Member Profile: SMMA's Steven Burke

By Caitlin Forbes


As SMMA’s Sustainability Manager, Steven is responsible for LEED administration on various projects, as well as facilitating project teams, clients, and consultants in delivering sustainable design practices, applications, and documentation. Steven balances his time between sustainable corporate and residential projects and advancing green schools, currently working on Waltham and Somerville High Schools as well as Shark Ninja’s Corporate Headquarters. Steven is coleading the team curating the panelists for our upcoming Healthy Materials Summit, and we're excited to be working with him.

After obtaining Master's of Science in Sustainability Management at Columbia University, Steven became immersed in the built environment, seeking to advance the comprehensive benefits of what he defines as sustainable design: capitalizing on aesthetics, energy and water performance, durability, return on investment, and space functionality. The notion that sustainability is simply buying some materials with recycled content is dated; instead, Steven focuses on the new model of “Net Positive” buildings that give back more than they take. 

A thought leader in sustainable design strategies, Steve has chaired discussions at the Building Energy Conference, Architecture Boston Expo, and Building Technology Forum. For his additional work with the USGBC, Steven led the Green Building Bike Tours, presented on LEED v4 for Schools at the NESEA conference – ultimately turning it into a National Webinar – and now acts as a USGBC Board Member and Treasurer.

Check out Steven’s thoughts on Why LEED Matters for Future Generations.

Attend The Next USGBC LEED Exam Prep Course Oct. 19

By Alexander Landa, Outreach and Communications Manager


Take a break from reading books and Google searches, and come join us for a day-long LEED Exam Prep Course instead! On October 19th, our event will help bring you up to speed with LEED practices, to help you prepare for your exam.

For real estate professionals, architects, engineers, students, and anyone else who has a passion for green building practices and LEED, this course is designed for individuals of all knowledge levels, and to cover a vast majority of exam topics.

In addition to this course, there are a few other ways you can prepare. You can catch up with the LEED Green Associate Handbook, and the LEED Core Concepts Guide, for starters.

 

Wednesday, October 19th, 2016
50 Milk Street
18th Floor, Hemingway Room
Boston, MA

Register here.
Learn more about the course here.

New Balance Headquarters Design by Elkus Manfredi Architects Wins Green Building Showcase Building of the Year Award 2016

By Alexander Landa, Outreach and Communications Manager

 


 

Contact Information:
Name: Alexander Landa
Phone: 617-752-2422 
Email: amlanda@usgbcma.org                                                                    

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Balance Headquarters Design by Elkus Manfredi Architects Wins Green Building Showcase Building of the Year Award 2016

[Boston, September 26, 2016] At the 2016 Green Building Showcase awards held on September 22, 2016, at 888 Boylston Street in Boston, MA, Elkus Manfredi Architects was awarded the 2016 Green Building Showcase Building of the Year Award for its design of the New Balance Headquarters located in Brighton, MA. The LEED Platinum-certified design was recognized for its commitment to being environmentally-friendly and healthy for occupants, as well as being a prime example of modern engineering. Standing out among other green buildings in the contest, the new Balance Headquarters signifies the impact that forward-thinking companies – in partnership with designers such as Elkus Manfredi – can have on the built environment.

Completed in September 2015, the five-story, 250,000-square-foot New Balance Headquarters building is the sole LEED v2009 CS Platinum project in the United States to achieve all Indoor Environmental Quality credits, and only the third in the world. New Balance leadership envisioned its new headquarters as a state-of-the-art environment that would not only carry the company into the 21st century as a leading force in its core business, but also embody the corporate commitment to the health and well-being of its employees, its community, and our planet. The LEED Platinum certification of the new Headquarters is testament to that commitment.

Created by the USGBC’s Massachusetts Chapter, the annual Green Building Awards Program acknowledges the achievements of recent green building projects in the Commonwealth. All of the buildings featured in this event have made strides to ensure they are healthy for the environment and are prime examples of modern sustainable architecture.

For the Showcase event, the Chapter was honored to welcome distinguished real estate professionals representing the institutions of Harvard, MIT, BioMed Realty, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Cambridge Redevelopment, who noted that the New Balance Headquarters project outperformed others in the five criteria that were the basis for this distinguished award:  social equity, innovation, replicability, and positive environmental and economic impact.

Congratulations to Elkus Manfredi Architects and New Balance on this outstanding achievement.

-end-

 

It's Not Too Late To Attend The 2nd Annual Energy Conference Sept. 30th At Northeastern University

By Alexander Landa, Outreach and Communications Manager


Are you free this Friday at all? Well, if you want an excuse to begin the weekend early, it's not too late to attend the Second Annual Energy Conference on September 30th at Northeastern University Campus. Organized by the Energy Systems Society, this event will be covering a wide array of topics relating to energy, such as looking at renewable energy from an entrepreneur standpoint, and making connections between big data analytics and energy.

