Notes for Offices:
I recently sent out a special spam, for just my lawyer friends, highlighting my experience with attorney’s offices and describing what the opportunities are to “green” this type of interiors-only project. But of course there are more similarities than differences between office types, and these opportunities are much more broadly applicable that just attorney’s offices. So I am including those notes below for broader consumption.
Assuming the project at hand is not a new building, consider the following:
Salvage = save $$.
Can you tell the difference between a partition built by the previous tenant, and one built by you? I suspect not. But your wallet can. And of course any item that is salvaged, reused, or refurbished, from a workstation to a light fixture to a door, is one fewer that our great-grandchildren will get to “enjoy”.
Energy reduction = save $$.
Believe it or not, an office building’s greatest energy use comes from its lighting, and lighting in turn creates much of the heat that must be removed by air conditioning. Efficiencies in lighting can pay you back twice if you pay for your own supplemental A/C. Windows high in the walls between perimeter offices and interior corridors can let more light into interior spaces than you think, and adding fixed lightshelves in the upper portion of the exterior windows can transform direct sunlight from unwanted glare into a daylighting asset by redirecting it away from computer screens up to the ceiling, where it is diffused throughout the office and more directly to those high windows, sending even more significant light to the interior and allowing blinds to be opened and lights turned off more frequently. If ceilings and/or ductwork are to be replaced, it is possible that some ducts can be exposed and the ceiling raised, allowing again further daylight penetration through to the interior and creating yet nicer spaces deeper in the floor plate. In the very best of circumstances, if you have access to the exterior of the building, you can add sun control devices outside where they are most effective, accomplishing all of the above but potentially without any unwanted solar heat gain.
Material choices.
No big way to save $$ here, but plenty of opportunities not to have to spend any more than the next person. Materials are NOT all created equal environmentally. Choosing recycled is perhaps an obvious consideration but there are many others: things that come from far away carry the impacts of their transport, some things are more toxic to manufacture than others, some things are more energy-intensive. Some materials decay and grow again when their useful life is over, others are forever a gift to future generations…
Employee productivity.
This is still a bit soft for some folks, but the science backing up the old touchy-feely assertion that brighter, more enjoyable spaces make brighter, more enjoyable people (who are more productive and make more money) is getting better. Not to mention that everyone is just nicer to be around all day (well, maybe).
Quality of life.
Most of us spend more waking hours at work than at home. Even if the productivity claims are too squishy for you, I believe everyone is frustrated by having to put the blinds down on a beautiful sunny day, by having to work in a dim fluorescent environment when it is nice outside, and everyone appreciates spending their days in spaces from which you can perceive and enjoy what is happening outside… green is of real, tangible value to our quality of life.
Prestige.
I believe this is self-explanatory. Green business practices are rapidly becoming part of leading business practice, and are becoming a desirable, marketable, part of any corporate image.
SO…
Call me.