Health Care Goes Green, and Then Some

Healthcare construction has slowed a bit in the last few years, but it remains a critically important sector for many AEC firms. While healthcare clients are demanding sustainable design and construction as a matter of course, green building is no longer limited strictly to hospital projects.

In Seattle, Swedish Cancer Institute has installed a factory-fabricated radiotherapy treatment “vault” to house its TomoTherapy treatment system. RAD Technology Medical Systems manufactured steel modules for the vault at its production facility, along with prefab wood modules for the patient exam and office portion of the nearly 4,000-sf facility. It is believed to be the first radiation center to earn LEED Silver certification.

Another first—at least for a privately owned facility—goes to San Francisco Surgical Arts’ LEED-CI Platinum (v.2009) oral and maxillofacial surgery office. Environmental Building Strategies led the Building Team—medical designer Kohan Inc. and contractor All Phase Builders—in reducing lighting power 37% and water usage 40% over conventional facilities. Solar-powered keyboards and Energy Star-qualified LED monitors and appliances were also used.

For the $538 million expansion of Phoenix Children’s Hospital (designed by HKS to Green Guide for Health Care standards), Kitchell Contractors built a central energy plant for the 34-acre campus that employs a high-efficiency, 800-ton water-to-water heat pump chiller, a technology widely used in the Middle East.

The central plant will save 5.6 million gallons of water per year, reduce natural gas consumption by 70%, and trim energy and operating costs $11 million over 15 years. The project also received a $464,000 cash award from APS Solutions for Business, the local electrical utility’s energy-conservation program for commercial customers.

Another project seeking to break new ground in sustainability is the Palliative Care Campus, a 120-unit Enhanced Assisted Living Residence for persons with serious progressive illnesses. It is said to be the world’s first spirit-centered, enhanced assisted-living community residence. The client, the HealthCare Chaplaincy, is a national leader in research, education, and multi-faith patient-centered care. FXFOWLE Architects is the AOR and designer, in collaboration with MHG Architects and Clodagh Design.

The 16-story, 180,000-sf project, to be built in Lower Manhattan along the East River, will also house a geriatric and palliative care outpatient medical practice, plus research, educational, clinical practice, and administrative spaces. The facility will address not only patients’ physical ills, but also their psychological and spiritual well-being. The HealthCare Chaplaincy hopes the new campus will serve as a national demonstration project for the healthcare industry.

This article first appeared at Building Design + Construction, www.bdcnetwork.com. The article can be seen in its entirety at http://www.bdcnetwork.com/greenbuild-2012-report-healthcare. 

Turner Construction Survey Shows New Green Building Findings

Turner Construction Co. has announced the results of a new Market Barometer survey that focused on environmentally-sustainable, or green, building, and on sustainable practices in general. Key findings revealed that companies remain committed to constructing green buildings. While executives remained committed to incorporating sustainable building practices into their building programs, fewer said their companies were likely to seek LEED certification from the US Green Building Council when constructing a green building. 
 

Brightening Outlook for Construction Projects
Among real estate owners, developers, and corporate owner-occupants, 64% said they expect to undertake new construction projects over the next 12 months (up from 46% in the 2010 survey), and 71% said they expect to undertake renovation projects over the same period (up from 58% in the 2010 survey).

Widespread Commitment to Sustainable Practices
Ninety percent of respondents said their companies were committed to environmentally-sustainable practices. Of that percentage, 56% of executives said their companies were extremely or very committed to following environmentally-sustainable practices in their operations, while an additional 34% said they were somewhat committed.  In addition to citing financial reasons for this commitment, executives were most likely to cite broader considerations as extremely or very important including belief that it's the 'right thing to do,' (68%), impact on brand/reputation (67%), and customer requirements (61%), along with cost savings (66%).

Reducing Energy Costs and Operating Expenses are the Key Drivers to Green Construction
Executives were most likely to cite financial factors as being important to their companies' decisions on whether to incorporate Green features in a construction project. Respondents indicated that energy efficiency (84%) and ongoing operations and maintenance costs (84%) were extremely or very important to their decisions. 

More than two-thirds of executives also said that non-financial factors were extremely or very important including indoor air quality (74%), health and well-being of occupants (74%), satisfaction of employees/occupants (69%) and employee productivity (67%). However, only 37% of executives said it was extremely or very important to their companies to minimize the carbon footprint of their buildings. 

