CREJ

April 2018 — Construction, Design & Engineering — Page 19 www.crej.com F or managers of older buildings, achieving performance goals can be like opening a can of worms. Reducing energy costs can be a moving target when the building’s only insulation is brick, its boiler has had more birthdays than upgrades, there is thermal loss via the single-paned windows (where it was just discovered that the wood molding is rotting) and all the renovation options are constrained by guidelines set by the historic district the building is located within. At Unico, we’ve seen it all – but it hasn’t kept us from earning LEED Gold and LEED Silver certifications for buildings erected before the turn of the 20th century. We believe that just because a building is old doesn’t mean it can’t be green. Here are a few tactics that managers of aging buildings can use to turn back time. n Set expectations. Give your building a new lease on life by updating the language in your lease. We developed an addendum to our leases in which tenants must agree to follow a set of guidelines to keep our buildings oper- ating efficiently. We aligned our green lease requirements with the U.S. Green Building C o u n c i l ’ s LEED v4 s t a n d a r d s for building operat ions and main- tenance in e x i s t i n g b u i l d i n g s and includ- ed specifi- cations for energy-effi- cient light- ing, water-saving plumbing fixtures and cleaning prod- ucts that are environmental- ly responsible. Whether the building was built in 1918 or 2018, the green lease guides tenants in making choices that will support the creation of a healthier workspace and a more efficient building. n Consolidation is key. Older buildings often have a range of tenants and lease agreements, which can lead to a tangle of janitorial and waste hauling contracts. Consolidating these services reduces overhead costs and supports the imple- mentation of an overarching sustainability strategy in the building. Getting the entire building to adhere to a LEED green cleaning policy is sim- pler when everyone is using the same janitorial contractor and offering services like com- posting and e-waste recycling is much more straightforward if the entire building is using one hauler. n Choose your energy- efficient measures wisely. It’s tempting to look at an old building and think you’ll save the most energy and money by replacing the single-pane windows and covering the brick interior to increase insu- lation. These measures will save energy, but they require a large upfront cost. What’s more, these options are less appealing for buildings where you’d like to preserve the his- toric charm – and don’t have the resources to negotiate with a historic district review board. When assessing which energy-efficient measures to focus on in an old build- ing, keep in mind the ones that have shorter payback periods, yield greater energy savings and preserve the his- toric charm. Our approach to renovating the DC Building, a high-rise building built in 1951 and located in down- town Denver, is a good exam- ple of this strategy. The cost to replace the midcentury building’s single-pane oper- able windows was consider- able, so we chose to prioritize upgrading the induction units instead. Through the imple- mentation of low-cost, high- yield energy-efficient mea- sures, we were able to achieve a LEED Silver certification for the nearly 70-year-old build- ing. n Plan ahead and take advantage of empty space. For buildings with a single owner and operator, imple- menting sustainability effi- ciency initiatives can be pretty straightforward. In contrast, implementing a buildingwide energy-efficiency project in a multistory office building with 20 to 30 different tenants can seem nearly impossible. To maximize and streamline our efforts in buildings we own, sustainability strategies are incorporated into capital planning and built around long-term leasing plans. For example, many of the older buildings we’ve acquired have had heating, ventilation and air-condition- ing systems that are equipped with dated Moduline units. Instead of upgrading all the units in a building at once, we upgrade the units in all com- mon areas when we can, and then schedule the upgrades in tenant spaces in correlation with the rent roll. This way, when a new tenant is ready to complete its build-out, the HVAC system has been upgraded already and all the tenant has to do is install the electrical and plumbing specs that meet our green lease addendum. Making this par- ticular measure a long-term goal allows us to take advan- tage of empty space and, in turn, prioritize our tenants’ occupancy experience. Old building or new, it’s important to plan a long-term sustainability strategy that can be implemented in every space, including tenant spac- es and common areas. Unico will soon complete work on the Circa building, a mixed- use development in the Platte neighborhood. Although the new building features state- of-the-art HVAC systems, lighting and solar on the roof, and is on course to reach a cer- tification goal of LEED Plati- num, its operating plans and sustainable strategy proce- dures don’t differ much from those belonging to buildings that are over 100 years old. When you focus on the overall strategy of the building and the long-term goals for your company, it’s easy to make an old building good as new. s Long-term strategy key to turn old buildings green Green Building Spotlight Edmée Knight Manager, sustainable real estate, Unico Sustainability