Bn nov dec2013

Bay Area

BUILDINGS NEWS November/December 2013

Earthquakes Don’t Kill ... Unsafe Structures Do The clock is ticking, and we are still not prepared.

CRE Industry Faces Workforce Shortage

Sacramento Rising: Capital Region Growing

Is ENERGY STAR Really Working?

Bay Area

BUILDINGS NEWS

Features

5

10 Things That Most Concern Facility Managers

Looking Ahead…

We’re experiencing boom times, so let’s enjoy them while we can. And that could be longer than in the past, because economists tell us that Northern California companies are now so integrated with the global economy that we will not be as affected by American downturns as we were in the past. Several articles in this issue look toward our promising economic future. Nothing is for sure, of course.

We live in an accident-prone region (check out our cover story).

The best way to prepare for any kind of change—which is constant, if you’ll pardon the contradiction — is to prepare.

How the heck do you do that?

Big organizations are needed to prepare for big-picture events and for setting rules, but individuals must also take personal responsibility for catastrophic change—like an earthquake or a terrorist act. It is not your company’s or your landlord’s duty to take care of you in an emergency. Your government will probably be too busy to look after you for some time—if ever. You must have your own earthquake kit, at your office, at home and even in your car.

Northern California’s economy is bristling with good health and opportunities. We just have to make sure that various governing bodies don’t over-regulate and over-tax us so that they choke off our prosperity by diverting our earnings to other areas.

Some Rules Need Changing We might also benefit from some rule changes. How people get from one building to another is almost as important as what they do in a building. Going from home to work or to shop influences the quality of our lives and determines the type of buildings we have. That’s why the BART labor turbulence of 2013 serves as a warning to us.

A couple of thousand union workers cannot be allowed to economically damage a region of 7 million-plus people by demanding yet even higher pay and more generous compensation than most taxpayers and transit riders in the Bay Area receive. The Bay Area Economic Institute calculates that the strike cost the Bay Area at least $73 million a day.

Politics got us into this situation, and politics must get us out of it. Voters can influence government leaders to restore sanity and fairness in staffing the operation of vital public services. Transit workers in New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago and many other areas are not allowed to strike — and they shouldn’t be here. Contact your state legislators and senators and let them know how you feel.

We also need to pay attention to SPUR’s new report On Solid Ground, a blueprint for how local governments need to prepare for The Big One, and how they might better cooperate with each other in devising seismic codes, zoning and land-use plans that will help us recover from what will certainly be a major earthquake—in 30 years or 30 minutes.

— Henry Eason, Editor and Publisher

6

Sacramento Rising: Capital Region is Growing Again

11 More Employees Work in the Open Bay Area Economy Expected to Boom into 2014

19

17

Toughest Buildings to Run: Hotels Operate 24/7

Associations Spotlight News from: BOMA San Francisco (page 16), BOMA Oakland/East Bay and IREM (page 17), San Francisco Chamber (page 18), and IFMA (page 18).

Bay Area Buildings News Team Henry Eason, Editor and Publisher henry@easoncom.com Ellen Eason, Associate Publisher & Art Director ellen@easoncom.com Editorial Board Zachary Brown, CBRE Robert Carlsen, AEC industry writer Bob Eaton, Eaton Hospitality Investments Nancy Gille, REAL Systems Mark Hyde, Handlery Hotels David Hysinger, San Francisco State University College of Business Rich Lerner, Construction Consultant Katherine A. Mattes, Real Estate Consultant Carlos Santamaria, Glenborough LLC

Advertising Information Ellen Eason, ellen@easoncom.com 415.596.9466 © Copyright 2013 Eason Communications LLC 425 Market Street, Suite 2200 San Francisco, CA 94105 • 415.242.5244

www.baybuildingsnews.com Proud members of: BOMA, IFMA, SMPS, SPUR.

3 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

Is ENERGY STAR Working? Status Report Bay Area Buildings News recently posed questions to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about the effectiveness of its evolving ENERGY STAR program—which has garnered mixed reviews from industry professionals. Here are excerpts from the exchange.

Since 1992, EPA has worked with the owners and managers of commercial buildings to (a) standardize the way that energy efficiency is measured, (b) provide tools and resources to improve efficiency, and (c) provide ENERGY STAR certification to top-performing buildings.

At the heart of the program is an online energy management and tracking tool called ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.® Buildings have access to more than 150 metrics through Portfolio Manager, such as energy performance, greenhouse gas emissions, costs and water efficiency.

Certain building types are eligible to also receive a metric known as the 1-to-100 ENERGY STAR score. This score compares a building’s energy performance to similar buildings nationwide, while normalizing for things such as weather, building characteristics and operating characteristics. A score of 50 represents median energy performance, while a score of 75 means a building performs better than 75% of all similar buildings nationwide—and may be eligible for ENERGY STAR certification.

BABN: ENERGY STAR is said to be the industry standard for energy benchmarking buildings.

EPA: More than 300,000 buildings (representing more than 40% of U.S. commercial building space) currently benchmark their energy performance using Portfolio Manager, making it the de-facto industry standard. These include major multinational corporations as well as small businesses and congregations who use it to benchmark a single building.

BABN: Are ENERGY STAR labels a trusted third-party certification on par with LEED certification?

EPA: EPA’s ENERGY STAR is America’s symbol of energy efficiency, currently recognized by more than 85% of consumers. In an era where consumers are concerned about “greenwashing,” ENERGY STAR remains a mark of integrity. For commercial buildings, ENERGY STAR certification is awarded for a 12-month period and is based on actual, measured energy use during that time. This energy use and other building characteristics are verified by professional engineers and registered architects to meet strict energy performance Thousands of ENERGY STAR partners have used Portfolio Manager to standards set by EPA. On average, these buildings are verified to use reduce their portfolio-wide energy use by up to 60%.

35% less energy and generate 35% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than typical buildings. They are less expensive to operate, and are more attractive to tenants.

BABN: ENERGY STAR uses survey data from the 2003 CBECS (Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey) for its database, which is now 10 years old. The EPA has attempted to update the database with more recent survey data, but has been plagued with technical and logistical problems along the way.

EPA: The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (not the EPA) conducts a national survey to gather data on building characteristics and energy use from thousands of buildings across the United States. This Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) is the only national-level source of data on the characteristics and energy use of commercial buildings. The most current data available through CBECS is from 2003. 2012 survey data will be available next year, at which point EPA does plan incorporate the new data into the 1-100 ENERGY STAR score calculations.

BABN: ENERGY STAR offers two primary benchmarking metrics: Performance Rating (the 1-100 score) and a weather normalized EUI (Energy Use Intensity). The Performance Rating normalizes and creates a benchmark against (Continued on page 22)

5 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

10 Things That Most Concern Facility Managers In an interview with one of the country’s leading experts on facilities management, Buildings News asked San Mateo-based Carlos Santamaria what do facilities managers worry the most about. Glenborough’s vice president-engineering services produced this list, which he elaborated on in an interview. Santamaria provides technical assistance and is responsible for guiding Glenborough's management teams with implementing value-added measures for all of the company's assets. He is vice chair of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International Energy and Environment Committee, a Board of Director and Chair of the BOMA California Energy Committee, a Steering Committee Member with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Commercial Real Estate Energy Alliance group and Vice Chair-SME with BOMA China.

