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Sustainability Certifications and Impacts on Business
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Authors Sanders, Maddison
Publisher The University of Arizona.
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Sustainability Certifications and Impacts on Business Maddison Sanders Sustainable Built Environments | Senior Capstone | Spring 2017 | Mentor: Omar Youssef
08 Fall
Sustainability Certifications and Impacts on Business
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Table of Contents
ABSTRACT 2
INTRODUCTION 3
LITERARY REVIEW 4 SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS 4
ENERGY USE IN BUILDINGS 5
BUILDINGS IMPACTS ON WELLBEING 6
SUSTAINABLE BUILDING CERTIFICATIONS 8
LEED 8 LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE 9 NET-‐ZERO ENERGY CERTIFICATION 10 IMPACTS ON BUSINESSES 11
METHODOLOGY 13 CASE STUDY: MOSAIC CENTRE 14
CASE STUDY: DPR CONSTRUCTION-‐ PHOENIX 20
DISCUSSION 23
CONCLUSION 25
REFERENCES 27
100% ENGAGEMENT 30
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ABSTRACT
Sustainable certifications are expanding in popularity within the built environment
as the construction industry is progressing towards sustainability, while benefits are
becoming more valuable to the businesses that reside in sustainably certified spaces. These
benefits, such as thermal comfort and natural daylighting, not only translate to enhancing
employee’s health, but employers within sustainably certified buildings have found greater
retention rates in employees, improved business recruitment, as well as higher
productivity in employees. The range of this analysis is directed towards two businesses
that reside in sustainably certified buildings, DPR Construction-‐Phoenix in Arizona and the
Mosaic Centre for Conscious Community and Commerce in Edmonton, Canada. Both
buildings will be assessed for the impact their sustainable space have on their business.
The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of holistic and specific components of
sustainability certifications, exclusively LEED and Net Zero Energy, on businesses. The
study was unique as it was conducted by interviewing an integral consultant/designer in
the construction process that still currently works in the building. The interview revealed
that DPR Construction found employees to be more comfortable in their workspace, thus
suggesting that productivity would be improved however this cannot be measured. The
Mosaic Centre found new business advantages such as utilizing the space for tours and
community engagement opportunities that have given the businesses within the Mosaic
Centre unique marketing opportunities to improve business. This analysis will help
commercial building owners gain insight on the business impacts of implementing
sustainable building components to achieve a LEED certification, Net-‐Zero Status or a
Living Building Challenge certification.
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INTRODUCTION
As the construction industry is progressing towards sustainability, benefits are
being produced across businesses, such as increased employee recruitment and retention
rates. 61% of corporate leaders believe sustainability leads to market differentiation and
improved financial performance according to the USGBC (United States Green Building
Council, 2016). Owning a business with a ‘green stamp’ has become an increasingly
valuable asset to any company, as it gives a market edge. Tenants are looking for buildings
that meet the LEED criteria and landlords can lease green buildings for as high as 20%
above average (United States Green Building Council). Sustainable technologies are
becoming more available as people want to produce an increasingly sustainable built
environment.
Many sustainable technologies are becoming more accessible to property owners of
all income levels. With growth in accessibility, implementation should be increasing at an
even higher rate. It is imperative to study commercial buildings to discover what
technologies, or behavior modifications, can be made to increase sustainability in the built
environment. Commercial buildings have a high level of occupancy throughout the day;
however, they are underutilized at night. Commercial building owners are more often
willing to invest in sustainable technologies for a variety of reasons. It is necessary to study
how operating a business in a ‘green’ facility can lead to benefits or disadvantages.
Understanding how to utilize green features in commercial buildings is important-‐ a
sustainable building is useless if it is operated inefficiently.
This research investigates how it is necessary to study how operating a business in a
‘green’ facility can lead to benefits or disadvantages. Establishing a consistent standard for
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guidelines in defining ‘green facilities’ creates consistent data analysis, this study utilizes
the already established LEED certification, Net Zero Energy certification, furthermore will
look briefly at Living Building Challenge certification; as well as clearly defining what
sustainable development encompasses. The purpose of this study is to investigate the
impact of sustainability certifications on businesses, additionally which implemented
components have impacted the business’ social and economic factors the most.
