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www.ecospecifer.co.za www.globalgreentag.com© ecospecifier 2012 Slide 1

Ecospecifier © 2009

David BaggsCEO and Technical Director

Ecospecifier Pty Ltd, Global GreenTag Pty Ltd

ecospecifier.co.za I globalgreentag.com

Integrative Design Process: Using

Design to Reduce Build Cost

Durban March2012








Johannesburg March2012





CapetownMarch2012





Introduction

• While the processes described in in this unit are focussed on commercial projects ...

• the concepts and techniques are adaptable to projects at any scale to some extent


Selecting the Right Design Team

Integrated design is ‘whole-system’ design

‘RMI believes that whole-system design is the key to advanced resource productivity, and can often

reduce its capital cost to zero or less.

Whole-system design optimizes an entire system to capture synergies.’

Dr. Andrew Kean, 10XE "Factor Ten" and the Nonviolent Overthrow of Bad Engineering, Rocky Mountains Institute, www.rmi.org, Snowmass Colorado



‘Ensure that the design and construction team who

are employed to undertake the work have the

necessary understanding, experience, capability

and sensitivity to environmental design, so that

issues are carefully considered throughout the

design process”

Guidelines Toward A More Sustainable Subdivision

Built Environment Research Built Environment Research Unit Building Division QLD Department of Public Works 2003



To maximise ‘Green’ building outcomes at minimum cost

the design team needs to be

S(EE)2Rsi.e they need

to have Synergy, Education, Enthusiasm, Expertise, Experience & be willing Risk

Managers.



The ‘S’ Factor -Synergy

Integrated design teams with a high ‘S’ Factor lead to buildings with outcomes where

1+1=4 (or 10)

‘The sum of the parts is more than the whole’



The ‘E’ Factors – Education and Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm means the team members are likely to:

‘go the extra mile’,

‘dig a little bit deeper’’

‘look a little bit harder’

‘search for synthesis not just do analysis’ i.e.

be more creative

be more willing to innovative



The ‘E’ Factors – Education and Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm about sustainability also means the team members may be more likely to care about:

the quality of life of future generations

protecting nature’s biodiversity

finding Restorative Sustainability solutions to past damages



The ‘E’ Factors (Cont’d)– Experience & Expertise

the knowledge, expert performance and confidence to successfully find synergies and explore unconventional options that lead to reduced costs not ‘green cost premiums’

Staff continuity, availability and real project outcomes:

Do the proposed project team actually have the experience they claim and are the staff who will do the majority of the work skilled enough? or supervised closely enough?



The ‘R’ Factor- Risk Managers

The changes that must occur in delivering progressive Green Buildings means the design team must be innovative specifiers

and competent risk assessors and managers:

Progress in sustainability necessitates innovative technologies and solutions

Innovative technology involves project level risk

Innovative technology can be implemented with appropriate risk management strategies

Significant cost benefit can often result from innovative integrated technology solutions


Design ProcessProducts, Process and People

‘Much of the green building world’s attention is on products and technologies, but without good design tools those products can easily be wasted.

Effective use of tools requires a good process, which depends, in turn, on supportive mental models’.

Source: Barbra Batshalom and Bill Reed on BuildingGreen.com @http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/article.cfm?fileName=141201a.xml


How is our economy (and you) dependent on the environment?

reflect…


Based on what you know in general- how well are we doing in moving towards a environmental sustainability?

Reflect…


What is most people’s reactions or actions?

- Profound change?- Moderate change?- Little change?- No change?

reflect…

And how do you think this makes most people feel?


thoughts?


building green?


Holistic thinking?


do no harm- globally!

• every day we make decisions that affect global biodiversity and natural systems

• be more conscious and act as though your site extends to the countries materials are sourced from….


treatment of symptoms

wellness +

wellness -

bio recovery

Reduce

ReuseRecycle

a prescription for sustainability


wellness +

wellness -

bio recovery

full recovery

• restorative sustainability

•

• reductive sustainability

a prescription for sustainability


© The Natural Step

a pathology of sustainability


© The Natural Step

reduce, re-use, recycle, dematerialise,

‘climate change neutral’, water &

energy efficiency, deconsumerism,

closed loop material cycles,

a pathology of sustainability

bio recovery

these ideas do not provide a full solution…

Human needs

and demands

Ecosystem ability

to provide


bio recovery

‘net positive’ initiatives to reduce

greenhouse, clean air, water, create

healthy soil, restore ecosystems, heat

islands, biodiversity, improve health &

equity, etc

reduce, re-use, recycle, de-materialise,

‘climate neutral’, water & energy

efficiency, de-consumerism, close loop

material cycles etc

restorative sustainability: -regeneration - the whole solution


history is not dead


we are limited by understanding


Think of the best moments – when everything clicked - a time when you were working with others on a project (or another experience)

What key elements or aspects made this a successful experience?