1. Making a wrong decision. The best facility managers are not ones who avoid taking any risks. Being too risk-averse usually means a manager is too frightened to innovate. Lack of innovation means that companies don’t keep up with changing methods, technology and corporate cultures. The most effective facility managers are those whose companies empower them to discover new ways to solve problems and create opportunities.

2. Having accurate information. Facility managers don’t always have the tools they need to verify and substantiate. For instance, they can save their companies a lot of money by purchasing energy on the open market, rather than just the safe route of buying all their power from a sole-source provider, like the local utility. With better information, they can make better decisions.

3. Working with knowledgeable people. As many Baby Boomers retire, the impending shortage of knowledgeable people in our industry means that facility managers will have to work with others who aren’t up to speed. A transfer of knowlCarlos Santamaria of Glenborough edge is badly needed to bridge this gap.

4. Keeping good, knowledgeable people. Too many people move around the industry too quickly, usually for better situations. It is important to provide better working environments so members of your team don’t transfer so quickly. Often this means giving them more autonomy to do their jobs.

5. Motivating team members. Incentivizing people to work harder and smarter is a complex human resources challenge, but one that must be addressed through a combination of things: financial, recognition, latitude to perform tasks.

6. Understanding energy-related projects. Since energy is the No. 1 controllable expense in operating budgets, facility managers must be constantly evolving in their understanding of how to provide adequate power for the least expenditure. This requires knowledge of a range of topics, from lighting to HVAC systems. They have to maintain a balance between tenant comforts versus air quality issues. Not having a full understanding of how energy consumption and use can impact tenant comfort will affect tenant productivity and potentially impact tenant retention. Energy costs amount to about 20% of a building’s controllable expense budget.

7. Understanding emerging technologies. There is an amazing array of new technologies intended to make buildings “smarter.” Facility managers don’t often have the time and training to determine which of these is appropriate for his facility.

8. Time to strategize. Putting out brush fires makes it nearly impossible for most facility managers to reflect on longrange possibilities. Most of the job is task-oriented. They need to be given the time and or make time to strategize about ways to improve processes — instead of constantly being in a reactive mode. The environment you work in must be more receptive to strategy.

9. Career planning. Employee development is not only good for the employee, it’s important for employers also. Being open, assisting in and facilitating employee development will benefit both parties and add to a more enriching work environment, making for an interesting and challenging work environment.

10. Balancing work and family. Employees who have a good life outside work will perform better on the job.

Attracting, keeping and motivating effective people means ensuring that they maintain a healthy balance.

6 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

“The Sacramento region was particularly hard hit by the recession in 2008 and 2009, especially in the areas of real estate and government employment. We’ve recently seen sustained growth not only in those areas, but also in business clusters such as life sciences and health services, technology, and higher education. Projecting ahead, the region will build on those advances and also reap significant economic benefit tied to the development of the new Entertainment and Sports Center in downtown Sacramento,” says Sacramento Metro Chamber President Roger Niello.

Barbara Hayes, President & CEO of SACTO, the region’s leading economic development organization says the region has “experienced 27 months of consecutive job growth and dipped into single-digit unemployment levels.

In the past two years, we have seen a surge in outside investment in significant projects—real estate portfolios, downtown development projects, sports franchises, and sports and entertainment venues—signaling confidence in the strength and future of the Sacramento regional economy.”

Moody’s Analytics reports, “Sacramento’s recovery regained momentum in the first quarter, as technologyrelated industries more than offset lingering weakness in state and local government and the closure of a major call center. Total payroll growth accelerated in the first quarter.”

Moody’s said the region’s strengths are proximity to rail and transportation infrastructure, lower living and business costs than the San Francisco Bay Area and an ideal venue for back-office expansions.

Will there be a noticeable exodus of companies from the Bay Area? “At this point, the spillover effect is not readily apparent, but we anticipate that a similar pattern will emerge as in the early 2000s when we saw residential and business movement into the Sacramento Region from the Bay Area primarily due to the price gap between the regions and limited availability of suitable space in the Bay Area,” says Center for Strategic Economic Research (CSER) Director Ryan Sharp.

Sacramento Rising...

California’s Capital Region is Growing Again, Signaling Opportunities

F

or a number of years, San Jose’s Alliance Roofing took a hard look at opening a branch office in Sacramento, but passed. The economy just wasn’t strong enough, in the judgment of its business development leaders. So why did the roof construction and maintenance firm change its mind recently?

First, Alliance dipped its toe in the water by hiring a local project manager, Andy Spring. Then recently, after due diligence, it committed to signing a lease on an office and hiring a full staff. “Through networking we saw a shift in the city’s building codes to a less restrictive building environment. That in conjunction with the fight to keep the Kings and the rapidly improving housing market indicated it was a good time to commit more resources by staffing an office location that has a dry storage warehouse and equipment yard,” says Spring, who now heads the Capital region’s operations.

A lot of other companies have reached the same conclusion as Alliance. And after years in economic purgatory, the 2.5-million-person Sacramento metropolitan area is on a growth trajectory that appears to be a solid trend, creating opportunities for commercial real estate companies and the many types of firms that derive income from resurgence in the buildings sector.

Photo above: Andy Spring, Alliance Roofing.

Economic Pluses and Minuses CSER reported recently that Sacramento's specific sectoral strengths are manufacturing, professional and business services, mining and logging, trade and hospitality, with

7 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

laggards being information technology and government services. The Center is projecting a stable 2.2% job growth rate by early next year.

Hit hard by reductions in public sector jobs, the region’s private sector shows greater promise. A CSER report details the situation: “Five of the Sacramento Region’s 11 major sectors added jobs between June 2012 and 2013, including the region’s four largest within the private sector. In addition to the four large sectors, Sacramento’s manufacturing sector added 900 jobs in the past 12 months with gains in both durable and non-durable goods production.

annual gains for most of 2012, but started jumping between positive and negative job growth at the beginning of 2013, ending the second quarter in negative territory. The net annual gain of 8,000 jobs in the Sacramento region brought the total number of nonfarm jobs to 879,400 at the end of the second quarter of 2013. The region is beginning to track at year 2003 employment levels and remains a little over 74,000 jobs lower than at the peak in the summer of 2007.”

Confidant about the Sacramento area, Harsch Investment Properties, a privately held real estate investment, development and management company, broke ground on a new 60,000-square-foot buildto-suit structure at Riverside Commerce Center in West Sacramento. Multinational corporation TOMRA has leased the building for a 12-year term, which will be used as a food sorting and peeling facility. It is believed to be the region’s first build-to-suit within the last year.

Another example of economic germination in the region is CropScience, a division of global giant Bayer AG, in West Sacramento. The new facility will serve as the U.S.-based R&D operations for the vegetable seed and crop protection products.