LITERARY REVIEW
Sustainable Buildings
Sustainability development is defined as ‘development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’
(Brundtland, 1987). Within this definition it addresses two vital concepts to sustainability,
the concept of needs along with the concept of limitations. The concept of needs addresses
the needs of the future. Priority of needs is implied to the entire global community’s poor
population. The concept of limitations suggests that through the state of technology and
social organization there is a limitation on what the environment is able to provide. The
definition provided through the Brundtland Report has shaped much research and
progress within the built environment in the past decade. Sustainable or ‘green’ buildings
should be the main focus of the present in addition to the future. The EPA stated the natural
environment, human health, and economy are each influenced by the built environment
(Sayigh, 2014). Moving forward, building sustainably will be the key factor in mitigating the
effects humanity has on the environment.
Sustainability Certifications and Impacts on Business
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The indicators of a sustainable space have been defined simply as: communicate
information simply, operationalize sustainable development, facilitate continuous learning,
demonstrate accountability, and identify knowledge as well as data gaps (Lynch and
Mosbah, 2016). Through these indicators sustainable building developers have a guide on
the process to create sustainable spaces. Sustainable spaces have become valuable to
developers, as studies have demonstrated the benefits of working in an environment that is
thermally comfortable, utilizes natural daylighting, or brings outdoor elements indoors. A
study done in Tokyo, Japan found through mandatory electricity savings resulted in a loss
of human thermal comfort, leading to a loss of 6.6% productivity (Rupp, et al., 2015).
Buildings designed with the sustainable attributes in mind throughout the entire designing
process not only provide reduced energy costs, they also raise productivity. Sustainable
spaces whether they are commercial, industrial, or residential have profound effects on
building users and tenants as well as building operators as well as owners. Environmental
benefits, the economic bonuses, as well as the overall social wellbeing are maximized as
sustainable buildings are thoughtfully and carefully designed then implemented into the
built environment, making sustainable design the smart investment.
Energy Use in Buildings
Within the United States, 40% of electricity consumption is accounted for by
buildings, likewise 18% of electricity consumption is within the United States is from
commercial buildings (Pérez-‐Lombard, et al., 2008). As an increased amount of energy is
being used, an even greater amount of carbon emissions are being released. Residential,
commercial, and government buildings are responsible for 20% of Australia’s GHG
emissions, whereas within the United States their total rates of consumption equate almost
Sustainability Certifications and Impacts on Business
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40% of carbon emissions (Sayigh, 2014). Developed countries are stealing the quality of life
from the developing countries as they use an increasing amount of natural resources that
produce an increasing amount of waste. The cycle of wasteful design of nonrenewable
resources can be terminated then resolved through sustainable design. The cycle of
wasteful design includes the entire building life-‐cycle, the life-‐cycle of a building includes
the exploitation of materials through the entire construction and life of a building,
including the buildings waste of materials during construction (United States Green
Building Council). 50% material resources taken from the natural environment are
building related, additionally over 50% of the national waste production comes from the
building sector (Sayigh, 2014). Designing under the paradigm of energy efficiency is a good
way to use less energy, lower demand on energy resources, in addition lessens greenhouse
gas emissions. Reducing the amount of energy used in the built environment is widely
believed to be the quickest, simplest, furthermore most cost-‐effective way to reduce global
greenhouse gas emissions.
Buildings Impacts on Wellbeing
It is common knowledge that buildings affect people’s wellbeing due to the
extensive amount of time spent within the built environment. Globally, the average time
spent indoors is 90% or more (Sayigh, 2014). The quality of indoor spaces has become
crucial to health, both short-‐term and long-‐term. Common physical features often seen
indoors that induce stress are: a lack of natural lighting, non-‐opening windows, close
uncomfortable seating, bland, monochrome color schemes in addition to harsh linear
features (Hemingway, et al., 2011). Many of these features are implemented to save costs,
however, they are hurting building’s habitants at considerable rates. The pollutants within
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indoor spaces range from 2 times to 100 times higher than outdoor pollutant levels
(Sayigh, 2014). The spaces that people are spending nearly all of their time are filled with
toxins and pollutants, which are leading to long-‐term health and wellness effects.
