This case study was prepared by Leonardo Academy, based on information provided by Bill Rattunde, Architect, and Mike Olson, Chief Financial Officer, both from Planning Design Build, Inc., the major tenant of the Athena Building in Madison, Wisconsin.  The Athena Building is LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) Certified and is the focus of this study.

The Athena Building is a multi-tenant office building located in a suburban business park in Madison, Wisconsin and owned by Athena Holdings, LLC. Planning Design Build, Inc. became the major tenant in the fall of 2006. The 80,000 square foot facility was constructed in 1998, underwent major renovation in 2006, and was LEED-EB Certified at the Silver level in February 2007.

This case study focuses on the ways that Planning Design Build, Inc., used the LEED-EB application process to fully integrate sustainability into building operations. It also discusses the unique challenges and opportunities the company experienced as a result of completing the entire LEED certification process in-house without using a consultant.

Integrated Policies and Planning
There were several steps involved in fully integrating the new policies and procedures required by LEED into Planning Design Build’s ongoing operations.  First, it was necessary to decide which credits the team was going to apply for.  Some credits the building qualified for at the onset of the certification process, while others would require changes to be made.  Planning then had to narrow down which of the credits they were attempting would require written policies and assign people to writing the policies for those credits.  Once this was accomplished, a key person was assigned to each credit to smoothly coordinate the details of the performance period, making sure that the appropriate upgrades or changes were made, the right data was tracked, and all the required submittals were gathered.  Prior to starting the performance period, these key personnel had to educate themselves and their teams about LEED requirements and also make preparations such as creating the data tracking sheets and assigning the credit teams. Planning found that some tracking sheets were complicated to use, but they created a solution that will be discussed later in the case study.

PLANNING was completing a major renovation while applying for LEED certification.  Once they had teams, policies, and tracking sheets in place, they realized that they wanted to begin some performance periods early to capture the renovation benefits.  This required a great deal of pre-scheduling and planning to maximize their ability to earn points for certification.  LEED requires that all performance periods are a minimum of 90 days, end concurrently with each other, but may begin earlier and run longer. Thus PLANNING started some periods early and completed them over a twelve-month basis, while others they did for five to six months and still others for just the minimum performance period. 

Renovations using LEED
PLANNING took on some challenges by deciding to apply for LEED Certification at the same time that they were completing a major facility renovation.  However, they felt that it was important to integrate the sustainability principles of LEED into their fundamental building decisions, and this seemed like an optimal time to begin.

This decision turned out to have both positive and negative impacts. For one thing, it greatly complicated tracking and increased the number of players who had to be brought up to speed on LEED and included in the process.  However, it also gave PLANNING more opportunities in terms of earning points for certification.  They were able to capture credits that they otherwise would not have been able to achieve, such as Materials and Resources Credit 1: Construction, Demolition and Renovation where they achieved a 64% recycling, salvage or diversion rate.  In addition to recycling, the renovations allowed PLANNING to make adjustments in terms of standard-setting for purchases.  They allowed the LEED process to drive their goals and procedures and were also able to look at the sustainable sourcing of everything used in the renovation process: furniture, paints, sealants, tiles, carpets, lighting controls/lamps, building materials, etc.  These changes would have taken place much more slowly in the absence of renovation, or in some cases not at all (such as replacing wall board or other materials that otherwise would not have been replaced).

Integrated Reporting
One of the most interesting challenges LEED certification presents is all of the extra reporting requirements.  For companies that would like to fully integrate LEED into ongoing operations, it is necessary to fulfill the requirements in a streamlined and efficient manner that does not unnecessarily complicate staff duties.  For Planning, reporting turned out to be most challenging for Materials and Resources Credit 2: Optimize Use of Alternative Materials.  This credit was affected by the renovation process to a greater extent than most of the others. MR Credit 2 covers such a wide spectrum of materials that everyone from the office manager to the construction superintendent was required to collect data.  Another issue was that it was necessary for PLANNING to ask subcontractors to back out their material costs (minus labor, multipliers, etc.).  It required a bit of extra coaxing to get some of the subcontractors to do the extra calculations, but all eventually complied with the request.

There are some elaborate software programs that can assist large organizations in tracking purchases for MR Credit 2.  However, as a smaller business, it did not make sense for PLANNING to invest in such an expensive tool. The Company decided to instead craft a system that would meet their needs without straining their budget.  The solution turned out to be the creation of a very involved Excel spreadsheet operated by the central accounting department that other project-related spreadsheets automatically reported into.  For instance, the construction project manager and the office manager both kept separate spreadsheets that fed into the master spreadsheet.  This allowed each player to track his or her own piece of the credit without having to worry about what anyone else was doing.  Additionally, the central accounting office always had the most up-to-date information and largely avoided discrepancies between spreadsheets. PLANNING continues to use this system in their ongoing tracking of operations, as it proved to work well for them during the certification process.

Integrated Contracting
Working with outside contractors turned out to be a good solution for Planning Design Build in order to achieve LEED without overburdening their staff.  By writing LEED requirements into their service provider contracts, they were able to use contract language to “offload” credit implementation and tracking while still achieving the credits.  This scenario allowed PLANNING to have the outside companies do the work and tracking and then report back the results.  The services addressed using this integrated contracting technique included:

1. Landscape – SSc1
2. Cleaning – EQc10.1, 10.3-10.6
3. Mechanical systems operation and maintenance (HVAC) – Eac3.2

Changing Responsibilities
PLANNING found that the LEED process expanded or altered some of their staff’s job descriptions.  LEED is an ongoing task; therefore it was necessary to adjust certain people’s job responsibilities. This required an adjustment by both immediate supervisors and top management.  Immediate supervisors were obliged to modify schedules and project teams to compensate for the new roles of those employees working on sustainability-related tasks.  Those in top management positions need to educate themselves about LEED requirements, realizing that integrating sustainability into the corporate culture would impact many future high-level decisions.

Tenant Leases

When the owners of PLANNING became the sole owners of the building, they began writing tenant responsibilities into leases with the intent of trying for LEED certification.  For instance, they required new tenants to comply with LEED-based policies regarding recycling, light bulb purchasing, construction waste management, and indoor air quality.  Conversely, they chose not to ask tenants to comply with Materials and Resources Credit 2, feeling like this was too much to require.  LEED requirements state that purchases are tracked for the whole building, so Planning thus had to prorate their purchases on a square footage basis during the LEED performance period and assume that their tenants were doing nothing to comply with the credit.

Planning Design Build is now using tenant turnover as a way to continue energy improvements over time without disrupting tenant spaces.  As tenants move out, Planning is maintaining some control over sustainable choices in tenant’s improvements.

Plans for the Future
Planning Design Build has not yet set a timeline for recertification, although they plan to do so.  The incentive for waiting is to allow more time to make building adjustments and to achieve a higher score during the next certification.

PLANNING is discussing installing a white roof or partial green roof when roof replacement is required to increase their energy and overall scores during recertification. During the first certification, the company received only 3 of 23 credits in the Energy and Atmosphere category, so they will need to focus on energy efficiency for the next round of certification. Future plans also include changing out lighting and controls as opportunities arise.

For more information on the Athena Building and its sustainability practices and goals, please contact:

Bill Rattunde
Planning Design Build
608-664-3561
bill.rattunde@planningdesignbuild.com

or

Mike Olson
Property Manager
Athena Holdings, LLC
608-664-3525
Mike.Olson@planningdesignbuild.com