The approximately 164,000square-foot facility on 10 acres will employ 300 at full capacity. The company will also acquire an additional non-contiguous site on which to construct a greenhouse Breaking ground on a new Riverside Commerce Center building: Rick Griffin, TOMRA Regional Service and test plot facility. The project Manager; Jacob Hernandez, TOMRA Application and Technical Support Engineer; Katy Agahd, TOMRA will have an economic impact of Global HR Director; Ashley Hunter, TOMRA President and Sales Director for the Americas and Australasia; more than $127 million in output Christopher Cabaldon, West Sacramento Mayor; Jordan Schnitzer, Harsch Investment Properties President and CEO; Christopher Ledesma, West Sacramento Mayor Pro Tem; John Shorey, Harsch Investment in the Sacramento Region.

Properties Senior Vice President for the Sacramento Region; Kevin Jasper, Cornish & Carey Commercial Bayer CropScience will use the Newmark Knight Frank Senior Vice President for the Industrial Division. new site to expand and accelerate the development of innovative Regionally, manufacturing has been bucking a stateproducts which will be marketed worldwide as part of intewide trend with positive job growth for 30 straight months grated crop solutions through the company's global network rather than the continuous job declines seen at the stateof field sales and technical resources. wide level. In addition to the large government sector, four The Sacramento Area has an abundance of natural assets. other major sectors posted notable job losses in the past It is less than two hour’s drive from the San Francisco Bay 12 months, including financial activities, information, Area to the west and the Lake Tahoe-Sierras playground to construction and other services. the East, and it’s in fairly close proximity to Napa Valley.

Of note, the housing related sectors — construction and Combined with its lower business costs, diverse economy financial activities —have seen volatile performance since and population, the area is an ideal place for a long-term the region’s recovery began. Both sectors experienced corporate settlement.

Special Sponsored Report 8 Bay Area Buildings News

Alliance Roofing Opens in Sacramento By opening our new Sacramento office, Alliance Roofing Company, Inc. has recently expanded our service offering to the greater Sacramento-Reno metropolitan areas, where our experience in healthcare, hospitality/gaming as well as other area industries will be a benefit to our customers.

Alliance has established itself as one of Northern California’s premier roofing and waterproofing contractors in our 27 years of operation with our dedication to quality, professionalism, and safety. We always strive to stay ahead of the curve, learning new systems and taking on new challenges.

Although our primary marketplace has traditionally been the Bay Area, we have provided our services to numerous contractors and facilities stretching from the Sacramento valley to Reno, and beyond.

Healthcare projects provide Alliance with a real chance to shine. We are familiar with OSHPD regulations and bring a high level of experience to the table working through constructability and coordination concerns with OSHPD inspectors and project designers. We are prepared with the Alliance Roofing workers on site at Thunder Valley Casino. proper testing and certifications required by various building owners the day the work starts. Through our extensive experience with Kaiser, Sutter Health, and others we are often able to anticipate unwritten preferences to keep the disturbance to patients and employees of sensitive facilities to a minimum.

Alliance has completed many casino projects such as Thunder Valley, the Atlantis, and the Peppermill, so we understand the unique requirements of that industry. In today’s marketplace, these buildings are often some of the largest construction projects taking place.

Alliance’s ability to staff large projects with technicians skilled in a variety of roofing and waterproofing specialties and coordinate multiple scopes with the general contractors and other sub-contractors, while maintaining an aggressive schedule, has made us stand out as a preferred subcontractor. The relationships created on these projects have given us the opportunity to work on casinos Roof detail at Margaritaville casino riverboat project. in other locations throughout California and Nevada and beyond, including the new riverboat casino, Margaritaville in Shreveport, LA. Now that Alliance has established a new office in Sacramento, we hope to expand the services we offer to the region by duplicating much of what has made us successful in the Bay Area. This includes our work with colleges and universities, pharmaceutical, biotech, industrial, high tech, office buildings, research and hospitality, that are both newly built and existing.

Alliance Roofing Company’s dedicated service department has given us the chance to work closely with building owners and managers to become a partner in the building envelope’s long-term integrity by gaining knowledge of the systems in place and maintaining them. Then, as tenant improvements occur or replacement becomes necessary, we can use our knowledge of the building’s history to help provide the best solution to any problem. We are very excited to be in Sacramento and look forward to serving its roofing and waterproofing needs in every aspect.

To learn more, contact: Andy Spring • 916.239.4572 • aspring@allianceroofingcal.com Or visit us online at www.allianceroofingcal.com

9 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

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10 Bay Area Buildings News

Vanir Builds Out Chic Urban Space for WeWork A privately held company that builds communities made up of entrepreneurs and small businesses, WeWork empowers its members by providing functional workspace, collaborative environments, connective technology and meaningful services.

WeWork currently has offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C. and Boston.

WeWork contracted with Vanir in October 2012 to build out its space at 25 Taylor Street in San Francisco. The CM/GC cost-plus-fee contract enabled WeWork to start construction before the design documents were 100% complete.

Much like WeWork’s philosophy, the design and construction team worked collaboratively to create an exciting and chic workspace. Adjacent to the Golden Gate Theater, the seven-story office building is 90 years old and had been unoccupied for 10 years.

The inviting WeWork space at 25 Taylor Street, San Francisco.

The project team was tasked with bringing life back to this historical building that had been boarded up and abandoned.

After the initial abatement and demolition, Vanir moved forward with the new infrastructure requirements and finishes. A major part of the improvement work was installing new utility systems including electrical, fire sprinklers, fire alarm and heat into the building.

The substantially complete first phase of the project allows WeWork members to enjoy the 45,000 square feet of space.

Vanir and WeWork recently finalized a contract for the next phase of the project, which will be Design-Build services for the remaining three floors of the building. Anyone interested in leasing space from WeWork may schedule a tour by visiting www.wework.com.

Since 1980 Vanir has provided construction services for nearly $16 billion dollars in construction throughout the nation. During each phase of planning, design, construction and close-out, Vanir continuously focuses on achieving the owner’s goals for success. Owners throughout the private, education, healthcare, justice and civil market segments appreciate the level of quality and personal service received by Vanir’s team. As your construction expert, Vanir can provide many services including project scheduling, equipment and material procurement, general contracting, quality assurance/quality planning, and commissioning. In addition, Vanir offers construction management, design-assist, design-build, and integrated project delivery services.

For more information: Dan Ferst • 415.284.9050 • dan.ferst@vanir.com • www.vanir.com

11 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

More Employees Work in the Open A Trend That Promotes Collaboration—and Brings Challenges The San Francisco Bay Area leads the world in open and shared workspace designs for offices, according to a recent Building Owners and Managers Association tenants survey.

Twenty-six percent reported that at least one-fourth of their workers share space, compared with an 18% national average, says Phil Mobley, whose firm, Kingsley Associates of San Francisco, conducted the research.

Brad Gates with BCCI Construction Company says tenants are requesting much more shared or collaborative spaces. “Cost increases have come with open (exposed) ceilings vs. suspended t-bar ceiling grid systems: higher audiovisual costs with the increase in collaborative spaces and more conference rooms.”

“Shared space and workers who are often remote and then come together during peak periods and collaboration is a trend that continues to be integrated into design requirements,” says Rob Melinauskas of BNBuilders.