As described on the event's homepage, “The mission of the Northeastern University Energy Systems Society (ESS) is to bridge the gap between industry and academia, as well as development and sustainability. Engaging students and professionals from across the energy spectrum, the conference will establish a solution-based discussion to energy problems. This will not only serve as a knowledge platform, but will also help address serious sustainability issues that the current world faces. Conference registration will be open to the general public, including students, staff and faculty from neighboring colleges and universities, industry and government representatives, and other organizations in the Greater Boston and New England area. 

This unique event will be taking place Friday, September 30th, from 8:00AM to 7:00PM at Northeastern University's Curry Student Center (360 Huntington Ave., Boston MA).

You can register here.

A Thank You For A Great Green Building Showcase 2016

By Alexander Landa, Outreach and Communications Manger

Congratulations to all who participated in the biggest and best Showcase ever!

It was amazing and wonderful to see the Chapter community come together to celebrate some really great green buildings.


 


Green Building Showcase 2016 was a huge success! We want to thank all of you for attending what is one of the most important nights of the year for us. Without you, this event wouldn't happen. All of the speakers, sponsors, volunteers, and the community as a whole all helped bring this night to life, and it came out great.



Of course, one of the best parts of this event was simply being inside the beautiful 888 Boylston building. 888 Boylston proves how far we've come with technology and innovation. Not only is it absolutely gorgeous, both inside and outside, it's also environmentally-friendly (otherwise it wouldn't be the best place to hold an event, obviously). With an awesome view of the city, unique lighting, and modern amenities, this is proof that green buildings can be fun as well as incredibly practical. At least one point during the event, everyone in attendance stopped, looked around, and said “This building is beautiful.” They aren't wrong.


 


The night started with a lot of energy right off the bat. For what was probably the only time this will ever happen, over half of the attendees arrived early. We're going to assume this is proof that everyone was really excited to be there! Once everyone got upstairs and settled in, everyone went straight to networking and enjoying the heavy apps and drinks. Before speakers went on stage, everyone had the chance to check out the boards and vote for their favorite entries in the Green Building Market Leadership Award Series. It wasn't easy to pick favorites with all of the amazing entries.



From there, the stars of the night took the stage to deliver some enlightening and energetic speeches. Bryan Koop, Liyang Wang, Mark Stafford, Austin Blackmon, and Grey Lee all showed why the room was packed, and why the Green Building industry deserves to be in the spotlight. These are the people changing Boston for the better, modernizing our wonderful city and giving an already-historical city more landmarks to stick out. Also thanks to Rick Fedrizzi for attending!


After a short pause for more food and mingling, it was time for the final votes to be cast for the winners of the night.


To wrap up the night on a good note, the winners were announced. The winners of all 8 categories went up to the stage to claim their awards, ending with the Green Building of the Year Award. The winners were:

Water Efficiency: HDR, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

Energy Efficiency: Columbia Construction Company, Fisheries & Wildlife New Field Headquarters

Site: HDR, Thea & James M. Stoneman Centennial Park at Brigham & Women’s Hospital

Health and Wellness: Elkus Manfredi, New Balance Headquarters

Social Equity: The Green Engineer, Boston Public Library Johnson Building Renovation

Resilience: The Green Engineer, Smuttynose Brewery

Materials: CannonDesign, Novartis Cambridge Campus Expansion

The judges created a Green Building of the Year Special Merit Award for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Fisheries & Wildlife Headquarters building due to it's exemplary performance as a large net zero energy building that they felt needs to be seen more often.


And in the end, the 2016 Green Building of the Year went to Elkus Manfredi for their entry of the LEED Platinum New Balance Headquarters in Allson!



The night didn't end there, of course. What would an event be without with more networking, exchanging business cards, meeting new people, and of course, desserts and drinks. No one was seen with a frown at the end – the entire floor was filled with laughter, handshakes, hugs, and smiles all around. Who wouldn't have fun in the wonderful 888 Boylston and free food/drinks?


Again, we want to thank everyone for coming. Without all of your support, this night wouldn't have happened. Thanks to the major sponsors, the host Boston Properties, the awards committee, judges, the various volunteer teams from Turner, Elkus Manfredi, Duplessy, the bartending staff, and especially the many speakers for creating contributing to a great time.

We can't wait for next year's event, and for everything else in-between now and then.

If you didn't get the chance to see September 2016's newsletter, you can catch up with everything going on here.

Thank you again and we look forward to seeing you soon!


 

Green Building Bike Tour Was A Success!

