Atlanta’s Lord, Aeck & Sargent Tackles 2030 Challenge

by Heather Livingston
Contributing Editor

Summary: Lord, Aeck & Sargent Architecture on February 27 announced its adoption of The 2030 Challenge. The initiative issued by Edward Mazria, AIA, calls on the global building sector immediately to reduce energy usage by 50 percent in new buildings and major renovations, plus an additional 10 percent reduction every five years with the goal of carbon neutral buildings by 2030. One of the first architecture firms to adopt the challenge, Lord, Aeck & Sargent has created a sustainability initiative to evaluate the firm’s environmental impacts and identify strategic opportunities, goals, and performance benchmarks.

“Given our longstanding commitment to sustainable design, track record of innovative green projects, early adoption of the LEED® Green Building Rating System, staff of over 30 LEED-accredited professionals, and our in-house quantitative analysis capabilities, leading the industry by adopting The 2030 Challenge energy performance targets was a natural next step,” says Jim Nicolow, AIA, LEED AP, a senior associate who leads the firm’s sustainability initiative.

Last October, the firm created two sustainability in-house task forces to review how they “practice and live” as a firm. The “How We Live” task force seeks opportunities and strategies for improving the environmental performance of the firm’s operations and workplaces. The recommendation to adopt The 2030 Challenge was made by the “How We Practice” task force, which evaluates how the firm designs buildings and works to facilitate routine integration of eco-effective design in all projects.

The recommendation to adopt The 2030 Challenge was made by the firm’s “How We Practice” task force

The next step
According to Nicolow, the firm now is working to create energy benchmarks based on BTU usage. “The benchmarks vary based on project type and location,” he explains. “We have to develop BTU per square foot per year performance metrics for our projects. We’re trying to get our arms around what the actual BTU target will be for each different project type.”

Not an easy task, he says, for an industry that’s not accustomed to thinking about BTU per square foot. “It’s not part of the general consciousness in thinking about building performance yet, so it’s going take some effort and training to get over that,” he says. “But I’m pleased to see us embracing it. By adopting this, I’m hoping it will be the impetus really to change the way we do things.”

And what about the clients?
Whereas previously, clients often have been the main driver in building green, Lord, Aeck & Sargent will now push the efficiency agenda on every project. Nicolow notes that to incorporate energy efficiency as a project goal, it requires an integrated design approach with the design team and owner. They plan to discuss energy efficiency at the start of every project and outline the project’s efficiency target. Given that not all clients will be interested in pursuing sustainability, the firm still is trying to determine how best to meet its target reductions, whether it’s an immediate 50 percent reduction for every building, or if some structures go beyond the 50 percent to make up for lesser efficiency in others.

“Most of our project types are owner-occupied buildings,” says Nicolow. “Energy equals money, so even if they’re not interested in global warming or concerned about making environmentally sensitive architecture, odds are good that they’re concerned with the annual cost of ownership for their building. Energy savings has economic as well as environmental implications that we’re hoping will appeal even to owners who aren’t interested in sustainability as a key driver.”

On the right path
Although Lord, Aeck & Sargent still is determining how to benchmark and attain the goals of The 2030 Challenge, they’re already forging ahead. In addition to the multiple LEED Gold projects they currently have under way, the firm also plans to have all of its principals LEED accredited by the end of first quarter.

“It’s too early to report a lot of specific success at this point,” concludes Nicolow. “We’re just trying to figure it out. To change a firm of this size is a big challenge, but if we can do it successfully, it’ll have a huge impact.”