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are The Gulf Canada Square team: Laura Newcombe, Noreen Music, Dave Collins, John Kennedy, Ray McPhee and Glen Wardale.
administrative offices, and some tenants are also adopting the practice. Other innovations are still in their infancy, but show potential for promising results. Management staff sees the EARTH Award as positive reinforcement, demonstrating that small changes can have a big impact on operations. “It’s not always easy being the forerunner,” Newcombe reflects. “It is reaffirming to see a measurable impact in reduced energy consumption and better air quality.” A DYNAMIC LEARNING PROCESS The award’s rigorous standards, which eliminate companies that fail to demonstrate measurable environmental improvements, provide credibility for tenants and in the wider marketplace. The submission process itself became a learning experience and exercise in identifying still more areas for action, while also allowing the management team to work collaboratively and draw on all personnel’s knowledge and expertise. “We a s s e m b l e d a t e a m a n d empowered each individual to be responsible for specific sections,” Wardale recounts. “Because the submission process is a team effort, it was important to recognize each team
member’s day-to-day challenges when setting deadlines.” Both tenant participation and corporate support from GWL Realty Advisors are keys to success. “GWL Realty Advisors and their clients have focused on environmental initiatives for years,” Newcombe notes. “And we consider our tenants to be our partners. Without the participation of our tenants, the programs we implement would not succeed. We can say it’s happening, but it’s the tenants who make it happen.” Ultimately, a committed effort of tenants and employees drives initiatives forward. “It is a comprehensive process,” Wardale asserts. “At every opportunity we would look at the information assembled, see how it can be improved, add data, add backup, add our methods and the logic employed. Each time we go through a submission such as the EARTH Award or the Certificate of Recognition (COR), the information created and assembled becomes part of a continuous improvement process.” The result is a living document that can be adapted and amended to fit changing and sometimes overlapping performance targets, regulatory requirements and compliance deadlines. Having been through – and excelled at – the process, the GCS team
recommends that other prospective participants begin with a review of the EARTH Award criteria and a gap analysis to determine where improvements are needed. They suggest that all property management companies could benefit from participating in the EARTH Award and the BOMA BESt building performance assessment and benchmarking program. Having a long-term environmental vision for a building and its systems, and working every day to achieve that vision can ultimately affect the bottom line, as well as help to engage employees and increase tenant satisfaction. The bar can only rise higher as more companies get involved and have to stretch further to win the award. Having recently captured the national EARTH Award at BOMEX®, BOMA Canada’s national conference and exhibition, the Gulf Canada Square team now looks forward to the next step in the process – the BOMA International Office Building of theYear (TOBY) Awards, to be announced in Philadelphia in June 2010. zz For more information about BOMA Calgary, see the web site at www.boma.ca. For more information about the BOMA BESt program, see the web site at www.bomabest.com Canadian Property Management | September 2009 13