This large impact on overall personal wellbeing must be accounted for when
designing any project. Livability is defined as the sum of the factors that adds up to a
community's quality of life—including the built along with natural environments, economic
prosperity, social stability and equity, educational opportunity, cultural, entertainment as
well as recreation possibilities (Lynch and Mosbah, 2016). Livability is the key component
in design for sustainable buildings providing a healthy environment for people to live in. If
the project designs has great attention towards the environment, in addition to the
economy, yet are not beneficial to the consumers, then it is a failed project in terms of
sustainability. It is paramount that the design of buildings becomes focused on choosing
materials that not only have low environmental impacts, yet also address the crisis of the
built environments impact on wellbeing. Simple improvements can be made within the
workspace to make the space more livable, giving people working windows with slightly
views or displaying artwork with organic spaces have been proven to ‘benefit health,
reduce illness, and increase positive mood’ (Hemingway and Steven, 2011). With the rate in
which people are affected by the built environment, designing spaces that are healthier for
people to work as well as live in is a crucial social issue.
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Sustainable Building Certifications
LEED
The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) is a nonprofit organization that
created a sustainable scoring system, called LEED. LEED is the most widely used green
building certification system with 1.85 million square feet of construction space certified
(United States Green Building Council). LEED is the triple bottom line in action, benefiting
people, planet and profit. The USGBC was established to create a system to analyze how
sustainable buildings are through a scale of various levels of achievements, in order these
are: LEED Certified, LEED Silver, LEED Gold, LEED Platinum. There are varying programs in
which buildings can apply to be LEED certified, these are: LEED-‐NC (new construction),
LEED-‐EB (existing buildings), LEED-‐CS (core and shell, new construction where tenant
improvements are done separately) also LEED-‐H (homes) (United States Green Building
Council). The credits are distributed between categories of integrative process, location
and transportation, sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials
and resources, indoor environmental quality, innovation, regional priority, for a total of
110 credits possible to be scored (United States Green Building Council). Having a LEED
stamp on a project increases the value of properties as well as offers an educational
experience to those ignorant of what sustainable development is then the benefit it brings.
While LEED is the most popular sustainable certification system, many have found
multiple fundamental issues with the LEED rating system. First being that LEED only
recognizes positive sustainable attributes of a project, in addition there are no penalties for
inappropriate implementation or lack of implementation of sustainable features (Denzer
and Hedges, 2011). For example, a project could score highly in the Sustainable Sites
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category, however, score meets in the prerequisites in Material and Resources category
and still be LEED certified. This means the project could have zero recycled content while
having materials imported from abroad. Another feature LEED fails to take into account is
geographic location’s impact on the feasibility of certain credits, for example, in a
mountainous region the likelihood of bikes being utilized is very low, nevertheless the site
could still earn credits for implementing bike-‐specific features like the Bicycle Facilities
credit for 1 point that would likely be wasted space (United States Green Building Council).
A project of two single-‐family homes located at the backdrop of Yellowstone National Park
completed in 2003, that received it’s accolades as the first LEED certified project in the
National Park system, ran into many unforeseen roadblocks when applying for it’s LEED
certification. Their staff found self-‐reporting extremely difficult as they were not
experienced or trained in the LEED accreditation process. Additionally, they ran into third
party documentation problems for energy modeling, brownfield inspections, as well as
construction recycling that they were not prepared for or made aware of before pursuing a
LEED project which led to additional expenses at nearly $20,000 for the project (Denzer
and Hedges, 2011). This is not a conclusive list of complications that are found in the LEED
rating system, though overall the goal LEED is hoping to achieve is an increase in the
number of built environment project receiving recognition for their work in sustainable
design while working to improve their environmental performance.
Living Building Challenge
Living Building Challenge asks people to imagine “a building designed and
constructed to function as elegantly and efficiently as a flower: a building informed by its
bioregion’s characteristics, that generates all of its own energy with renewable resources,
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captures and treats all of its water, and that operates efficiently and for maximum beauty”
(Living Building Challenge 3.1, 2016). Living Building Challenge is the most rigorous of the
green certification systems as it is run through the International Living Institute while
focusing on how designers can achieve buildings that are truly good. Their overall goal is to
“make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through
spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone” (Living
Building Challenge 3.1, 2016). The Living Building Challenge offers an intensive framework
for design, construction, as well as the symbiotic relationship between people with all
aspects of the community. The Petal Certification of the Living Building Challenge is the
ultimate goal and meets the imperatives within at least three of the seven petals, one of
which must be the water petal, the energy petal, or the materials petal. The remaining
petals are the place petal, the health + happiness petal, the equity petal, then the beauty
petal (Living Building Challenge 3.1, 2016). Imperatives are similar to what LEED
certification deems to be credits. The twenty imperatives each fall under a petal category,
some of the imperatives include: urban agriculture, net positive water, net positive energy,
biophilic environment, embodied carbon footprint, universal access to nature and place,
equitable investment, just organization, inspiration and education (Living Building
Challenge 3.1, 2016). The Living Building Challenge focuses greatly on holistic design while
not interfering on the natural environment as the built environment continues to grow.