“The best designs have created more collaborative spaces and phone rooms to accommodate for the tangential space that is required with the open office environment. As the designs have evolved even greater emphasis on quality and aesthetics of lighting systems has developed. We have recently completed a project using a LED cat 5 driven lighting system,” he continued.

BCCI has seen square footage per employee go down dramatically. “We’ve seen it as low as 115 (square foot per employee) when the norm used to be 200-250.” BCCI has also been asked to provide more benching solutions rather than full workstations. They have seen more conference rooms, phone rooms, cabanas and pods. “Many of the larger tenants are adding full-service cafes with chef/cooking staff, smaller are going to warming kitchens and having food brought in.

Exposed ceilings and concrete floors are popular. However, they create acoustical issues, especially when combined with the higher employee count per square foot,” said Gates.

The BOMA survey also tracked employees working increasingly from home some days, then into the office for meetings and creative sharing time. “Shared space and

workers who are often remote and then come together during peak periods for collaboration is a trend that continues to be integrated into design requirements,” affirmed Melinauskas.

Aren’t Open Workspace Noisier?

Acoustical trends are also evolving, say engineers at Charles A. Salter & Associates. “Today’s collaborative, flexible workplaces can have significant acoustical challenges. It is common for tenants, particularly those in the high-tech sector, to specify denser office layouts, featuring bench workstations with cubicle barriers that are low or nonexistent, interspersed with ‘collaboration,’ ‘teaming,’ and ‘war room’ spaces, all of which aim to bring groups together for freeflowing exchanges of ideas.

These new layouts bring occupants into close quarters with each other. Close proximity can lead to speech privacy problems if groups such as sales teams (who can be boisterous) are close to quieter groups such as human resources, legal, or engineering,” says Ethan Salter.

He says the pervasive use of technology can also impinge upon privacy, interfering with videoconferencing and conference calls at individual workstations. “Some owners are not concerned about speech privacy, calling such potential conflicts ‘serendipitous interactions,’ where people overhear nearby conversations and join in,” says Salter. He adds, “If owners, user groups and designers do not discuss and collaborate on such issues, conflicts can arise. For example, if an owner assumes that users will use telephone handsets when, in actuality, more users employ videoconferencing, speech privacy goals may not be achieved.”

Excessive noise can degrade employees’ amenity spaces.

Salter says, “While offices of the past had simple kitchens (with perhaps a hot plate and coffee carafe), to entice top talent, firms now offer amenities that include gourmet food, games, and other ways to make the workplace more fun.

The latest collaborative office attributes include multiple kitchens with loud appliances like blenders and espresso machines, larger coffeehouse-style cafés, game rooms, music practice rooms, gyms, and other amenities.” Acoustical challenges require acoustical solutions if collaboration is to be productive — and not distracting.

Photos: Top: BNBuilders project for Westfield Labs. Lower: CSA worked with the architect to achieve an appropriate acoustical environment (Cesar Rubio Photography).

12 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

Earthquakes Don’t Kill... Unsafe Buildings Do — We know a major earthquake is coming, but since we cannot live in a state of perpetual fear, we tend to ignore the inevitable and too often fail to take precautions. But facts are facts. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates there is a 63% chance of a catastrophic quake within the next 30 years.

Tens of thousands of structures in Northern California cannot withstand such an earthquake. Countless buildings will be unusable for weeks or months and some will collapse, killing thousands and upending the regional economy for months or years. Fires will ignite when gas lines break under buildings or when electrical sparks inflame ambient gas, furniture, carpets and petroleum-based materials.

Falling debris will rain down on people walking under buildings. Toxic waste will waft through the air for weeks.

Broken glass and stone will fill downtown streets many feet high. Dozens of aftershocks will make the area seem like it’s under attack for days. Seismic scientists say the Big One is a certainty — and overdue.

When the widely anticipated major earthquake convulses our area, you may well be at work many miles from your home separated by a crippled bridge. Most mass transit could be unavailable for days or weeks, and the roads could be buckled and unusable…so you may be stuck at your workplace with no food, water, medical supplies or basic human requirements for many days. More than 10 million people in Northern California will be competing for very scarce resources that will get scarcer with each passing day before government and relief agencies can sealift or airlift necessities for millions.

Bottom line: You probably aren’t prepared and neither are most other people. But surely your employer has provided for you…or your landlord? It is not their responsibility. You probably are on your own.

Emergency preparedness authorities say you should prepare now for The Big One or suffer unimaginable consequences.

In 1995, the relatively prepared Japanese suffered a magnitude 6.9 quake in Kobe, resulting in 5,500 deaths and a direct

property loss of $147 billion. The U.S Geological Survey has predicted a 2-in-3 chance of a magnitude 7-plus quake in the Bay Area before 2020. With six major seismic faults scoring the Bay Area, no area is safe. (See www.usgs.gov for maps showing the most vulnerable areas.)

There’s a lot of work to be done, and wholesale preparedness is said to cost more than $100 billion, but failure to prepare could be at least twice as expensive and will result in great loss of life and instant economic decline. A 2006 study by a collation of engineering and seismic research firms — called “Managing Risk in Earthquake Country”–– said if a 1906-size quake hit the Bay Area today, it would affect 10 million people in 19 counties, damage 10,000 commercial buildings and 250,000 dwellings, kill as many as 3,400 people and leave 400,000 homeless. It said resulting fires would kill more people and damage more structures. Apartment dwellers could suffer most heavily, particularly those in soft-story buildings, such as ones with garages underneath the main building.

The Association of Bay Area Governments also noted in a recent report that damage to the infrastructure that sustains the region’s interdependencies will further exacerbate the disaster. “Underground infrastructure assets — water and sewer pipes, natural gas and liquid fuel pipelines, power distribution lines, and communications cables and equipment are particularly vulnerable to liquefaction, as well as above ground structures. Deep soil basins, such as in Silicon Valley, can amplify ground shaking. Bridges, tunnels, and roadways will be impacted by disaster damage and debris,” said ABAG. The report concluded, “The social and economic consequences could prove to be long-lasting and ruinous to communities.”

What Can We Do? Should a catastrophic earthquake occur during working hours, millions of employees would not be able to get home for days.

13 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

The Clock is Ticking and We Still Aren’t Prepared Commercial real estate consultant Kathy Mattes recently Buildings constructed since the mid-1980s must comply surveyed a number of property managers at large and midwith strict codes, but there are no requirements for older size facilities throughout the Bay Area.. She said, “The vast commercial buildings to retrofit to the more recent stanmajority of buildings managers that I spoke with also have dards. “There is still a large inventory of buildings that is emergency preparedness manuals that they provide to still a safety concern,” says leading seismic expert Chris tenants, and most of those manuals address the need to have Poland, chairman of Degenkolb Engineers of San Francisco. supplies on hand in the event of an earthquake that leaves “Most people think their buildings will do quite well in them in place for a period of time. Common wisdom is that an earthquake, because they survived an earthquake in 1989 wherever you maintain supplies, you should have enough with an epicenter that was 50 miles away (Loma Prieta),” supplies for each person for a three-day period. The above says Poland. Unfortunately, seismologists predict the next appears to be the baseline level of preparedness for an earthquake will likely occur right in the middle of the Bay Area quake. Smaller buildings are doing this and nothing more.” somewhere along the Hayward Fault. That could result in a There is, however, no known survey of the number of 1906-size quake, rated “catastrophic.” employees who actually have earthquake kits under their (Continued on page 15) desks — or whether the food, water and medical supplies are fresh. Some sources familiar with the issue estimate that the vast majority of employees do not have adequate, up-to-date supplies. One comLocal, state, federal and disaster relief agencies conclude that: pany, Nexus Preparedness Systems, conducts audits to determine if employees have enough supplies to sustain them in Sewage, water the aftermath of an earthquake. Nexus’ and other utilities President Brian Klosterman says the state will be not be of readiness is a cause for concern, but available for there are signs that some employers are many days. accepting some responsibility.

