| October 2008 Newsletter |  |
| Special Feature - | LEED for Existing Buildings Accreditation Course Update |
| Program Recap - | Paint Issues [photos] |
| Program Recap - | Tour of Design Group [photos] |
| Meet The Member - | Jason Carpenter - Environmental Pest Management |
| Sponsor Spotlight - | Construction Systems, Inc. |
November 17 is a red-letter day for several persons enrolled in the LEED for Existing Buildings Accreditation Course offered by the Central Ohio IFMA Chapter at Dupler Office.
That’s the date of the 80 question multiple-choice accreditation examination for those who wish to take it as the next step in winning the designation as a LEED AP (Accreditation Professional).
Charlie Popeck, president, Green Ideas Environmental Building Consultants stated in the October edition of FacilitiesNet:
“LEED AP is the only widely recognized designation that reflects green building knowledge. It isn’t an easy exam to pass, but taking the time to go through the accreditation process holds multiple benefits for facility executives—not the least of which is a more thorough understanding of the LEED rating.
“There are several benefits to investing the time to become a LEED Accredited Professional. The most important is the accreditation illustrates to the industry that you have an understanding of green building in general and LEED specifically. This builds credibility because it shows a grasp of current technologies and strategies.”
J.D. Flaherty, chapter president, who helped develop the eight-week course said, “All would agree that this is serious work, and all are working hard. The Monday and Thursday night classes have been well attended even though the course was delayed for a week because of problems created by high winds from Hurricane Ike.”
Forty-four persons are enrolled in the LEED EB course designed and presented by Eric Elizondo, architect and founder of EcoStudio, who spoke to chapter members and guests at the June program on sustainability. Elizondo also is a new member of the chapter, joining during the just-completed membership drive.
The LEED EB rating system helps building owners and operators measure operations, improvements and maintenance on a consistent scale with the objective of maximizing operational efficiency while minimizing environmental impacts. The course addresses whole-building cleaning and maintenance issues, recycling programs, exterior maintenance programs, and systems upgrades.
Photos of this event - click here
If your are thinking of painting your facility, keep in mind that all paint is compromised, according to Bob Schrock of PPG Industries, who discussed Paint Issues: A Facility Managers and Building Owners Perspective with members of the Central Ohio IFMA chapter October 8 at the Confluence Park Restaurant.
“If you ask for a certain property in paint, I will give it to you. However, in doing so, you must be willing to give something up,” Schrock said.
For example, he said that while flat paint will minimize the seams in drywall, it is porous and traps dirt. If you go to higher sheens to minimize the dirt, the drywall seams become more visible.
Schrock said, All paint is made up of four main components—pigment, which contributes color and hiding power to the coating; a binder (resin) that gives the coating the ability to adhere to a substrate; solvent, a liquid into which the binder and pigment are dispersed or dissolved; and additives that give the paint certain valuable performance properties.
The resin that is used is the most critical element in the paint, he said, and while there are multiple types of resins, the two generic classes are water based and oil based. In the water-based family, acrylics are the most durable.
“From a facility managers’ standpoint,” he said, “we are starting to reduce the number of oil-based paints that we have either by government regulation or preference. So, we have to come up with water-based products to duplicate or simulate the ability to perform as well as the old oil-based products did. These new acrylic enamels do this in hardness, in abrasive resistance, in dirt resistance, and without the odor and smell.”
Other advantages of acrylic paints are: Good color/gloss retention, good adhesion, excellent flexibility, easy to apply, good dry times, compliant with volatile organic compounds (VOC), and lower odor.
These paints are considered excellent for school corridors, correctional facilities, cafeterias, and as replacement for solvent born industrial alkyd enamels in virtually all commercial applications.
Schrock said the odor in paint is from the VOCs—“from the solvents that make up one-fourth of the paint that we can’t get out,” and manufacturers are guided by federal government rules that prohibit making products above a certain VOC level.
“In January, the level of VOCs in paint will be limited to a greater degree than ever before, and oil-based paints as you know them will be basically unavailable in Ohio. This means you will have to go to water-based paints, which means you will have to compromise,” he said.
Zero VOC paint is coming and will be available in flat paint, egg shell,
semi-gloss paints, and primers that “hide well and wash well” and will be available in hundreds of colors but at a higher cost, perhaps an extra 20 percent.
At the beginning of his presentation, Schrock said, “I don’t want to imply that wallcovering isn’t important. So, please support your local wallcovering manufacturers. They are great people, and wallcovering is a decorative coating just like paint. We are an option.”
He also urged—jokingly—that facility managers “be nice to your paint salesman.”!
Photos of this event - click here
On several occasions, DesignGroup, 515 E. Main St, has served as the site for monthly programs for the Central Ohio IFMA Chapter, but on October 22, the architectural firm itself became the focal point as some 25 persons toured the building to see an early and strong commitment to sustainability.
