Guest Commentary: LEEDing Questions on Green Building
Todd Jessup of MHI Member Randall Manufacturing Talks to Bob West of AM King Construction about Green Building
What trends are you seeing in new facilities to incorporate GREEN material / construction?
Sustainability is today’s new word for “Green.” What we are seeing in the marketplace today in new construction as well as renovations are LED lighting with very sophisticated control systems, day light harvesting systems, variable frequency drive motors as well as solar hot water systems.
What is the greatest challenge your clients face in building GREEN?
There are many challenges today in building “Green” facilities, but I would say the leading challenge is making sure that the return on the investment meets and or surpasses our client’s goals and expectations.
How do you and your firm stay current on GREEN product innovation?
We here at AM King make sure that all of our architects, engineering partners and our project managers are Leed accredited professionals and through the continuing education program we stay well versed on the best practices of Green initiatives. Also, since we do design and build these facilities, we have the ability to bring vendors into our office for “lunch-n-learns” and keep us up to speed with the best Green products on the market.
What GREEN companies or projects do you admire today?
We were very excited to have played a role in two projects recently. One was for Northeast Foods which makes bread rolls for the food services industry; we were challenged to design and build the facility, which would be the fastest bread roll factory in the world, and at the same time reduce energy cost by as much as 10% over their less producing plants. This was achieved through the commitment of our client to realizing this goal. The second project was the Stevenson Toyota Dealership in Jacksonville, NC. We were able to design and build this facility, which is the first LEED certified facility for Toyota on the east coast.
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