“We’re witnessing a growing trend Communications towards companies providing emergency will be interrupted. survival and recovery supplies for their

How Unprepared Are We?

10%

employees, all the way down to storing individual employee kits in their supply cache,” says Klosterman.

Failure to supply employees with post-earthquake supplies could result in potential legal exposure, based on the principle of ‘foreseeability,’ says Klosterman. He explains, “Providing for the welfare of employees who work for a company in a known hazards region in advance of an event is not only prudent from a legal perspective, it also shows the employees the company truly cares for their safety.”

We can also do a great deal more to shore up the structures in which we live and work.

Fewer than 10% of households have disaster plans.

Fewer than 10% of homeowners have retrofitted their homes to withstand earthquakes.

50% Fewer than 50% of all homes have disaster kits (food, water, medical supplies).

Hospitals and clinics will be overwhelmed and supplies diminished.

Aid from the Red Cross and government agencies will be unavailable for days.

Power outrages will retard relief and care efforts.

25% As many as 25% of small businesses will not recover

14 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

“Fire! Fire!”

We learned that fire was the great killer and destroyer in the tinderbox world of the mostly wooden San Francisco of 1906. But since most major commercial buildings are made of more modern materials, fire isn’t much of a concern any more, right? Wrong. Fire could be an even greater concern in some cases, say San Francisco Fire Department chiefs.

SFPD Battalion Chief Kirk Richardson said at the BOMA San Francisco Emergency 2013 seminar recently that the existence of numerous gas lines underneath downtown San Francisco is still a cause for concern.

Pacific Gas & Electric Company has taken steps to make those lines more secure since the 1906 quake, but there are no guarantees that some won’t burst when the earth moves violently.

He also said that faulty and old electrical systems in buildings can spark wood and plastic fires. And burning plastics are even more toxic than wood smoke. Smoke from plastics fire can be poisonous and flammable under certain conditions. Richardson said, however, San Francisco is much better prepared to handle fire now than in 1906, because of coderequired sprinkler systems throughout buildings as well as the creation of vast and varied water shortage network needed to fight flames. In 1906, insufficient water proved disastrous.

15 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

Earthquakes

(Continued from page 13)

At the ETC Building & Design-sponsored Earthquake 2013: Business Preparedness Summit in Sunnyvale, various speakers illustrated the many ways Bay Area companies can better secure their assets during a quake. For instance, David Silberman of Stanford School of Medicine says spending a few bucks attaching a research microscope to a work bench can save $50,000 in replacement costs. That message resonated with a Silicon Valley audience whose companies produce products using highly sensitive and costly equipment.

Thanks to Stanford’s health safety program, the medical school will be able to better secure its $250 million worth of instruments, storage facilities and other tools essential to its Nobel laureate-led programs — and prepare the release of dangerous pathogens and ingredients into the environment. The Bay Area is home to two-thirds of the bioscience companies west of the Mississippi.

Recovery Prospects How we recover depends greatly on actions we take now. Companies like Preparis offer technology and consulting programs that help companies continue to operate just after disasters. “Property managers are responsible for the life safety of all their tenants, but often in an emergency their response is hampered by out-of-date contact information, untrained floor wardens, and slow methods of emergency notification such as phone trees.

A poor emergency response can instantly damage a building or management company’s reputation plus impact tenant retention and revenue,” says Preparis President Randall Tolbert. USGS says, “Earthquakes remain a serious threat to the San Francisco Bay region. Large quakes will certainly shake this urban region in coming decades, but the impacts of these events can be reduced. Continuing advances in science and engineering and improved practices in construction, land use, emergency response, and disaster recovery will offer new avenues to limit losses and reduce impacts of future shocks.”

To achieve recovery, Is Your Facility Really Prepared with “we’ve got to make sure that our buildings and infrastructure are operatthe Right Emergency Supplies? ing so people can go back to work. We need to make our area more resilient,” says Poland.

Introducing Managed Preparedness!

Land-use think tank SPUR in San Francisco recently We provide: issued a comprehensive report called On Solid Ground. SPUR says, “While the region is making strides to protect invest A best practices approach ments, we have more work to do. We need to consider earthto corporate preparedness quake risks when developing new land use plans. We need Disaster specific and to build a culture of preparedness around our planning unique turnkey supply activities, continuously updating our plans and codes so that solutions when the next earthquake strikes, we will be in a position to Inventory tracking and rebuild quickly and well. If we fail to do so, we run the risk expiration alerts of undermining the economy of the entire region and losing our residents, perhaps permanently.”

Contact us for a complimentary This stark assessment means many local government jurisemergency supply site assessment: dictions must more frankly confront earthquake probabilities, info@nexisprep.com • 888.545.7233 particularly those on shaky ground. SPUR explains, “If we fail to begin planning before the disaster, we run the risk of undermining our future recovery. Buildings and infrastructure that haven’t been planned with earthquake risk in mind could be severely damaged after a major event.”

Bottom line: By planning better now, we can minimize Visit us online at www.nexisprep.com subsequent economic damage and loss of life.

16 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

Association News

BOMA Appeals to Allied CRE Associations to Help Solve Workforce Shortages There Are Too Few Qualified Replacements to Manage Buildings As Boomers Retire Educating and developing professionals to manage 15,000-to-25,000 ‘qualified’ workers per year will be created commercial real estate in the near future turns out to be a within the real estate industry.” Many industry leaders say, at much bigger job than one commercial real estate group can this point, there aren’t enough competent people to bridge handle alone. And it’s certainly too big of a task for individthe gap. ual companies to tackle. That’s why the leadership of the Through a combination of university partnerships, indusBuilding Owners and Managers Association San Francisco try mentoring, internships and scholarships, coupled with Foundation is reaching out to other commercial real estate advanced training by the BOMA-SF, the unique BOMA SF associations.

Foundation is already readying some Foundation Board Chair Sandra competent newcomers to step into jobs Boyle has invited allied association recently vacated by retirees. leaders to a breakfast in San Francisco The industry-wide talent shortage in late October to discuss the common was seen as too daunting for any one problem of staffing all types of profescompany to address, so the foundation sionals responsible for operating was created in 2011 to draw resources commercial buildings. Invitations went from throughout commercial real estate out to CREW, IREM, CCIM, NAIOP, and allied fields like engineering and CoreNet, and BOMAs in Oakland/East construction. Now the board sees the Bay, Silicon Valley and Sacramento. need to involve other CRE groups.