What did this feel like?

(What was your and others’ being state (emotional, intellectual, and physical)?

Reflect…


How many of these criteria are present?Which ones can you achieve?Which ones are not likely to happen?What can you add to the process to help?What expectations may need to be shifted?

Sustainable Step New England, Paul Lipke™

Now think of a project you are currently involved with…


Two Types of Systems Thinking = a Whole

Living Systems (patterns and archetypes)

Technical Systems

(relationships of pieces)


Two Types of Systems Thinking = a Whole


Changing Thinking

requires

Changing Mind

From

– a mind that sees a world of discrete elements and locations that can be separated, aggregated and manipulated to serve human purposes

To– a mind that understands

the world as a single web of interconnected and interdependent living systems


….As Developers, Builders, Engineers, Planners, Designers and building professionals…

…in sustaining life?

What is Our Role?


Design and Construction practices that –

Significantly reduce or eliminate the negative impact of building(s) on the environment and occupants

What is a reasonable definition of Green Design?


OR

Design, Construction, and Operation practices that –

Support and improve the health of systems that sustain life.

What is a reasonable definition of Green Design?


From Permaculture Designers Manual, Bill Mollison


“We cannot win this battle to save species and environments without forging an emotional bond between ourselves and nature as well

Nature & Healing

- for we will not fight to save what we do not love.”

Stephen Jay Gould


-Regenerative

Less Energy Required

More Energy Required

-Sustaining / Conservation

-Conventional Practice

Technologies / Techniques

Fragmented Thinking

Knowledge = Data

Living Systems Understanding

Whole System

Understanding = Patterns & Experience

Regenerating System

Degenerating System

Trajectory of Environmentally Responsible Design© All rights reserved. Regenesis 2006 –Bill Reed adapted by DBaggs

-Conservation -High Performance -Green

-Robust-Self organising-Non technical-Low maintenance-Restorative

- Electro-mechanical-Higher maintenance- Higher enthalpy

Spiralling towards a ???? future


Aim of Regeneration…

To stop managing the ship based upon signals given by the wake, and start managing affairs based upon our capacity to bring things to their ideal potential.

Charles Krone


Integrative design process

Integrative design:

‘a process of design in which multiple disciplines and seemingly unrelated aspects of design are integrated in a manner that permits synergistic benefits to be realized’.


Synergy = $avings



Synergy=Smart processes +Smart Products


∑


Smart processes =

IDP + RSLCC + Risk Innovation+BIM


∑


The way forward: manage risk

Key questions:

• Is it real or perceived risk?• In who’s opinion?• Are they expert?• Is the reward worth it?• Can it be managed?• Can it be externalised?• 3rd Party Certification of manufacturer

claims reduces risk profile….


The way forward: innovate

“Technology is a key part of the solutions for sustainable development… Innovation and technology are tools for achieving higher resource efficiency in society ”

Björn StigsonPresident

World Business Council for Sustainable Development,

Geneva, 26 November 2004

Innovative Technology: a key tool


Smart products =

Innovation+BIM+ uniquebenefits+synergy


∑Ecospecifier © 2010


by Bill Reed and

Barbra Batshalom

Adapted from Donella

Meadows, Places to

Intervene in a System


integrative design strategy

Use Solar thermal cogeneration

Business as Usual

Develop Sustainable

project vision(right brain to begin)

Apply innovative technologies

Linear, left brain, silo-based, Design Process- ‘tick the box’

Back-casting Design Processes ensure non-impact, cyclical

and de-materialised outcomes

Absorption chillers

with district cooling

Develop or support new technologies


Expand the horizons of the issue….

think outside the square (site or issue)…

Think in wholes,

Integrative thinking is systems thinking:


Better Solutions:

Kendalls CoveDeveloper budgeted for Electric hot water. No gas planned on site

Development Control Plan called for Energy Efficient hot water.

Early Council discussions indicated no approval until satisfactory specification provided.

