ArchEcology
Specialty: Green building consulting
Management: Managing partner Nancy Henderson; partner Michelle Rosenberger
Founded: 2006
Headquarters: Seattle
2007 revenues:$210,000
Projected 2008 revenues: $500,000
Current projects: Green building consulting in pursuit of LEED-CS gold on Opus Northwest’s 7th & Madison office building in Seattle; working with the city of Seattle to develop a sustainable master plan for city projects less than 5,000 square feet, tenant improvements or retrofits; green building consulting in pursuit of LEED certification on Shoreline’s new City Hall
Image courtesy of ArchEcology ArchEcology is providing green building consulting for Opus Northwest on its 7th & Madison office building. Opus is seeking LEED-CS gold on the project. |
Two-year-old ArchEcology provides consulting to architects, developers and others involved in building on how to make their projects more environmentally friendly. Much of the time that includes LEED certification.
Developers are sometimes interested in green as a way to get more density as some jurisdictions, including Seattle, allow more density in exchange for some level of sustainability, said managing partner Nancy Henderson.
Green tenants
Sometimes developers want to go green to attract tenants in commercial buildings, Henderson said. In the 7th & Madison project, for instance, some potential tenants requested it, she said. Opus is targeting LEED gold.
“I think they felt like it was going to raise the caliber of the building and thereby raise the caliber of the tenants they were going to attract,” she said. “In Class A office space they want really good, solid tenants.”
Henderson said green standards are being adopted quicker in commercial than in residential construction. That’s partly because commercial standards were developed earlier than residential, she said, and “I don’t know that there’s as much tolerance for cost increases in residential construction.”
LEED silver adds 1 percent to 2 percent to the cost of constructing a commercial building, she said. She didn’t have figures for residential.
Does green work?
Henderson said one concern facing the construction industry is the reluctance of developers to try green approaches for which they don’t receive a direct benefit, such as green roofs.
Another concern is that little post-occupancy data is collected to determine if green techniques, designed for example to save energy or improve productivity, work and to what degree.