Boyle, a senior director at Cushman “Since every segment of the buildings & Wakefield in San Francisco, said in community is affected, we are reaching her invitation, “While most groups out to all affected commercial real estate are engaged with mentoring young firms and companies that provide every professionals new to our industry, type of service to buildings,” says Good careers await young staffers.

I’m not confident we’re doing all we Intermaggio, who has led BOMA for can to recruit new talent into our industry. It would be more than three decades. “It’s a big problem requiring a beneficial to have an informal conversation about how we sustained commitment. Every company involved in commermight work together to address our industry’s looming talent cial real estate as well as tenants have a stake in ensuring we deficit challenge.” have competent people running our facilities. This is a Specifically, Boyle said the breakfast meeting should initinationwide issue that was highlighted at a recent BOMA ate an open forum, update and assess efforts in academia International conference in San Diego.” and focus on the CRE industry’s alignment with area colThe first major step was forging an alliance with San leges and universities.

Francisco State University’s College of Business and “Meeting an industry-wide challenge calls for an financially supporting the development of CRE courses. industry-wide effort,” says Marc Intermaggio, BOMA-SF’s The partnership developed new courses of study enabling executive vice president, one of the architects of the BOMA students to receive a bachelor’s degree in business adminisFoundation. “Investing some time and money now will avert tration with a major in finance and a certificate in commera much bigger impact later. We want tenants and allied cial real estate. The program of study integrates financial, service and product providers working with very qualified regulatory, economic and social subjects into a single course property and facility managers. The alternative is unthinkof study, one that is advised by industry leaders. able, particularly in an industry-leading environment like The role of a property has evolved significantly since the the Bay Area.” days when property management companies and owners just executed expenses management plans for a property.

BOMA Has Taken the Lead…But It’s Not Enough Today’s property executives are required to master a range of Industry watcher CEL & Associates’ CEO Chris Lee says, complex financial and managerial skills as buildings become “Based upon the expected surge of Bay Boomer retirees, once more sophisticated. their retirement future is secure, a potential shortage of

17 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

Bay Area Economy Booming into 2014 Buildings Rising All Over the Region Led by multifamily, hotel and retail construction, buildings are rising all over Northern California, according to economic forecasters who appeared at the 2014 outlook conference sponsored in September by the Institute of Real Estate Management of San Francisco, the Buildings Owners and Managers Association of Oakland/East Bay and other groups.

The same week, speakers at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce’s ForecastSF 2013 event made similar forecasts. “San Francisco is leading the nation in job growth because of the efforts we have undertaken to create a strong climate for investment,” Mayor Ed Lee told an audience of 300-plus.

“But now is not the time to rest on our success, now is the time to double down on that success and tackle our challenges.”

Well Fargo Chief Economist John Silvia told the chamber conferees, “The good news is that San Francisco’s economy continues to outpace growth in the state and the nation, with strong per capita income and strength in the labor and housing markets. However, housing affordability issues remain as home prices are rising.” The area’s well-educated workforce and thriving tech sector drive the economy. And, with an increasingly global customer base, it is unlikely that the Bay Area will be as subject to U.S. bubble bursts as in the past.

Cassidy Turley Senior Managing Director Ric Russell told the Oakland audience during the IREM-sponsored event that “Tenant demand has slowed from White Hot to Very Warm.” New ramping construction won’t be a major factor until 2015, when more buildings come online. Russell also reported the near record low 8.7% commercial vacancy rate will go even lower next year. And with many major five-year leases inked during the recession coming due in 2014, per-square-foot prices will continue to rise. Investment properties will get top price next year before new properties open their doors.

Cassidy Turley reports that recent average commercial office asking rates hit $47.69, a whopping 51% over the recession low in 2009. And apartment rates Bay Area-wide averaged more than $2,000 over $1,600 in 2010, a rate that Russell said would be “unsustainable” in the future as 5,185 units came online in 2013, 20,801 units are under construction and even more are planned. Vacancies are below 4% in every market, Cassidy Turley found. Silvia appealed to government officials in the audience not to “penalize progress” and urged them to stay with the “game plan” that has been working in San Francisco.

18 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

Association News

Contracting Giant Applauded for Hiring Locally Webcor Builders, the Bay Area’s largest general contractor, has not forgotten that it started out as four guys and a truck back in 1971, said SVP Shelley Doran, while accepting the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce’s Community Champion Award Oct. 3 for making a special effort to contract with local small businesses.

Spokesperson Thomas Soohoo explains, “Webcor is an advocate for supporting local businesses because we believe in the positive impact it makes to the SF economy. Supporting local businesses could trigger the creation of jobs, or many more business opportunities along the supply chain.

Webcor is always looking for ways to give back to the local communities where we work. The easiest way we see doing this is by reaching out and getting involved with local businesses. We seek opportunities to involve local businesses in all aspects of our operations. Whether they are office supplies, the local deli for team lunches or subcontractors to help us build our projects, we always have local businesses in mind.”

Webcor, in fact, has a full-time team that ensures its procurement process includes small, Shelley Doran accepts disadvantaged and local companies. It also has a mentor-protegé program focused on promoting award from Chamber. women-owned businesses.

(Photo: Stuart Locklear)

How to Avoid Leasing Mistakes Expert IFMA Silicon Valley Panel Provides Checklist Leasing an office or a building is a complex process that’s stakeholders will be happy and productive in the facility? very easy to get wrong, if you don’t establish a comprehenAre you using sensitive equipment that neighboring tenants sive procedure and fail to assemble an appropriate team — might cause to malfunction because their activities create one that should always include your company’s vibrations? These are a few of the many issues raised by the facilities manager. That was the bottom-line advice panel. If not addressed early and properly included in the offered by a panel of experts on lease, they could cause the company to malfunction. the topic who appeared at Some specific tips: ◗ Gain the input of your trustan International Facility ed vendors, such as your architect, Management Association construction management firm, conference in Silicon Valley AV experts, etc. (to do test fits, in September. measure the exact square footage Claudia Gough, VP and make other fundamental Facilities for Coherent, Dan assessments about the equipment Hoffman, Hoffman Associates you use and space planning for and Per Johanson, Global employees) Facilities and Real Estate, ◗ Negotiate the letter of intent, served on a panel moderated conduct due diligence, make

by Byron Renfro, Director, inspections, confirm landlord Leasing and Marketing, assertions Orchard Commercial.

Panel at IFMA conference gives insights into leasing best practices. ◗ Finalize accurate cost of Will the HVAC system in occupancy, negotiate lease using knowledgeable attorneys, the facility you are leasing fail before your lease expires? brokers and insurance agents If so, are you responsible for replacing it? Does the lease ◗ Draft an occupancy plan and obtain final approvals accommodate the enterprise’s growth plans over five (for instance, who at your company should actually sign years…10 years? Does your company’s C-Suite understand the lease) the budget it stipulated could be blown for dozens of And, importantly, make sure that the way you want to do reasons? Are you working with a broker who’s giving you business meets with all the codes and regulations ordained useful alternatives? Is a real estate attorney on your team — by local governing authorities. This usually takes time and not just your general counsel? a lot of patience.

