O’Brien and Co.
Specialty: Sustainable design, planning and education
Management: Principals Kathleen O’Brien, Alistair Jackson, Elizabeth Powers
Founded: 1991
Headquarters: Seattle
2007 revenues: $500,000
Projected 2008 revenues: $1.25 million
Current projects: Certification program for commercial real estate brokers; green retrofit of the Washington State Convention & Trade Center; sustainable business strategy for the city of Kirkland
Kathleen O’Brien |
In light of the weak economy, Kathleen O’Brien acknowledges that the growth of her company in the last year — from 14 employees to 23 — is a bit disconcerting.
“We’ve just had to blow through a wall and double our space,” said O’Brien, whose offices are in the Colman Building in downtown Seattle. “Our phone is ringing off the hook.”
O’Brien ascribes much of this success to peoples’ growing concern about climate change. “I think it’s because ... sustainable construction is considered a solution in a downturn,” O’Brien said.
Green teachings
O’Brien started her company 17 years ago to teach the construction industry how to build green. These days, O’Brien and Co. is just as likely to be educating entire cities as it is to be advising individual builders. Recently, O’Brien and Co. helped the city of Shoreline figure out how to incorporate sustainability into its building codes and comprehensive plan. The firm is now advising the city of Kirkland on how to encourage green businesses — that is, businesses that provide green products, operate in an environmentally sustainable manner, or both.
“It’s very exciting work,” O’Brien said. “I’m happy cities are really stepping up to the plate.”
Photo courtesy of Miller Hull Partnership O’Brien consulted with the Bertschi School on its new Bertschi Center, which recently got a LEED gold rating for such things as solar panels and a touchscreen computer that educates people about the building’s green features.
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O’Brien and Co. has also moved beyond teaching green building 101 — the firm helped develop most of the Built Green programs in Washington state. This fall, the company will unveil a green real estate course specifically for commercial real estate brokers, to be delivered via webinar.
In O’Brien’s view, commercial buildings with sustainable features are more leasable these days than those that aren’t. They have lower energy bills and a healthier environment, she said.
“Right now existing buildings ... are having a rough time,” O’Brien said.
Owners of existing buildings may be able to narrow their sustainability gap by updating their plumbing, their lighting and their HVAC systems. The new LEED rating for existing buildings that was recently announced by the U.S. Green Building Council has generated “a lot of interest,” O’Brien said.