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Making a Case for Sustainable Developer Driven Lab Projects
Victoria David, AIA,
Maynard/David Partnership
Objectives:
Five years ago, Rocky Mountain Institute published a book, Green
Development, in which they unapologetically stated that "…Green
development is not an altruistic pursuit carried out by developers
willing to lose money in the name of the environment". The
challenge remains to encourage developers to provide building product
that 1) meets the needs of the laboratory community, but that 2)
meets the larger needs of environmental consciousness. In contrast,
there is a growing body of evidence to support a business case for
integrating sustainable development into the facility operations
of lab based businesses.
As such, we would like to demonstrate, using several project examples,
how green development for lab space can be achieved - how ecological
development can be integrated with real estate. Not all of these
examples will be Colorado based, but their success stories are worthy
educational tools for this audience.
As one of the participants on the Real Estate Committee for the
Colorado Biotechnology Association, I am well aware of the shortcomings
and opportunities for the green development of laboratory space
in the Rocky Mountain West. While part of our challenge is to educate
the developer community on the cost benefits of a green development
approach, the other side of the challenge is to engage the consumer
of these products - the lab owners and users - in this dialogue
so that their leasing preferences and decisions are reflected in
a more appropriate developer product. The presentation of win-win
opportunities ("doing well by doing good") can thereby
engage both the tenant and the developer community to cultivate
this paradigm.
While this seems like an often repeated mantra, certainly in the
Rocky Mountain West, it is still a fairly new concept. Coincidently,
Colorado is embarking on a state wide mandate to grow a biotechnology
industry - in its many facets - in the state. As such, the timing
is appropriate for developers to reconsider their options in site
and facility development.
Findings:
A large percentage of the "building product" available
to small laboratory based companies is the "tenant improvement"
space leased through developers. Unfortunately, much of this product
is not only insensitive to laboratory needs, it is also not responsive
to green development strategies. Possibly this is because building
owners and developers have not been exposed to these alternatives,
or they have dismissed the alternatives as not being cost effective.
Or they are reluctant to engage in spending money on speculation
when they have no marketplace experience - assurances - that the
product will be more competitive and the space can be recycled to
future tenants.
In his book, Buried Treasure, John Elkington presents a Sustainable
Business Value Model that maps various links between sustainable
development performance and business success, one of which is financial
performance criteria. As he has stated, while decision makers might
intuit that the sustainable business model has value, they will
not embrace it on faith alone and in the absence of a convincing
financial case. Not surprisingly then, cost is one of the big hurdles
in developing or trying new products or in exploring/implementing
new ways of doing things. As such, green development is not always
an "easy sell" with our clients because they perceive
that there are either added costs or schedule impacts or they perceive
that only "new fangled" and untested products are associated
with design and construction done in the name of environment.
Oftentimes, the schedules for completing these projects are fast
- or very fast -track, so how can we as the designers and constructors
respond in assessing whole building design or life cycle cost analysis
approaches? This is especially true for the tenant improvement lab
space since some of these leases have only a 5 year duration. Given
the tight schedules and budgets for such tenant improvement ventures,
how does either the developer or the tenant justify the establishment
of water or energy efficiency strategies? This is especially true
for mechanical and electrical systems that will comprise the larger
percentage of the construction budget.
So it is important to showcase successes achieved within a variety
of often competing criteria. We will present a significant database
of project success stories that will demonstrate how success can
be achieved. We would like to focus our findings on the smaller
corporate project because, from a cost standpoint, they are most
often the most challenged by such a paradigm shift. We will discuss
the specifics of product cost, product availability and construction
schedule impacts gleaned from a variety of projects completed for
various clients. Some of the building system specifics will be finish
materials, but we also want to discuss the mechanical and electrical
items that are usually the big ticket tenant improvement items.
Labs21 Connection:
- Assessment of the whole building approach to design and construction.
- Examples of how life cycle analysis can be part of the developer's
pro forma
- Building with green materials
- Promotion of energy and water efficiency
Biography:
With over 24 years experience, Victoria
David has planned and designed facilities for a variety of
clients both nationally and internationally, including advanced
technology, health care, corporate and non-profit research and development,
analytical and medical device scientific fields. She has served
on national juries and she has participated on national committees
dedicated to disseminating information on industry best practices
for laboratory planning and design. Her myriad project roles include
project management, strategic facility planning, master planning,
laboratory programming, planning and design, project coordination,
facility assessment, renovation and new design. Experience includes
work performed as Laboratory Planner, Project Manager, Designer
and Project Architect for numerous national architectural firms.
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