Does HR feel that your employees and other important

Industry Profiles

19 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

Danny Murtagh Director of Engineering, Boston Properties Q: The entire Embarcadero Center just attained LEED Gold status. That must have been a major effort for a four-decade-old facility built before much ecological awareness or technology. What will be the tangible benefits?

Positive impact to the environment and reduction in the use of natural resources as well as lower operating expenses for those portions of the building altered by either physical or operational changes to improve performance. Things like waste diversion from landfills to recycling and composting streams; electricity, water and gas consumption reductions and more friendly cleaning products and processes to name a few tangible improvement areas.

Q: What were the major changes that had to be made for your massive complex to become more sustainable?

Well, there were many changes made incrementally over a lot of years to help improve the buildings’ energy performance and operations that led us to a point when LEED came our way, we did not have to make many new physical improvements. Things like energy management and control systems that operate the building lighting and air conditioning systems; lighting retrofits and lighting controls; chiller retrofits and replacements; variable speed drives on fans and pumps and window films to reduce heat gain are some of the major projects done over those years. Most changes made during our LEED effort were operational and procedural changes. However, we did find that our existing toilets were largely the ones installed long ago when the buildings were constructed back in the 1970’s and very inefficient, so we made a business case and replaced them as a capital project and obtained an incentive from the local water/sewer utility.

Orlando Carrasquillo General Manager, Fremont Marriott Silicon Valley Q: Hotels must be tougher to run than office buildings or other facilities that do not operate 24/7, 365 days a week. What are the biggest challenges that face the general manager of a major facility like yours?

Hotels are the most complex real estate. You have all of the challenges of owning, maintaining, and taking care of a building with the added complexity of running one. Imagine an office building where every day your tenants checked out and in the afternoon, you were expected to have it ready for the next tenant to move in. This sense of urgency creates a heavy labor environment that can get out of hand quickly if not monitored constantly. California labor laws make this aspect even more complex.

additional benefit of being more cost effective with your energy use while getting the best solution for the owner of the building.

Q: Are manufacturers developing products that better enable you to achieve your sustainability goals?

Always. You just have to be on the lookout for how they may apply to you in a hospitality environment.

Q: Many hotels seek to be more sustainable. What are some of the ways you have made your property greener?

Q: As guest demands evolve, how does this affect the way you operate your hotel? Any new trends that influence the way your property must run?

The hotel takes a consistent and common sense approach to being more green. For example, LED lighting has allowed the hotel to eliminate all incandescent lighting from the hotel without changing ballasts. The LED products are more apt for some of the areas that needed attention in our public and meeting space. A quick analysis showed a similar look for the customer with a significant financial savings over time. In addition, large capital equipment change outs, like boilers or chillers, are worth analyzing to ensure that you obtain an

Technology is finally at a stage where it is starting to be portable, transferable, affordable, reliable, and PCI compliant. This confluence is finally allowing hospitality to start offering conveniences that other industries have been using for years. I see a hotel guest being able to check in using their phone, using that same phone as their key, then ordering entertainment or room service, finally using that same phone to check out. Enjoying a great experience without once having to go by the Front Desk.

20 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

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21 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

NFMT Vegas: Some Highlights Building Operating Management’s NFMT Vegas 2013 Sept. 17-18 was what might be called a “goldilocks” event: not too big and not too small: 200-plus exhibitors, 62 educational sessions and plenty of networking opportunities. It’s the sort of conference where you’ll actually run into the same people a couple of times and have quality conversations with speakers and product and service exhibitors. Below are a few highlights and takeaways.

Women in FM Networking Event A panel of women shared advice and anecdotes with a roomful of women in various stages of their careers. “To get a firm hold on the Facility Management profession you should do several things. Begin with establishing a good working relationship with a great mentor. Next, decide where you will tether yourself to gain education and training on your FM deltas (not your strengths) and new trends you should understand and embrace. Finally, network…network…network! Listen, learn and then speak and lead with authority. Most of all enjoy the journey, as it is truly a wonderful profession,” said Teena Shouse, CFM, IFMA Fellow and Vice President of Facility Engineering Associates, P.C.

Solutions Exchange Another networking innovation was the fast round-robin event where you sit at an “issues” table with eight or 10 other people for 20 minutes and exchange views on specific topics, like how to find quality vendors or better communications through tech, how to comply with OSHA Lockout-Tagout, wireless temperature monitoring or long-term door solutions. After 20 minutes, you get up and change tables with a different group. And there’s a bucket of iced free beer in the center of each table to lubricate conversation.

Paint Garage Walls White and Save Energy Since paint is a lot cheaper than lighting upgrades and fuel bills, by painting your parking garages white, you can use less costly lighting solutions, because white walls reflect lower wattage bulbs. So says Alan Whitson, president of the Corporate Realty, Design & Management Institute. The Newport Beach, CA consultant also kept his audience at rapt attention by giving them tips on how to sell energy-efficiency projects to bean counters.

His LED math exercise demonstrated beyond all skepticism how to calculate cost savings by multiplying shortterm savings by the investment value of those dollars extended out over time, as well as other economic tips.

Building Sustainability Through Building Automation Building automation systems that network hardware and software behind the scenes can contribute to a building’s sustainability, according to KMC Controls’ Ben H. More than 200 exhibitors welcomed attendees on the trade show floor.

Dorsey III, Senior Vice President of Marketing and LEED Green Associate. Benefits of building automation include higher energy efficiency and lower operating costs. He cited an example of a retrofit BACnet did for Headway Technologies/TDK, a clean room manufacturing facility in Silicon Valley, CA that achieved ROI in 10 months and saved $800K.

Tax Savings Deadline for Energy Policy Act Approaching…Extended?

Speaking of savings, Jacob Goldman with Energy Tax Savers, Inc. says you still have time to file for tax deductions if you have made energy-related improvements under EPAct 179D. The current deadline is Dec. 31, 2013. And efforts are afoot to extend the provision until December 2016. Even if the work was done as far back as 2006, you are still eligible for the tax breaks. Lighting, HVAC and building envelop upgrades for buildings as small as 50,000 sf are worth $150,000 or as much as $3 million for 1 million sf buildings in tax breaks. Eligible buildings include retailers, distribution centers, hotels, parking garages, office buildings and industrial facilities. Tip: the biggest savings are in lighting and lighting controls, plus HVAC upgrades.

22 Bay Area Buildings News • November/December 2013

ENERGY STAR

(Continued from page 3)

other buildings that have similar sizes and primary uses. The weather normalized EUI (Energy Use Intensity) normalizes for weather and creates a benchmark only against the building itself (so that one can compare energy consumption over time). Unfortunately, there has yet to be a way to create a weather-normalized performance rating (creating an all-encompassing normalized benchmark), so one has to consider both metrics when benchmarking their respective assets.

EPA: This is not correct. The 1-100 ENERGY STAR score normalizes for weather, building characteristics and operating characteristics. Based on the information you enter about your building, such as its size, geographic location, number of occupants, number of PCs, etc., Portfolio Manager’s algorithm estimates how much energy the building would use if it were the best performing, the worst performing, and every level in between. It then compares your building’s actual energy data to these estimates to determine where your building ranks relative to its peers. A score of 50 represents median energy performance.