This suggests that the decision to incorporate Green features is driven by a desire to reduce cost followed by an interest to improve the indoor environment for building occupants, rather than broader concerns about the impact of buildings on the global environment. 

More than half of executives said their companies would be extremely or very likely to invest in improved indoor environmental quality (63%), improved water efficiency (57%), and Green materials (53%) if they were undertaking a construction project.

"Energy efficiency figures prominently in the decision-making process of green building primarily because of its large economic impact. Water efficiency in Green construction was seen as less important.  This is in spite of a growing awareness that water is a finite resource, both in its operational use and its role in the production of goods and materials. While the direct economic impact of water efficiency is less than the savings on energy, its environmental impact is quite significant," said Michael Deane, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Turner Construction.

Fewer Companies Plan to Seek LEED Certification
Although the vast majority of companies remain committed to Green buildings, the percentage of executives who thought it was extremely or very likely that their company would seek LEED certification if they constructed a Green building was only 48%, down from 53% in the 2010 survey and 61% in the 2008 survey. Among executives who said their companies were not likely to seek LEED certification, the most important reasons cited were the cost of the certification process (82%), staff time required (79%), time required for the process (75%), and the overall perceived difficulty of the process (74%). 

It is apparent that in the last four years many companies seem to have become more knowledgeable about the means and methods of designing and constructing Green buildings and are less reliant on LEED as a checklist or a scorecard, as indicated by 52% of executives saying that they were only somewhat or not likely to seek LEED certification when undertaking a construction project. At the same time, 41% of executives thought it was at least somewhat likely that their companies would consider seeking certification under a rating system other than LEED if they constructed a Green building. Of those executives who indicated they would consider another system, 63% said they would be extremely or very likely to consider seeking certification under ENERGY STAR, which again highlights the importance of energy efficiency.  It should be noted that building owners may elect to certify under more than one rating system.

"We've seen from our own work and the continuing growth of the green building market that in spite of this reduction in enthusiasm for LEED certification, respondents are still building green," said Deane. "While some respondents are relying on their own standards or are considering another rating system, LEED certification remains the most widely used third party verification of achievement that is recognized by consumers and that can be used to market and promote a property."

Concerns Persist about Construction Costs and the Length of the Payback Period
When asked what length of payback period would be acceptable when considering Green features, 44% of executives said they would accept five years and almost 80% of executives said they would accept a payback period of five years or longer. Despite the acceptance by most executives of an extended payback period, 61% of executives still felt that the length of the payback period was an extremely or very significant obstacle to the construction of Green buildings while 62% cited higher construction costs. 

Construction-Put-In-Place Could Top $1 Trillion in 2014

FMI, a provider of management consulting and investment banking to the engineering and construction industry, announces the release of its 2013 U.S. Markets Construction Overview. With construction-put-in-place (CPIP) at the end of 2012 expected to be between $826 to $884 billion, researchers at FMI predict CPIP growth rates to be slightly ahead of GDP in 2013 and 2014. This would place the CPIP at more than $1 trillion by the end of 2014, nearly 6 percent of GDP.

Other predictions include:

• Power CPIP of nearly $100 billion, as well as environmental remediation and conservation work of nearly $7 billion are already at all-time highs
• Residential CPIP will be back to double-digit growth in 2013
• Transportation and healthcare CPIP will reach record levels by 2013
• Education CPIP will continue to rise achieving 2008 numbers by 2016

However, in 2013 commercial buildings, offices, manufacturing facilities, communications systems and lodging CPIP are expected to continue to underperform at an average of 60 percent of 2008 levels, off by more than $115 billion. By 2016 these sectors are predicted to only reach 70 percent of 2008 CPIP. In addition, excitement over the double-digit growth in residential construction is also balanced with the disappointment that by 2016 residential CPIP will still only be at 65 percent ($200 billion behind) the record high in 2006. 

Private equity investors increased attraction to smaller deals. Half of all deals in 2012 are valued at less than $50 million and about 95% of deals are less than $500 million.

Caesarstone to Build U.S. Plant

Caesarstone Ltd. will open a U.S. production facility in 2014 as part of its strategic plan to increase manufacturing of its signature quartz surfaces. The $75 million facility, at a yet-to-be-determined location, will eventually house two production lines for Caesarstone products.