Challenge:

Deliver Solar or Gas Hot water without budget impact

Systems thinking solution

IDP identified $300k savings (net $100k) by avoiding need for sub-station upgrade if gas introduced to whole site including cooking and hot water.


Ramifications of an Integrative Process


Budget Overun

35 Rating System Points

Evidence from Emory University (adapted from Nigel Howard’s ‘Cost of Green’ presentation)

Launch IDP

$0 budget overun

On BudgetDate

$2.0m over budget

$1.3m over budget

30 Green Point

30 Green Point


The Cliffs

707 Acres1,350 units356 Natural Open Space (53%)

707 Acres850 units 210 Natural Open Space (29%)


The Cliffs

1,350 units 73,260 LF of roadway16.5m Average Frontage~$21m in roadway/ utility costs

850 units90,290 LF of roadway32.3 m Average Frontage~$27m in roadway/ utility costs

$31,750 per lot road/ utility cost $15,500 per lot road/ utility cost

$400,000 - $800,000 price points $180,000 – $1m price points


Benefits can be summarised as follows:

Developer:• Low to no additional cost if a competent, efficient

integrated design process is used from inception;• Faster sales;• Better sales and values in a tight market;• Better returns;• Future-proofed sales in long delivery time projects• Easier funding• More cost competitive funding• Marketing and PR benefits• Easier to attract good staff• Higher staff satisfaction and retention

sustainable project benefits


The overall potential benefits can be summarised as follows:

Contractor:• Increased visibility in rapidly greening market• Increased success in winning profile green projects• More timely construction outcomes• Better quality information on which to base operational

decisions• Less onsite mistakes and re-works• Marketing and PR benefits• Easier to attract good staff• Higher staff satisfaction and retention



Owner:• Future-proofed asset value• Easier to attract good staff• Higher staff satisfaction and retention• Lower operational costs• Better tenants• Longer leases• Better returns• Less fitout churn as fitout lasts longer with added

flexibility• Marketing and PR benefits• Better quality information on which to base

operational decisions• Lower life cycle cost



Home Owner:• Future-proofed asset value• Lower operational costs• Healthier environment for family• Better tenants (if rented)• Lower life cycle costs



Tennants• Better daylight• Higher quality indoor air and ventilation• Better control over (sometimes individual)

thermal comfort• Better concentration• Better health, less stress• Connection to outside world and nature• Flexibility of workspace• Increased happiness



Society/Natural Systems

• Increased natural systems health• Increased biodiversity• Increased robustness of living systems

overall• Reduced Healthcare costs• More vibrant health economy• Increased equity and wellbeing• Higher levels of food and general security



How can the market drive sustainability?

- Find ways to reduce the cost of buildings while increasing their sustainability performance


Green Rated Building: Benefits

US Green Building Council documented benefits:Offices:

• AUD $13 in green initiatives provides AUD$190 benefit over 20 years with av. IIR of 25-40%

Schools:

• show 40% less respiratory problems &

• 20% better test results

• 28% better reading results

Retail:

• 7-14% increase in sales in LEED rated stores

e.g. Starbucks, Lowes, Home Depot


Smart strategy outcomes

“most green buildings cost less than 4 percent more than conventional buildings…

with the greatest concentration of premiums in the

0 percent to 1 percent range”

Kats, G. 2008 Buildings and Communities: Costs and Benefits


sustainable project costs


Smart processes =

IDP +LCC + Risk Innovation+BIM


∑


Tunneling through the Cost Barrier

Stuff

$$$

$20 K

$15 K

- $35 K

- $40 K

$10 K

$10 K

-$20 K

Less than conventional yet 60% more energy savings


How does interior paint color selection affect HVAC system costs?

Connections:

Paint

Lighting

HVAC Sizing for cooling

# of light fixtures = 25% Reduction

Case Study Example:Systems Impacts on Other Systems

High reflectivity = better daylight and artificial lighting efficiency


Structuring the change process – a roadmap for an integrative process


Manufacturers

Contractors

Mechanical Engineers

Lighting Designers

Electrical Engineers

Construction Managers

Facility Managers

Commissioning Agents

Clients

Designers/Architects

Interior Designers

Building/Project Users

Government agencies

Community members

Bankers

Landscape Architects

Civil Engineers

Planners

Environmentalists

Lawyers

Who’s the designer . . . ?