BABN: ENERGY STAR is best suited to identify trends over long periods of time (year-over-year comparison is the most rewarding analysis capability of ENERGY STAR). One must invest in more sophisticated software and/or hardware to get granular and/or interval data.

EPA: Portfolio Manager is a business tool that organizations can use to make informed and strategic decisions across a portfolio of buildings. It is a tool that can help organizations set investment priorities, identify under-performing buildings, and verify improvements. Thousands of ENERGY STAR partners have used Portfolio Manager to reduce their portfolio-wide energy use by up to 60%. In cases where facility managers want more detailed information about what is happening within a specific building, then interval meters and other tools provide a good complement to Portfolio Manager.

BABN: ENERGY STAR doesn’t handle spaces with high IT loads (from server closets to critical facility data centers) very well. One must invest in submetering the space. If submetering is out of the question, one must identify the high-plug load space as primary office space in order to generate a performance rating. However, this is not the most accurate way to account for the highenergy plug load of concentrated IT equipment.

EPA: Data centers that are co-located in buildings, such as

in multi-tenant office buildings, can be extremely energy intensive, often using 10 to 50 times more electricity than standard office space. As a result, building owners and managers have an opportunity to reduce energy loads and improve building efficiency by actively managing the energy used in data centers. The 1-100 ENERGY STAR score is available for stand-alone data centers as well as offices, banks and other buildings that contain data centers.

In order to properly manage your data center, you need to measure its IT energy consumption. Without an understanding of this IT load there is no way to gauge how effectively the data center is running, or how much energy is needed for cooling and support.

Not knowing the IT energy of a data center is like not knowing the square footage or hours of operation in an office—without this information you cannot understand your real performance.

The most accurate ENERGY STAR score for any facility that includes a data center is obtained by measuring the IT load, and using the 1-100 ENERGY STARscore for data centers.

BABN: One must be very accurate in entering occupancy data. Not properly accounting for changes in occupancy will inaccurately inflate or reduce your score depending on the particular scenario. This can be particularly cumbersome for light-industrial/flex-space/low-rise assets with much more volatility in their occupancy.

EPA: Accurate data is necessary for an accurate ENERGY STAR score. For any building that changes its operation from one quarter to the next, these changes are going to be critical to understanding performance. Changes to the number of workers or the hours of operation will change what should be “expected” of their energy use, and therefore changes their ENERGY STAR score. Through the upgraded Portfolio Manager tool, EPA has greatly simplified the process of creating an “Update Log” to change total hours, occupant count, PC count, floor area and other details.

BABN: At least 12 months of data is needed in order to generate a performance rating. This can be challenging if you have a building with multiple meters and/or multiple spaces.

EPA: The ENERGY STAR score, like all metrics in Portfolio Manager, is computed for a 12-month time period. It is important to track a building for a full 12 months so that Port-folio Manager can assess its performance during all seasons, as seasonal changes in both weather and in the operation of the building can affect its total energy consumption. If a building has multiple meters or multiple tenant spaces, then for each individual month there are more items that need to be collected and entered.

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Vanir Builds Out Chic Urban Space for WeWork A privately held company that builds communities made up of entrepreneurs and small businesses, WeWork empowers its members by providing functional workspace, collaborative environments, connective technology and meaningful services.

WeWork currently has offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C. and Boston.

WeWork contracted with Vanir in October 2012 to build out its space at 25 Taylor Street in San Francisco. The CM/GC cost-plus-fee contract enabled WeWork to start construction before the design documents were 100% complete.

Much like WeWork’s philosophy, the design and construction team worked collaboratively to create an exciting and chic workspace. Adjacent to the Golden Gate Theater, the seven-story office building is 90 years old and had been unoccupied for 10 years.

IFMAs • BOMAs • AIAs • IREM CREW • SMPS • CoreNET Apartment Associations • NCCAR Hotel Associations...and many other industry players

The inviting WeWork space at 25 Taylor Street, San Francisco.

The project team was tasked with bringing life back to this historical building that had been boarded up and abandoned.

After the initial abatement and demolition, Vanir moved forward with the new infrastructure requirements and finishes. A major part of the improvement work was installing new utility systems including electrical, fire sprinklers, fire alarm and heat into the building.

The substantially complete first phase of the project allows WeWork members to enjoy the 45,000 square feet of space.

Vanir and WeWork recently finalized a contract for the next phase of the project, which will be Design-Build services for the remaining three floors of the building. Anyone interested in leasing space from WeWork may schedule a tour by visiting www.wework.com.

Since 1980 Vanir has provided construction services for nearly $16 billion dollars in construction throughout the nation. During each phase of planning, design, construction and close-out, Vanir continuously focuses on achieving the owner’s goals for success. Owners throughout the private, education, healthcare, justice and civil market segments appreciate the level of quality and personal service received by Vanir’s team. As your construction expert, Vanir can provide many services including project scheduling, equipment and material procurement, general contracting, quality assurance/quality planning, and commissioning. In addition, Vanir offers construction management, design-assist, design-build, and integrated project delivery services.

For more information: Dan Ferst • 415.284.9050 • dan.ferst@vanir.com • www.vanir.com

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All Carbon-Neutral Building Projects By 2030?

Can all new buildings and major renovations in San Francisco be carbonneutral by 2030? In recent remarks to a SPUR audience, RMW architect Stan Lew set forth that noble goal.

Lew is involved in a national campaign called Architecture 2030 that aims to achieve this objective. Is such a program necessary when there are already so many sustainable buildings efforts under way?

“2030 Districts (being set up within U.S. metro areas) are particularly effective at integrating many of the various programs currently in use including LEED, ENERGY STAR, Green Building among others,” says the San Francisco architect. He explains in an interview, “It is difficult to compare performance with the diversity of programs in use today due to differing metrics, timelines and benchmarking criteria — which is where a 2030 District provides value by providing a common set of goals, metrics and performance criteria. By aligning multiple initiatives under a 2030 District, objective comparisons can be made which ultimately helps gauge progress towards performance goals.”

He acknowledges that achieving a perfect carbon-neutral district may be Stan Lew advocates the goals of Architecture 2030. unachievable in 17 years. “The goal is not to be carbon-neutral for an entire district. Existing buildings in a 2030 District would be 50% below the national median in aggregate for energy, water and C02 from transportation. New construction projects within a 2030 District would target a goal of becoming carbon-neutral by the year 2030 meaning the building does not require GHGemitting fossil fuel to operate.”

Lew says the next steps involved in creating the San Francisco 2030 District include forming an organization and getting sponsorship, as educational efforts proceed. Most 2030 Districts are located around a city’s Central Business District (CBD).

Holding forth the possibility that nearby Bay Area cities might join the effort, Lew says, “It is possible for a single entity to organize and operate multiple 2030 Districts. We would be open to discussing this with interested parties.” For more information, visit www.architecture2030.org.

Architecture 2030’s targets for carbon-neutral existing buildings.