Green Design and Green Construction
Designers and Contractors Are Charting a New Cooperative Course
By Leon LaJeunesse and Ujjval K. Vyas, Ph.D., J.D.
If it’s true that almost every challenge comes with an opportunity, why should green and high-performance buildings be any different? For too long, architects and contractors have been mired in a world of distrust--often understandable but always disruptive to the ultimate job at hand: delivering a quality building project for the owner.
How this distrust came to be has many facets and enough blame to go around to all the parties, but we may now have a chance to hit the reset button. It will take a great deal of hard work and slow steps of trust in the traditional world of design and construction but the coming of integrated-project delivery and its little brother, integrated design, at the same time as the growth of green provides glimmers of hope.
How Green Is Changing Relationships
As designers and contractors, we are facing new and different sustainability challenges every day coming from every direction. The public-at-large is clamoring for sustainability. Government seems to think that legislating green is a good idea. Owners of all types see the marketing value. When done correctly, a building benefits from improved performance. And, within our own ranks, designer and contractor associations are actively engaging sustainability or green programs.
The challenges for designers, both legal and technical, often have been discussed. But it also is important for designers to have a sense of the challenges faced by contractors and how these can be turned into opportunities. Good contractors are a crucial ally in delivering the best outcome for the owner. After all, they are on the front lines of constructing the collective intent of the many design professionals’ and owner’s wishes. That’s where contractors can excel in their traditional roles of ensuring quality work, attention to detail, anticipating issues before they become problems and ensuring problems are resolved at the appropriate level. The fact that some designers and contractors fail to deliver in these areas shouldn’t tar all contractors and designers. Architects that develop and nurture relationships with highly competent contractors large and small provide owners with a real benefit.
By doing what contractors do best, albeit under new green conditions and rules, they reinforce the critical role they have always played in turning vision and design into the reality of the material world. But just what does that role require in a green, high-performance world? How can design professionals of all stripes create the basis for integrated-project delivery?
Most importantly, architects, engineers, contractors and sub-contractors should use green or high-performance buildings as the chance to change the traditional combative roles. More and better information flowing between the parties regarding green issues can provide actual examples of a cooperative tenor that should infiltrate the project as a whole. Cooperation can ultimately lead to a better bottom line for all involved. Again, we know this is a difficult task and needs to be approached without Pollyanna platitudes. At the same time, bridges have to begin somewhere and what better place than sustainability?
Consider the following ways in which designers and contractors can better work together:
Keeping Houses in Order
First, of course, in a green, high-performance world, we must minimize the impact of our own methods and materials on the environment and adhere to standards and regulations that directly affect us. This is not new, but the opportunities for us to contribute to our sustainability goals on the projects we work on continue to increase when we look to our own practices first.
Contractors need to think proactively about the choices they make in their own business practices, as well as in construction procedures and decisions. Design professionals must do the same. Clearly, looking closely at the nature of design specifications that have sustainability implications are part of the designer’s task but contractors can help when brought to the table early in the process. Contractors can give some real-world guidance that could make implementing sustainable practices easier. At the same time, design professionals should actively engage contractors in discussing construction practices that may have negative consequences.
Contractors can give some real-world guidance that could make implementing sustainable practices easier.
Gathering Intelligence
In general, we must develop a sound working knowledge of the meaning and goals not only of the accreditation and certification programs that affect us, but also of the sustainability objectives of the specific projects on which we are engaged. Because the definition of green and high-performance construction is still being debated, staying current may require a bit of sleuthing and vigilance. But putting in the extra effort simply makes good business sense. This is especially the case because so much in this area is characterized by “puffery” of one kind or another. Design professionals and constructors can help each other in separating the wheat from the chaff of green-building claims. Honest conversations about green are a real boon to a building project and to the green-building movement as a whole.
Doing Homework
The ambiguity surrounding standards is no excuse for less than our most conscientious efforts when it comes to the green or high-performance goals of a specific project at hand. Design professionals should request information from green consultants to make sure they aren’t just repeating marketing claims or poorly researched conclusions. This is something architects and engineers are particularly well-positioned to do. For contractors, requesting copies of the contract documents, studying them carefully, and asking questions or raising red flags up front not only helps prevent problems later, but signals a concern with limiting future problems--a quality that should be valued and rewarded.
Understanding Innovation
As high-performance initiatives gain momentum, innovative products and high-tech materials continue to come to market faster and in more forms. Specifying these products or materials requires special due diligence on the part of the designers. Many are not time-tested or lack track records in a specific application. As a baseline, contractors must ensure compliance with the manufacturer’s warranty requirements for handling and installing these materials so they perform properly and achieve their goals independently and as components within larger systems.
By developing a more in-depth understanding of material function, a contractor can make worthwhile assessments of overall systems-integration issues that may have escaped notice on paper. In addition, supply and demand issues may affect availability and delivery of new products, which could impact schedules adversely if not taken into account up front. Designers and contractors need to flag issues early and communicate effectively when such innovation is part of the project.
Staying Ahead of the Game
Knowledge and training have always been keys to success for contractors and designers. In truth, competency is nothing other than the current knowledge possessed and the commitment to acquire the new knowledge needed to keep delivering a superior product or service. We should take advantage of the many opportunities afforded by manufacturers, suppliers, researchers and associations to fuel the integration of green into the new and existing building stock. Even more, we should take the opportunity to analyze and learn from the failures and successes in the green-building arena.
We should take the opportunity to analyze and learn from the failures and successes in the green-building arena.
Going the Extra Mile
Contractors and designers can’t assume that yesterday’s best practices live up to today’s more stringent requirements and expectations. For contractors, the rule of thumb must be to adhere to the “spirit” and the “letter” of the specifications. For designers, the rule of thumb must be to understand and value the process of construction as a basic way of improving design function and elegance. For example, accumulating the required points for the targeted level of a green-rating certification can come down to a contractor’s adherence to a more stringent set of best practices, which may be different than on other projects. As legislation and regulation regarding green and energy efficiency penetrate deeper into the built environment, evolving best practices should be encouraged by designers and contractors—for themselves and each other.
Managing New Risks
Just as standards and definitions for green and high-performance construction are being sorted out, so are the legal and liability issues. Like all issues involving standards, responsibility for failure has a trickle-down effect. Diligence, best practices and open communication are the cornerstones of risk management in this new environment. Contractors and designers can help each other understand more clearly the implications of improper choices and risk transfer, which may not be readily obvious to both parties.
Different Challenges
Contractors have always served as the critical link between the vision for a project and its real-world manifestation. The best have always contributed added value. The challenges and opportunities that come with our role in green and high-performance construction are really no greater or more difficult to face than many others. They’re just different. Designers and contractors can meet in the middle to help realistically manage the differences.
Green building is here to stay to help drive better outcomes in building value and performance. It may also have a salutary side-effect of starting a new dialogue between traditional enemies who have too long stereotyped each other as “blue collar” and “white collar”.
Leon LaJeunesse is president of Custom Contracting, Lake Zurich, Ill. He can be reached at leon@c-c-ltd.com. Ujjval K. Vyas is principal of Alberti Group, Chicago, and a member of Eco-Intel’s advisory board.
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