DesignGroup provides expertise in planning, architecture, interior design, graphics, and sustainable design. As designers of the built environment, DesignGroup has deep-seated beliefs in civic responsibility, healthy communities, life-long learning, sustainable architecture, and design that elevates.
The four and one-half story, 62,000-square-foot building was built 10 years ago and just ahead of the establishment of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System.
Nevertheless, as Jack Hedge, firm principal, pointed out, DesignGroup incorporated enough sustainable features into its building that it could have easily qualified for Silver Certification, “and probably would have gone for Gold” had the rating system been in place.
In utalizing this one-half acre site, the firm moved its operation from 7600 Olentangy River Rd., to the near-east side of Columbus., an urban redevelopment area. The building cost $6.2 million, is 100 percent occupied, and has been the recipient of numerous awards.
Hedge said the site had been used as a gas station and used car lot before DesignGroup selected it for its building. The infrastructure was in existence, he said, “so if you can move to an urban site with these amenities in place, you are ahead of the game.”
The building was designed and constructed to utlize the sun as a lighting and heating source. The south side of the building is 60 percent glass. It has sun screens above the window levels to keep out the hot rays of summer but let them in in the winter to help heat the building.
Hedge said they minimized the amount of glass used on the east and west sides of the building to limit exposure from the sun. They also provided a 50 percent tint on the west side windows, but kept the windows clear on the north and south sides.
The funneling of light into the building also reduces the firm’s dependency on electricity for lighting, Hedge said.
“Our dependency on artificial light is minimal, and because of this we have a better working environment for our staff, and we are more productive.
“The majority of our meetings are conducted in conference rooms and in other meeting spaces that require no lighting,” he said. “We are managing the sun and its impact on our building to our advantage.”
The firm also used renewable and recycled materials where possible, and installed waterless urinals. Last year, DesignGroup’s Green Team challenged the firm to reduce paper consumption. At the end of the year, the firm had reduced staff paper consumption by over 4.5 tons.
The firm offers these 10 steps toward a green workplace:
Being at the “right place at the right time” is Jason Carpenter’s motto, and it’s paying off handsomely for him and his five-year-old pest control company.
Last January, Carpenter, owner of Environmental Pest Management and member of the Central Ohio IFMA Chapter, snatched a lucrative account with Bexley-based Plaza Properties from a major pest control company that pushed his company heavily into the commercial arena.
Plaza Properties, a leader in Columbus apartment rental, commercial leasing, and development, turned its 23 apartment complexes—4,000 units in 405 buildings--over to Carpenter, for pest control.
Carpenter had submitted a proposal that “saved them money, offered better service, and provided Plaza with online Website access that allows them to track our treatments. This is something they were having difficulty doing with their previous provider.
“All our technicians are equipped with laptops with air cards—a wireless modem which connects to an internet-shared wireless network—to log in what they did. So, the second they leave a complex, the on-site manager knows what they have done. I know what they have done, and most importantly, my contact at Plaza knows what we have done. This allows the Plaza officials to monitor all locations at all times from home or at work.”
Carpenter said his company is in the process of offering this service to all its commercial accounts.
“We are still working the bugs out, still fine-tuning it,” he said. “The software is there, it is just custom form-fitting.”
He pointed out that this service would be a “great fit for facility managers,” especially those in the banking industry or with companies who are responsible for a number of branches because “costs, expenses, and what is being done can be tracked with just the click of a button.”
Prior to the Plaza account, Carpenter said the company’s emphasis was on residential work—about 80-90 percent. Now, commercial makes up about 75 percent of the workload. The company’s first major account was the Columbus Blue Jackets and Nationwide Arena.
He captured that account three years ago after attending a Blue Jackets’ game as a supplier’s guest. While at the game, he learned that the company providing pest control for the facility was surrendering the account. He agreed to be a marketing partner with the Blue Jackets and has been keeping four-legged pests from the facility since.
Keeping Nationwide Arena free of pests is not a problem for Carpenter. “Everything we do there is preventative maintenance.
Nationwide Arena is a large building, but as a new building it’s all preventative. You just can’t afford to have bugs in there,” he said.
Last June, Carpenter arranged a tour of the facility for member of the chapter and provided hor d’oeuvres and fingerfoods in the Blue Jackets’ Founders’ Club afterward.
A few months ago, Carpenter was urged by a friend from the Polaris AmSpirit networking group, to open a booth at a Columbus building exposition. While there, he ran into Bret Frangos, another AmSpirit friend, who was working the IFMA booth.
Frangos suggested Carpenter check out IFMA for membership because it would be a great association for his company. He did so and joined last December “because I want to grow my commercial account. I had heard about IFMA and decided I would try it because facility managers are usually the ones who make those decisions about pest control.”