By Steven Burke


The green building bike tour had another successful year, with beautiful weather to boot! Our tour of the East Boston Greenway was an excellent excuse to explore and cycle the up-and-coming neighborhood of East Boston. The tour was lead by Alison Richardson, Principal at Brown, Richardson & Rowe, Inc., and prime designer of the East Boston Greenway, with supplemental help from Katie Davis of Harvard Green Building Services, and Steven Burke of SMMA and the USGBC MA Board.

We gathered at Maverick T station on Saturday morning to kick off our adventure. Some highlight stops  included Bremen Street & Memorial Stadium Parks, the East Boston Public Library, the Logan Greenway Connector and the Consolidated Rental Car Facility for Logan Airport. Alison Richardson walked us through the complex history of the Greenway, sharing stories about land acquisition, community input and the design process. Since its opening in 2007, the Greenway has helped transform the communities of East Boston by providing safe and cared-for spaces of refuge, exercise, gathering and play. 

We concluded our tour at KO Pies, a delicious local icon where we enjoyed views of the HarborArts Shipyard Gallery and the sounds of the Marina. 

Special thanks to our sponsors Xquisite Landscaping, Inc. for sponsoring the event, and our co-promoters Women In Design

See you next year for the next bike tour– ride on! 

Special thanks to Ami who helped coordinate this wonderful experience, but unfortunately, could not attend due to a knee injury. Feel better!


September Events Note

By Celis Brisbin, Programs Manager

Click here for more details on upcoming events in September


Here's the introduction:

 

September Events Note

Greetings,

 

Woah! A change is in the air – it's good to get a little rain too! Green Buildng Showcase is what everyone is talking about but there are some other things happening at the Chapter. If you have not reserved your seat, get one quick – only a few left, over 250 sold. 

  • On the horizon we have the Healthy Materials Summit, October 26, 2016 at Google. Join us for a technical discussion on the development of materials, and the challenges that we face on the supply and demand side to getting to a healthy material future. Several leaders in the international materials commuity will be sharing their insights here.
  • What's new? Massachusetts is adopting the 2015 IECC code and this means things are changing. Join Chris Schaffner for a morning seminar on these changes and how to be code compliant. More info here!
  • WELL and LEED v4 are changing discussions around town, if you need a refresher or to be accredited, join us for a day session to get you up to speed. Learn more on LEED and WELL here. 
  • Emerging Professionals unite, join us for a panel discussion on careers in sustainability at Northeastern. Reserve a seat here. 
  • We have a lot of good stories curated on our twitter feed and Facebook. And have you seen our blog lately? 
  • Need a refresher on Renewable Energy Terms and Markets? Join us with EnerNOC, learn more here. 
  • We are still cranking up our advocacy activities, so check our advocacy update below or go directly to our advocacy suite at our website
  • Are you ready for Greenbuild 2016? Join us if you need a resonably priced room. Reserve a spot here.  

 

Thank you for your hard work which enacts our mission,
Grey
 

 

 

 

Rick Fedrizzi, at the Green Building Showcase 2016

By Celis Brisbin, Programs Manager

 


Everyone is making it to the Showcase, even Rick Fedrizzi, Founding CEO of the USGBC, is changing his travel itinerary to make it to the big day. Fact is that Rick's been excited about the Showcase since Grey mentioned it to him at USGBC Convergence.

We hope that you can make it too. We already have 80+ projects on display and 250+ attendees. We have had a great reception from the real estate industry as well as the design community. From the Real Estate side we have Boston Properties, Equity Office, DCAMM, Biogen, Boston University, New England Labs, Gerding Edlen, BioMed, Cambridge Redevelopment, Boston Redevelopment, Harvard, MIT, Massport and many more.

The Design community is well represented as well with: Arrowstreet, Atelier Ten, A.W. Hastings, Bergmeyer, , Bruner Cott, Cadmus Group, CannonDesign, Columbia Construction, Commodore Builders, Design Lab Architecture, Dimella Shaffer, Edison Energy, EYPAE, FAA Inc, Flow Tech Inc, 
Goody Clancy, Green Engineer, Grey Star, GRL Architects, HDR
ICFI, ICONarch, Jacobs, JDL Construction, LDA Architects, Linnean Solutions, LISC, Menck Windows, MOSES, Margulies Perruzzi Architects, My Total Green, National Grid, Opterra Energy, Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, Payette, Perkins Eastman, Perkins & Will, RDK Engineers, Revision Energy,  Spacework, StudioG Architects, Turner Construction, The Green Project Manager, Thornton Tomasetti, Touloukian Touloukian, Urban Habitat Initiatives, Vanderweil Engineers, Veritiv, Vidaris, Wegowise, Winn Companies, WSP Group to name a few. 


An open bar and hors d’oeuvres will support great networking at Boston Properties' new and distinctly sustainable location, 888 Boylston. Views of the city are spectacular and part of Fenway park is visible so, you won't even miss the game! 

