A look at the LEED design and construction process in Nashville.
An interview with Mike Cobb - Pre-Construction Manager for Solomon Builders’s soon to be LEED Certified, Multi-Use-Development - 5th and Main.
As sustainable construction practices move towards the mainstream, we talked with a project executive who has been through the LEED Process in Nashville. Mike Cobb, a 30 year veteran in building and construction planning, gave us his thoughts on the LEED certification process for the building site - “ 5th and Main”.
Q: How did you decide to pursue LEED certification for this project?
A:Mike Cobb: Regarding 5th and Main, We began pre-construction on this multi-use facility in 2005. At that time LEED certification and green buildings in general were a new trend. In fact, back then we only had one certified project in Nashville. But on this project we were working with the design team at Everton Olglesby Architects (EOA) that had several LEED accredited professionals. We naturally began to discuss sustainable design very early in the development stage. The owner along with the rest of the project design team saw the value in life-cycle-costs savings – such as operation and maintenance, that tenants would enjoy in the future. According to Ken Scalf, ( AIA of Architectural Energy Corporation and contributing consultant on the project), a projected payback for the incorporated sustainable strategies supporting LEED certification, would be approximately between 4-6 years, through reduced operational cost*.
An interview with Mike Cobb - Pre-Construction Manager for Solomon Builders’s soon to be LEED Certified, Multi-Use-Development - 5th and Main.
As sustainable construction practices move towards the mainstream, we talked with a project executive who has been through the LEED Process in Nashville. Mike Cobb, a 30 year veteran in building and construction planning, gave us his thoughts on the LEED certification process for the building site - “ 5th and Main”.
Q: How did you decide to pursue LEED certification for this project?
A:Mike Cobb: Regarding 5th and Main, We began pre-construction on this multi-use facility in 2005. At that time LEED certification and green buildings in general were a new trend. In fact, back then we only had one certified project in Nashville. But on this project we were working with the design team at Everton Olglesby Architects (EOA) that had several LEED accredited professionals. We naturally began to discuss sustainable design very early in the development stage. The owner along with the rest of the project design team saw the value in life-cycle-costs savings – such as operation and maintenance, that tenants would enjoy in the future. According to Ken Scalf, ( AIA of Architectural Energy Corporation and contributing consultant on the project), a projected payback for the incorporated sustainable strategies supporting LEED certification, would be approximately between 4-6 years, through reduced operational cost*.
Q: What challenges and disappointments did you find with the LEED process?
Mike Cobb: The major challenges we faced was the learning curve in understanding which members of the team were responsible for the numerous templates and other documents that had to be submitted. Then from a contractors standpoint we also had to monitor all phases of construction to make sure the right product and techniques were used to qualify for the LEED points we targeted. In this respect Solomon was fortunate to have Tiffany Wilmot as a member of the LEED waste team for Solomon. She was of great assistance in training and creative waste management techniques. As project architect, Sheila Dial, AIA of EOA Architects noted, it was Tiffany, who pushed the reuse and capture rate of on site waste up to 92% (achieving 2 LEED points). She was able to help the team achieve this recycle rate partly by re-using gypsum and delivering it to local area farmers. That is a phenomenal figure for a project of this size and scope.
Q: Does Solomon have plans to pursue LEED on other buildings?
Mike Cobb: We are working on at least (5) other projects presently that will seek LEED certification or at least be designed with all the sustainable elements to qualify for LEED certification. These LEED/sustainable approaches will become more common in the future and intensive management will not be such a big deal, but we did learn a great deal about the importance of process management on the 5th and Main project.
Q: What advice would you give a team going through that process now?
Mike Cobb: Study all requirements for certification thoroughly. Make sure you understand what contributions your firm expects to supply the project to achieve certification.
Q: Do you anticipate using the LEED process again?
Mike Cobb: Oh yes, we will do it on many, many projects in the future. When you stop to think about firms planning to bid on future projects - those who are LEED certified will certainly be at a competitive advantage compared with non-certified firms. We see a significant, growing demand for LEED certified projects in both public and private sectors in the future.
Special Thanks for this article goes to Gregg Turner, Marshall Shumate, Kristi Taylor, Merriam Osburn and Mike Cobb of (Solomon Builders) Nashville. Other contributions include Ken Scalf* of Architecture Energy Corporation, Shelia Dial of EOA Architects, and LEED Consultant Tiffany Wilmot.
Will Stack is a contributing editor to the newsletter of the US Green Building Council of Middle Tennessee. Will is an energy technology consultant and alumnae of Belmont University’s Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business. You can reach him at will.stack@gmail.com . Additional project pictures and LEED scorecard can be found at http://nashvillegreen.blogspot.com/.
Thank you for sharing the information.
ReplyDeleteLeed design and construction is a boon to all as it is not only helping to design the building by using green materials but, it is also helping to control the environment of the earth.
There are number of companies who are providing the service of green building and it's sustainability and there is a company named as the spinnaker group inc who is providing the service of LEED commissioning for green buildings.