sustainable practices needs a new home, it’s not going to settle for your typical, run-of-the-mill office space—especially without performing a comprehensive analysis of its sustainable-design potential.

In early 2008, the Chicago office of HOK had outgrown its previous space and was searching for a larger one capable of meeting HOK’s sustainable-design requirements. What started as a search for office space that would accommodate a LEED for Commercial Interiors Silver certification ultimately ended as a LEED-CI Platinum certification with lease alterations, price premiums, design substitutions, building-operational changes and many lessons learned along the way.

The Search
The corporate real-estate search typically begins with the hiring of a broker to assist with finding available properties. Once a few properties have been identified, design firms are sometimes hired to create test-fits for each space to ensure all the space requirements can be met. What is often not addressed at this stage in the process is an environmental assessment of each property.

HOK designers are often presented with a pre-selected building site or office space that does not meet the desired environmental goals. This missed opportunity can cause significant premiums during construction and operations if a client is hoping to meet specific levels of environmental compliance, including LEED certification levels. Design professionals and brokers are beginning to encourage their clients to perform an early analysis and are offering these assessments as an additional service.

Unwilling to face the obstacles that might have arisen from limited space options, HOK began its analysis early and set the path toward sustainable success for its Chicago office.

The Deal Breakers
As a starting point, surveys were sent to each property manager (six in total) to determine whether the building was compliant with every LEED prerequisite required for certification under LEED-CI. Property managers were asked to provide detailed information about the following items:

Building and tenant commissioning procedures
Base building MEP system information for ASHRAE 90.1 and ASHRAE 62 compliance
Base building refrigerant type and quantities
Building and tenant recycling protocols
Smoking policy

If the buildings were not compliant with these “deal breakers,” HOK initiated follow-up correspondence to ascertain if the issue could be resolved during lease negotiations. For example, every Chicago building has a no-smoking policy within 15 feet of building entrances. Because LEED certification requires a 25-foot buffer, every potential property had to be willing to change its current policy and signage indicating the policy during lease negotiations.

As a starting point, surveys were sent to each property manager (six in total) to determine whether the building was compliant with every LEED prerequisite required for certification under LEED-CI.

The Environmental / LEED Assessment
In addition to the “deal breaker” survey, HOK requested floor plans; building site maps; and data about roofing materials, paving materials, window product sheets, façade lighting, street lighting, base building plumbing fixtures, and many more items that would create a potential LEED rating for each property. Surprisingly, many of the properties did not have the information readily available and therefore, were marked as “non-compliant” on the evaluation. The following conclusions were drawn about particular properties, ultimately influencing HOK’s decision for a new office space:

Buildings located in less dense areas may not be able to achieve site credits for alternative transportation and development density. In many cases, the additional single-passenger commute time to reach these locations creates a carbon footprint that is greater than the office operational carbon footprint.
Newer buildings with environmental considerations and LEED-certified buildings greatly help the LEED potential of the space by adding three points to a LEED-CI rating. They also can help avoid premiums associated with chasing additional LEED points to obtain a particular certification level.
Buildings with deep floor plates would not allow for sufficient infiltration of daylight. HOK’s operational costs for lighting would be higher and worker productivity levels would drop without daylight. In addition, because of these issues, the project could not achieve two important LEED points.
Buildings with highly efficient, thermally broken windows can award a project two easy LEED points for thermal-comfort compliance while increasing the productivity of staff sitting within 15 feet of a window on a cold Chicago winter day. This feature was not present in the space selected and the project realized premiums in design to make up the points in this category.

Based on all of the information and data collected, HOK was able to rank each property for its environmental potential. Two properties that had “deal breakers” or were unable to provide a decent amount of additional information to assist the assessment were at the bottom of the list and were not considered for selection. The remaining four properties were deemed as being sufficient to meet LEED-CI Silver levels without significant premiums. This was because a large portion of the LEED credits were related directly to space-specific design and not the base building. In fact, the majority of building stock in the country can allow for a LEED-CI Silver or Gold office space without significant premiums because of space-specific design issues, like material selection, furniture selection and MEP systems. (See the LEED assessment of all six properties.)

The majority of building stock in the country can allow for a LEED-CI Silver or Gold office space without significant premiums because of space-specific design issues, like material selection, furniture selection and MEP systems.