The U.S. facility, at full build-out, would expand the company’s current production by 50 percent. The first stage, installing one production line and infrastructure to add a second, will cost about $45 million. Company officials noted the first line would be in production by late-2013, with the second production line to be added to meet future demand.

"We believe that expanding our manufacturing footprint into the United States will provide us with a number of competitive and strategic benefits that will serve our long-term growth plans, most significantly the related improvement in delivery times,” says Yosef Shiran, Caesarstone CEO.

The company also announced additional manufacturing equipment that will be installed at its Israel plant, incorporating a major part of a fifth production line. Total production capacity will be increased by about 15 percent; the $13 million project is slated for completion next October.

“Our expansion in Israel will enable us to rapidly and efficiently expand our production capacity to meet the increasing demand for our products,” Shiran says. “We are excited about both of these projects, which are further steps in realizing our growth strategy and are expected to create value for our shareholders.”

Caesarstone announced record quarterly revenue of $77.6 million worldwide from July to September this year, up from $74.2 million in 2011. Much of that push came from North American activity, with year-to-year, third-quarter revenues increasing in the United States and Canada by 17.7 percent and 29.1 percent, respectively. Overall GAAP net income in this year’s third quarter came to $12.4 million, up 22.8 percent from the same time last year.

Construction Sector Adds 17,000 Jobs From September to October

Construction employers added 17,000 jobs in October while the industry's unemployment rate fell to 11.4 percent, according to an analysis of new federal data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials noted that total construction employment levels have changed little during the past year while the declines in the industry’s unemployment rate are coming as more former workers leave the industry.

Construction firms employed 5.539 million people in October, up from 5.522 in September, Simonson noted–an increase of 0.3 percent. The sector's overall employment in October is 20,000, or 0.4 percent, higher than one year earlier when firms employed 5.519 million workers. However, Simonson noted that overall construction employment remains down by nearly 2.2 million compared to six years ago when the sector's employment peaked at 7.7 million workers.

Both residential and nonresidential construction added jobs in October, with nonresidential construction outpacing residential construction for the month. Residential construction added 4,700 jobs in October, as residential building contractors lost 2,000 employees while residential specialty contractors added 6,700 new workers. Residential construction employment is now up by 12,300 compared to 12 months ago.

Nonresidential building contractors added 12,200 jobs in October, but are only up by 7,600 jobs compared to one year ago. Nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 10,100 jobs for the months while nonresidential building contractors added another 4,600 jobs. However, heavy and civil engineering construction firms lost 2,500 jobs during the month as public sector investments in construction continued to decline.

Association officials noted that the October data did not reflect impacts from the massive storm that damaged much of the eastern United States. They said reconstruction and repair work that was likely to take place in November and throughout the winter months would have minimal overall effect on construction employment.

Dold Campaign Goes Through Northfield Block

Congressmen Dold and Roskam and Lake County State’s Attorney candidate Michael Nerheim visited Northfield Block Plant Nov. 2. The Congressmen were there to learn more about the masonry industry and to discuss their plans for getting the construction industry working again. 

Each of the representatives spoke of the need to get government out of the way and let business excel and do what it does best. They discussed the uncertainty of the markets we work in and that our government needs to give a solid look to the future so business people will be willing to begin investing the dollars that have been sitting on the sidelines throughout the past few years. 

Steve Hunt the host for the event thanked Congressman Dold’s recent support and co-sponsorship of the industry’s Check-Off Program. Jim O’Connor of the MCA of Greater Chicago asked Congressman Roskam to consider his support as well. Mr. O’Connor followed up with some information regarding union pensions since the union pension law will be sun setting shortly. He pointed them to the work of the NCCMP a coalition of both management and labor looking to come to consensus on how to deal with the current pension plan and future retirement options. 

The day ended with a block plant tour. The masonry community thanks both Congressmen for attending the tour and wishes them both well in their re-election efforts. Both Congressmen have been friends of the industry and their path forwarded is one our industry embraces.         

Northfield Block is a member of the MCAA through their parent company Oldcastle. Oldcastle is a member of the MCAA and is also a Strategic Partner of the MCAA.  

Article by Jeff Buczkiewicz