Annual Green Supplement
6
December 2020
Happier, Healthier Workplaces: Designing with Efficiency and Awareness
by Sarah Jane Visnick Workplaces have always been designed with productivity in mind, but what about human health, energy efficiency, and corporate culture? Humans spend 90% of their lives indoors, a fact which compels designers to ask, “How do we make the interior experience the best one possible?” Synergies between LEED and the WELL Building Standard highlight the journey to built environments which are innately good for both the environment and the end users. Over the course of a building’s lifespan, 92% of costs are estimated to be focused on personnel. Payroll long out-costs initial construction expenses, as well as daily maintenance and operations. Designers have the ability to alter the workplace experience by specifying materials with lower volatile organic compounds (VOCs), air ventilation systems which filter out pollutants, lights that provide proper levels to reduce eye
Parexel workspace area / Photo courtesy of Visnick & Caulfield
strain, and furnishings and finishes that manage acoustics. Providing office space which not only maintains a safe baseline, but actually encourages health and wellness, increases employee productivity, satisfaction and retention. As displayed in Visnick & Caulfield’s recent project for Parexel, which achieved LEED Silver, energy efficiency and corporate culture easily go hand in hand. Spaces for spontaneous collaboration
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allow for employees to interact genuinely with one another, all while harnessing natural light and using efficient fixtures. The open office space features a white noise machine, an acoustic technique approved by WELL to increase productivity and comfort. VCA also took extra measures to specify materials with low VOCs,
which increases air quality for employees. While WELL focuses on people and LEED focuses on planet, they combine to create the workplace of the future: a comfortable, productive, healthy place which cultivates happier employees. Sarah Jane Visnick, WELL AP and LEED, is an associate at Visnick & Caulfield.
LEAN Program Saves Peabody $1.75M Braintree, MA – The Peabody Companies announced an annual savings of $1.75 million in gas and electric costs at its properties in 20192020, stemming from its participation in the Massachusetts LEAN Multifamily Program. LEAN is the statewide network of local Community Action Agencies, which provide energy efficiency and other energy services at no cost to income-eligible clients. It brings together over 40 years of experience and funding from all different sources to identify, scope, manage, inspect and pay for energy efficiency installations in residential housing. The LEAN Program is tailored to deliver complete, cost-effective gas and electric efficiency measures for affordable housing across Massachusetts. Annual savings from gas and electrical projects at Peabody residential properties have been increasing every year for the last five years; $500,000 of this past year’s $1.75 million in savings is a result of the Peabody Companies’ partnership with Paradigm Energy Services of Somerville, recognized as a leading energy efficiency service provider for multi-family homes. Paradigm, working in conjunction with Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD), has completed 39 electrical projects at Peabody Companies’ communities since the
The Presidential Courts has 44 boiler rooms. Pictured are four electrical pumps provided by Action, Inc. The larger boiler equipment on the left was provided by ABCD.
partnership began in 2018, including Commerce Apartments in Roxbury, Hearth at Olmsted Green in Dorchester, Julia Martin House in Jamaica Plain, Nate Smith House in Jamaica Plain, Roxse Homes in Boston, School House Apartments in Mattapan, and The Metropolitan in Boston. Additionally, ABCD and Action Energy were brought together for the first time on a Peabody project to fund heating upgrades at the Presidential Courts in Stoughton. ABCD initially committed to funding more than $196,000 on the boiler upgrades, and Action Energy then offered to fund $100,000 additional for the electrical work. Together, the two groups provided $296,130 for the project. These high efficiency upgrades are being installed now and will provide increased comfort for residents this heating season and for years to come.