RENO CONTRACTING LEEDING THE GREEN REVOLUTION

San Diego’s Reno Contracting is at the forefront of the construction industry’s move to apply sustainable methods and materials to new building projects. Today, an increasing number of structures are being built that meet the needs of today’s marketplace-as well as enhancing the quality-of-life for future generations. Sustainable development implies economic growth, together with the protection of the environment and use of renewable resources.

With the largest LEED-certified green-building experts on staff in San Diego, Reno and its clients work diligently to meet the challenge of incorporating sustainable materials and energy conservation in their building strategies. Eric Scheidlinger, LEED-Accredited Reno Project Engineer believes that “…building green is a responsibility that the construction industry has, and it is up to us to make sure that projects have as little impact on the environment as possible.”

The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) administers the LEED program as a voluntary national standard for developing high-performance sustainable buildings. Points are based upon sustainable site planning, maintaining water economy and quality, efficient energy sources and renewable energy use, conservation of materials and resources and indoor environmental quality. The LEED rating system awards these points for a range of state-of-the-art strategies: Certified is the basic level of certification, with Silver, Gold and Platinum designating higher levels of points attained. As Reno President Walt Fegley observes, “With our LEED-Accredited Professionals at each level of our organization and LEED-specific training company-wide, we can offer support to our clients today to meet their needs tomorrow."

Sabre Springs Leads Reno’s Green Projects

At present, Reno Contracting has five projects either LEED pre-certified or planned for LEED Certification in San Diego County. Kilroy Realty’s Sabre Springs, San Diego’s premier office complex, is an example of Reno’s expertise in green building. Led by Project Manager Kevin Horst, the buildings’ core and shell has been LEED pre-certified.

While managing the Sabre Springs project, Horst identified a situation in where a high water table was discovered when digging the below-grade parking structure. “Collectively,” said Horst, “the Kilroy and Reno team saw the opportunity to gain extra LEED points while achieving an environmental advantage by using the site’s available water for landscape irrigation.” Kilroy hired an outside consultant who worked with Reno to create a solution whereby existing ground water will be collected and stored for use in irrigating the campus’ landscape plantings.

As for more tangible benefits, Reno’s Curtis Brooks, a Project Engineer on the Sabre Springs III project, responds with a practical example: “The construction project generated in excess of 400 tons of waste, and we have successfully diverted 68% of the waste from the landfill…In San Diego, as well as other cities, the landfills are quickly reaching capacity. Once the sites are full, trash fees for commercial and residential trash removal will increase drastically.”

In addition to Kilroy’s Sabre Springs project, their 465,000sf Santa Fe Summit Intuit campus is awaiting Silver Certification. Also, Reno is working on BioMed’s core and shell and is awaiting Silver Certification; ViaSat Building 6 in Carlsbad is anticipated to receive LEED Certification for commercial interiors; the Terraces at Copley Point, 350,000sf of Class A office space is planning for LEED core and shell certification; while Reno’s Arena Pharmaceuticals project, a five-story shell, is anticipating a LEED new construction certification.
 

Sustainable Building Pays Off For Everyone 

While most in the building industry agree that green construction is necessary in light of the world’s dwindling resources, many developers remain concerned over the cost of building green structures. Brooks is quick to note that “Tenants equate a LEED environment to a more productive and healthier environment and thus are willing to invest in a slight premium per square foot for a superior operating environment…and sustainable construction is a good recruiting and retention tool for the larger companies like Sony, who have made it a company standard to lease only LEED-certified office spaces.”

Sustainable construction often adds less than one percent to the cost of a conventional building, but the payoffs can include a reduction in energy costs by one-third, says Gregory Kats, a principal with alternative energy advisors Capital E. Among buildings he’s studied, the typical payback to the developer or building owner is three to four years. To go with a conventional design these days is “financially riskier,” Kats says, “than building a healthy green building.” Plus, he says, “Traditional building owners face the risk of obsolescence. If everyone else is choosing to build healthy efficient buildings, do they really want to be stuck with an outdated dinosaur that’s unhealthy?”

As more property owners, developers, builders and landlords join the growing movement for sustainable, environmentally conscious construction across the nation, Reno maintains its commitment to the Green Revolution. To learn more about Reno Contracting’s project planning process in building green, call Eric Gradyan, LEED-Accredited Professional, at 619.220.0224.

Kilroy Realty’s Sabre Springs Class “A” office campus, built by San Diego’s Reno Contracting, has been pre-certified for LEED Accreditation.