“We offer a good service and we are competitive with other companies. Those two alone should be good enough, but what is really going to separate us from other companies is the online Website tracking that makes their job so much easier.”
Carpenter has been in the pest control business for 16 years, working for Capital City Exterminating Co. for 11 years before branching out on his own with a small operation in Hilliard. He now has five employees and considers his company a small- to mid-sized business among the 65 pest control companies in the Columbus area.
In six years, Carpenter has grown his business tenfold based on a strong commitment to customer service. He has won Angie’s List Super Service Awards for each of the past three years.
He expects to relocate his company to the far north side of Franklin County at a more convenient location, and to also reduce the driving distance for his new bride, Julie, associate vice president at Fahlgren Mortine Public Relations at Easton. They were married October 4 in a “dream wedding” in the Palm House at Franklin Park Conservatory.
Carpenter is active in the pest control industry and in non-profit causes. He has worked with Dr. Susan Jones, entomology professor at Ohio State University, on research pertaining to experimental use of termiticide. He is a member of the board of directors of the Ohio Pest Control Association, and member and past president of the Columbus association.
He served on the City of Columbus’ West Nile Virus and the Food Service Advisory committees; and is a former board member of Rebuilding Together Columbus, a volunteer group that repairs homes for low-income homeowners. He holds memberships in the Westerville Area chamber of Commerce, Better Business Bureau, and the National Pest Management Association.
Carpenter is the father of two boys by a previous marriage, Brandon, 15, a freshman at Thomas Worthington High School, and Blake, 13, a seventh grader at Worthingway Middle School.
Carpenter has competed in local and Ohio triathlons. He is a member of this year’s Olympus (Homes) Cycling Team, and has raced locally in Westerville and Grandview Heights and in other Ohio events.
Click the banner to visit sponsor's website
Construction Systems Inc. (CSI) is a leading commercial facilities renovation contractor and a six-year Platinum level sponsor of the Central Ohio IFMA Chapter.
CSI self-performs general trades work and is one of central Ohio's largest employers of skilled craftsmen.
CSI President J.D. Flaherty, Jr. serves as IFMA chapter president, and was instrumental in helping to develop the LEED-EB (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings) professional accreditation preparation program for the chapter.
“Existing buildings use a tremendous amount of energy to operate, maintain, and remodel. Everything our industry can do to be better stewards of resources, both natural and built, will benefit our communities and the environment,” said Flaherty.
CSI has taken the lead in another green area, specifically raised access floors with underfloor air distribution. While raised access floors have been used in computer-intensive spaces and facilities for years as a preferred means of delivering voice, data and power, building owners and managers are recognizing that raised flooring can also provide a means of underfloor air distribution.
To control the installation quality and product integrity, Haworth, Inc. selected exclusive installation contractors for regions in Ohio. CSI was selected by Haworth, Inc. as the exclusive central Ohio installation contractor for TecCrete™.
Flaherty said, “TecCrete™ is an outstanding raised flooring product that will help many building owners, facility managers, and general contractors improve indoor air quality and comfort for occupants and meet LEED building standards.
“The quality and design features make this product suitable for applications throughout the entire building structure. We are proud to be aligned with Haworth and TecCrete™ and look forward to helping our customers with TecCrete™ Access Flooring installations.”
In naming CSI as the exclusive installation contractor in central Ohio, Brian Vogel, territory manager for Haworth, Inc., said, “CSI brings the perfect combination of skilled craftsmanship, dedication to quality, and industry relationships that are decades long.”
CSI will help introduce the TecCrete™ product to central Ohio design professionals, general contractors, construction managers, facility managers, and building owners.
“While many building owners and managers think raised flooring is only for new construction, two of CSI’s largest TecCrete™ installations this year were in renovation projects,” Flaherty said. “I encourage every facility manager to explore and consider this technology for their next major renovation project.”
Popular in Europe and Japan for many years, underfloor air distribution can:
Raised flooring and underfloor air distribution systems can be important elements for buildings in the LEED Green Building Rating System through the U.S. Green Building Council.
The Haworth raised flooring system, TecCrete™ Access Flooring, utilizes an exclusive concrete-and-steel composite design that offers a far more solid feel underfoot than conventional access floors, making it an ideal solution for environments such as offices, schools, universities, libraries or museums that require an extraordinarily durable and quiet access floor.
How raised flooring and the underfloor air distribution system is different:
CSI serves central and southeastern Ohio from its headquarters at 2865 E. 14th Ave., Columbus. For more information about any of CSI's service offerings, projects or company contacts visit http://www.consysohio.com/ or call 614-252-0708. Flaherty may be reached at jdf@ConSysOhio.com.
