Wharton-Smith Steps up Green Building Efforts
February 16, 2009
It’s not difficult to determine the importance of sustainable design and construction in our industry if you attend one of these meetings. All you have to do is look around the room and you will see “standing room only” visitors, all listening intently to the speaker. The meetings serve as an open forum, where the speakers and guests alike challenge one another and learn from each other’s expertise.
These lunchtime training sessions were initiated by Wharton-Smith’s Sustainable Design and Construction Department Manager – Robyn Dowsey, LEED AP. “Group thinking, teaching and researching plays such an important in our community. We are strengthening ourselves and raising the bar on what we can offer our clients and what we can bring to our communities,” said Mrs. Dowsey.
Mrs. Dowsey is very involved in both the national and local chapters of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), and also acts as the local USGBC LEED for Schools Advocate and chair of the Central Florida “LEED for Schools” Committee. School districts play a major role in the A/E/C industry and can greatly benefit from sustainability and efficiency practices.
The LEED for Schools committee meets once a month at Wharton-Smith’s Training and Learning Center to focus on reaching higher goals in sustainabilty and efficiency for our school systems. This committee is comprised of representatives from local educational agencies such as Seminole Community College, Seminole County Public Schools, Volusia County Public Schools, and Lake County Public Schools, and also includes partners from local A/E/C companies including Wharton-Smith, Inc., C.T. Hsu & Associates, Bay to Bay, GAI Consultants, BRPH, Matern Professional Engineering, Greener Gardens, and JCB Construction.
The committee has three main objectives: 1. Start and achieve success stories in every district; 2. Publicize success stories with detail and cost data; 3. Study and analyze success stories for long-term benefits.
WSI has been able to utilize much of what has been learned during preconstruction meetings, by tapping into those resources and sharing some of their research with the project team. As a result, WSI has created an extensive database of products and techniques, which stores product options, history, successes, failures and life cycle cost analysis.
WSI is currently involved with nine local projects that are focusing in on energy efficiency and sustainability. These projects include Firehouse #1 for the City of Orlando, a design-build project pursuing LEED Silver Certification and the new Medical Examiners Office for Orange County, also pursuing LEED Silver.
In recent times where “Green” is a major buzzword and the papers are inundated with profit seeking firms trying to cash in on the craze, some companies have dedicated their resources to going above and beyond the traditional levels of understanding, education and service, and Wharton-Smith, is one of those firms.
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