‘Conventional team structures ... particularly when combined with a fixed fee, resulted in specialists being called in only when perceived as necessary by the team leader - often 'at arms length' and on a limited basis.

Sub-optimal results thus occurred when project managers or architects did not recognise a problem until too late, or when designs or specifications were amended by non-specialists without recognising the likely knock-on effects’.

Myer, Andrew (2000), Environmental Design Review of the Olympic Facilities, Green Games Watch.


CONVENTIONAL BUILDING

TEAM

Client

BuilderArchitect

THE “CHAMPION” MODEL

(Linear Process / Industrial Age Thinking)


Source Bill Reed (2009


The Sustainability Screen

‘the sieve through which all decisions are passed’

Client /

Client RepDesign Team Design Team

IDP Better Solutions: Designing the Future


Design Team Design Team



Source: 7group & Bill Reed (2009) The Integrative Design Guide to Green Building: Redefining the Practice of Sustainability, John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey


Design Team




Simplified view of IDP



The IDP experience


IDP essential components

The 10 key hallmarks of a successful IDP are:

1. Check egos at the door.

– All individuals on the team should see themselves as co-designers cooperating for a shared vision.

– Those with a willingness to learn should be supported

– Insecure ‘experts’ or those showing large egos should not

– Suboptimal results occur when those who are experienced are not an integrated part of the

design team.


2. Establish a shared project vision

– Set specific goals based on core values of people and place

– The whole team should be working to achieve these core values and goals of the project. This process involves three main components:

• Everyone should ask themselves what are the forces and relationships that made the place as it is today? What has degraded it and what keeps it healthy? There are typically only a few “key systems”;

• Address how human activities and aspirations can move into alignment with earth system functions;

• Use a backcasting process to set a project vision and make commitments (targets) and stretch targets to achieve goals. (Backcasting: looking back from a desired future state to see what will be required to achieve that state.



3. Involve the whole team

• An integrative design process should involve all members of the design team including the client and, in particular, the financial decision-maker from the client’s team

• Everyone brings different pieces of the puzzle to the table

• Everyone can learn and cooperate when they understand



4. Engage in a Discovery Process before conceptual design begins

• Key issues need to be understood in order that the design is informed by the way nature and the community works.

• Key areas are: Energy, Water, Livable Buildings, Living Systems, and Materials



5. Seek Synergy

• Where synergy equals the interaction of forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.

• Think outside traditional consultant ‘silos’ in pursuit of whole systems strategies.

• In this effort you may identify high performance individual system components that cost more on an individual basis, but overall costs can be lowered because the resultant whole system can be designed smaller



6. Tunnel through the cost barrier.

• Don’t make half-hearted attempts at integrating sustainable design or technology concepts. Make sure to:

– Cost sustainability initiatives fully – in the context of the entire cost of the project - and ensure that all implications for all changes are fully considered by the relevant consultants;

– Use whole-building as well as whole-site energy modeling and water balance models to test different scenarios and optimize the building design progressively;

– Use systems thinking to look at different options and think of unorthodox solutions rather than focusing on the obvious. Break past and outdated assumptions;



7. Engage experts early

• Listen to people who readily know the value of synergy and sustainability and are educated, enthusiastic, experienced and managers of risk.

• Competent consultants, used early can save tremendous costs by identifying problems before it

is too late to deal with them.



8. Involve an experienced sustainability facilitator

• The sustainability consultant should be involved from the outset, managing the integrated design process with all major decisions being passed through him or her.

• He or she should take a central role in identifying and achieving the project’s environmental-responsible design;



9. Manage risk rather than avoiding it

• New ideas oftentimes are the result of synergy and result in major whole-project cost benefits worth the risk Too often being overly-cautious of making mistakes results in not enough innovation.

• Experienced project and construction managers know how to manage or externalize risk.

• The result is often to make high performance green buildings a low or no cost option;



10. Design from Top down & Bottom up.

• The nature of the integrative process, and solutions that are generated from it, require they be tested concurrently at a variety of scales.

• Through this method what is learned at each scale informs the other resulting in pragmatic, impactful and more cost effective solutions.



• Everybody• Early

• Every Issue

The Three E’s


Green procurement

Remember no matter what size or type of project- at least some of the key

concepts of IDP and green procurement can be applied…..


Smart products =

Innovation+BIM+ uniquebenefits+synergy

Session 2: after the break

∑

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