With LEED Silver in sight, HOK selected the space with the second-best environmental potential. Cost, location and amenities also played a large role in the selection process. However, a push for LEED Platinum certification, which came a few months after property selection, changed the rules of engagement and introduced construction premiums to the project.

The Green Lease
To ensure that “deal breakers” and additional sustainable design items would truly be incorporated into the space, HOK negotiated a green lease with building management. The language was simple but able to provide sufficient understanding and execution for the project needs. HOK utilized many green-lease resources—simple and complex—to help craft the language.

Green-lease resources:

BOMA Green Lease Guide
GSA Realty Services Letter RSL-2007-12
Model Green Lease, Corporate Realty, Design & Management Institute
“Energy Efficiency Lease Guidance to Address the Split Incentive” by Sean Patrick Neill, Cycle-7

It should also be noted that HOK searched for a net lease agreement, in which a tenant pays separately for utilities to ensure that operational energy savings would be realized by the firm. A $60,000 investment in dimming ballasts and a Lutron Ecosystem with a 4½-year payback would not be realized by HOK if a gross lease was negotiated. A good resource that describes net leases and gross leases with respect to energy savings is the “Green Lease” article written by Alan Whitson of the Corporate Realty, Design & Management Institute.

LEED Premiums
Careful cost models were kept throughout the project to track LEED premiums associated with design and construction. All levels of LEED were considered for this case study. The design and construction teams found that for this project, LEED Certified, Silver and Gold levels could be obtained with a premium for commissioning services only. This is typically 0.5 percent to 1 percent of project costs. This proves that design and construction to LEED standards does not necessarily yield significant premiums, even in a non-LEED building.

A LEED Platinum level was secured with a 5.6 percent premium to design and construction. This premium was a result of a $60,000 investment in a smart lighting system, $7,000 investment in low-flow bathroom fixture retrofits, $30,000 substitution investment in reclaimed wood, $40,000 investment in carbon-dioxide sensors, $6,000 investment in indoor-air-quality testing and $6,000 investment in a green-power purchase. Although these strategies have proven to be very beneficial to the sustainable performance of the space, these added premiums to reach a Platinum level would not have been necessary if the space included thermally broken windows or if the existing building was LEED certified.

The Space
HOK’s new office environment provides workspace for 165 employees within a 98 percent open floor plan, which allows for the mobility of teams and provides maximum efficiency and effectiveness. Extensive conferencing space, a large café and informal teaming/project display areas throughout the space further facilitate employee interaction. As one of only four LEED-CI Platinum certified environments in Chicago, it is an exemplar example of a comprehensive sustainable approach to design.

Throughout the office, many sustainable design features were incorporated, including the use of salvaged materials, materials with high levels of recycled content, rapidly renewable materials, cradle-to-cradle certified workstations, and more than 60 percent of all building materials were extracted and manufactured within 500 miles of the building. During the construction phase of the project, HOK’s team was able to recycle or donate 95 percent of all construction waste within the space. Consideration was also given to materials that have low amounts of hazardous chemicals, including VOCs and formaldehyde.

Energy conservation was a large factor driving the design of the space. The office optimizes the infiltration of natural daylight by eliminating all work-station partitions parallel to the windows. This strategy provides all employees with a view to the outdoors and takes advantage of natural daylight, using a Lutron Ecosystem. The system allows the perimeter fixtures to dim to 10 percent of their full capacity when daylight is abundant in the space. The reduction in electricity from this system and ENERGY STAR-rated equipment specified for 94 percent of rated power allow the HOK Chicago office to operate with 60 percent less electricity than the typical Chicago office space. Although water is abundant in Chicago, a 34 percent reduction in potable water use was realized through retrofitting or replacement of existing fixtures.

The end result is an office space that is light, open and welcoming. The selection of an appropriate building and an integrated design process with multiple design iterations drove the design of the space and resulted in a high-performing, healthy and productive environment.

Colin Rohlfing is sustainable design leader for HOK Chicago.

Project Team
Architect—HOK
MEP Engineer—Environmental Systems Design
General Contractor—ECI
Commissioning Agent—SSRCx Cotter Consulting

HOK Chicago
60 East Van Buren, 14th Floor
Chicago, IL 60605
Floor Area in Square Feet: 27,700
Number of Floors: 1
Completion Date: January 2009
Construction Costs: $2.6 million