Our Chapter's premier fall event to showcase and celebrate exceptional green buildings conceived, designed, built & operated by our community of practitioners over the past year.  

Come together with event sponsors Boston Properties, National Grid, Eversource, Turner Construction, Elkus Manfredi, Arup, View Glass, AHA Consulting Engineers and others! 

 

 

 

W.T. Rich and Massachusetts Maritime Academy Achieve LEED Platinum Certification

By Ritchie Lafaille, Office Fellow

W.T. Rich Company, Inc. is pleased to announce that the Massachusetts Maritime Academy Modernization
project received LEED® Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

W.T. Rich constructed at the Mass Maritime Academy an $18.7 million, 43,000 sq. ft. library, known as the American Bureau of Shipping Information Commons, with unique architectural features including limestone veneer, glass flooring at stair landings, a rooftop skylight that runs the entire length of the building, a large rotunda encased in architectural woodwork, a rooftop solar photovoltaic array, and much more. The project also includes over 50 geothermal wells for heating and air conditioning.

Platinum is the highest level of LEED certification. A building must receive at least 80 out of 110 points to achieve this status. A large number of sustainable design features were evaluated and incorporated into the final design, including water conservation, light sensors, chilled beams, geothermal energy system, radiant floor heating, rapidly renewable materials, and materials with a high recycled content.

According to the US Green Building Council's website, LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a certification system that “provides independent, third-party verification that a building, home or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at achieving high performance in key areas of human and environmental health: Sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.”


The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) funded and managed the project, and Perry Dean Rogers was the architect who designed the American Bureau of Shipping Information Commons building.

“W.T. Rich Company is very proud of the partnership we had with the Academy, DCAMM and Perry Dean Rogers in achieving this goal. Our firm is committed to sustainable design and construction, and the achievement of LEED Platinum is a great milestone signifying that commitment,” said Jonathan Rich, CEO of W.T. Rich Company, Inc.

“Achieving LEED Platinum status for the new library is a major milestone in our modernization program. With the new state of the art library Mass Maritime can better prepare our cadets for careers at sea,” said Rear Admiral Francis McDonald, President of Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

Flashback Friday: Mayor Menino Announces that Atlantic Wharf, Boston's First Green Skyscraper, Receives LEED Platinum Plaque

By Ritchie Lafaille, Office Fellow

Mayor Thomas M. Menino today announced that Boston Properties’ Atlantic Wharf, Boston’s first green
skyscraper has been designated LEED Platinum under the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED Core & Shell program.  Roger Platt, Senior Vice President, Global Policy & Law for the USGBC presented the LEED Platinum plaque to Bryan Koop, Senior Vice President & Regional Manager of Boston Properties and Boston’s Mayor Thomas Menino at a ceremony at Atlantic Wharf located on the Fort Point Channel near Boston’s Innovation District.

“This LEED Platinum designation marks not only a great milestone for Boston Properties, but also for the City of Boston and our innovative work in green building and development,” said Mayor Menino, “The City of Boston has long been a champion of greening our built environment, from first-in-the-nation green building zoning to the Building Energy Disclosure Ordinance announced today.  I look forward to continuing our great work with partners such as Boston Properties to ensure a greener, more sustainable, and more prosperous future for Boston.”

A collaborative development between the City of Boston and Boston Properties, Atlantic Wharf is located on Boston's Waterfront, bordering Boston’s Innovation District and Fort Point Channel.  A shining example of the Mayor’s transformative green building policies in Boston, sustainable design was applied throughout the development, including innovative rainwater storage and reuse systems, energy conserving mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, green roofs and daylighting design.  

“We are thrilled to have achieved the LEED Platinum designation at Atlantic Wharf,” stated Bryan Koop of Boston Properties. “We have been inspired by the Mayor’s vision to make Boston the greenest city in the country and our customers’ commitment to a sustainable workplace.  Atlantic Wharf is a model proving that development can be done with a conscious regard for the environment.”

Atlantic Wharf received the USGBC LEED Platinum rating for Core and Shell which is a green building rating system for designers, builders, developers, and new building owners who want to address sustainable design for new core and shell construction, covering base building elements such as structure, envelope and HVAC systems.

“Atlantic Wharf is a prime example of community sustainability, and evidence of just how much mixed-use projects can achieve in the realm of green building,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair, U.S. Green Building Council.  “With a LEED Platinum rating, Atlantic Wharf is a real-life model that other mixed-use and neighborhood projects can learn from.”

At the event, Mayor Menino also announced the City’s steps to create the ‘Next Generation Green Building Policy,” that will include a Building Energy Disclosure Ordinance that will have all large commercial and residential buildings (above 50,000 square feet) report energy use annually, with the results published online.  In the coming summer months, City staff and key sector leaders and stakeholders will work draft an ordinance to be reviewed by Mayor Menino in the fall.