Net-‐Zero Energy Certification
Net Zero Energy Building Certification is within the same organization as the
Living Building Challenge except focusing specifically on all energy components. The
International Living Institute defines net zero, as “one hundred percent of the building’s
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energy needs on a net annual basis must be supplied by on-‐site renewable energy No
combustion is allowed” (Living Building Challenge 3.1, 2016). Net Zero Energy Building
Certification is the only of the three green building certifications that is based entirely on
results and not predicted outcome. Projects cannot be Net Zero Energy Building Certified
until they have reported at least twelve consecutive months of operation at net zero or net
positive energy (Net Zero Energy Building Certification). Net Zero Energy Building
Certification uses frameworks of the Living Building Challenge to focus on divesting from
fossil fuels thus producing some of the greenest buildings in the world.
Impacts on Businesses The Environmental Protection Agency in Denver, CO recently constructed an
innovative collaboratively designed space in their Region 8 headquarters for Montana,
North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. The holistically designed space
featured innovative light distribution techniques in their atrium sails that redirected light
through the space to create even light distribution reducing the need for ceiling lights, this
same building also installed a green roof to reduce stormwater runoff, as well as exterior
shading structures to provide appropriate shading reducing the load for HVAC cooling
(Zimmer, et al., 2007). In 2015, 90% of their employees stated both that they are constantly
looking for ways to do their job better as well as feeling that the work they do is important,
in addition they felt that the quality of work done by each unit should be rated at an 82%
overall (Kellen, 2015). The EPA Region 8 Headquarters also surveyed it’s employees after
moving into it’s holistically designed headquarters and 79% of the staff stated that they are
willing to sacrifice a higher salary to work in such an innovative building. Further,
providing evidence that employees need a healthy environment to work within; thus, the
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environments and certification outlined by LEED, Living Building Challenge, as well as Net
Zero Energy provide the healthy, more comfortable environments employees want and
need.
Another study found, after surveying 1,500 employees in 18 different office
buildings, that building features such as temperature, lighting, in addition to sound has a
direct impact on the comfort of the building users (Feige, et al., 2013). However, while the
positive impact cannot clearly correlate to productivity, the higher comfort levels do
directly impact work engagement (Feige, et al., 2013). Buildings designed with the
wellbeing of the users in mind can positively impact a company through an increased
amount of work engagement throughout the staff as a whole, increased work engagement
can lead to increased productivity and employee satisfaction. Buildings catering to the
wellbeing of its inhabitants also provide a great array of health benefits that produce a
higher quality employee as they are more focused while having more energy. From a
business prospective, LEED and Energy Star certified buildings have a rental premium of 4-‐
5% with an asset or sale premia of 25-‐26% (Fuerst and McAllister, 2011). From this,
businesses can conclude that eco-‐certification has become in addition will continue to be
progressively more important, thus having a sustainably certified building will lead to
higher rent as well as asset premium (Fuerst and McAllister, 2011). This premium gives
businesses more value in their assets providing further financial security. Additionally, a
study done by the United States Green Building Council found in the San Diego market that
the overall vacancy rate for green buildings was 11.7% compared to the 15.7% of non-‐
green properties (United States Green Building Council, 2016). In addition, LEED-‐certified
buildings obtain the highest rents, leading to conclude that green properties are more
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desirable by consumers (United States Green Building Council, 2016). Finally, a study on
PNC bank branches found that the LEED-‐certified facilities opened 458 more consumer
deposit accounts annually (United States Green Building Council, 2016). The benefits
enterprises find in being headquartered in a ‘green facility’ are expansive and growing.
Businesses find benefits through publicity, the growing popularity in accreditations, as well
as increased employee satisfaction.
METHODOLOGY
The long-‐term goal of this research is to investigate how companies are impacted by
their building’s high sustainability certifications, additionally within the ratings which
components implemented have impacted business the most. To answer this question, two
sites that have multiple sustainability certifications for their buildings have been selected
and an individual from each project was questioned. The first company is DPR
Construction-‐ Phoenix, DPR Construction Phoenix was the first building in Arizona to
receive a Net-‐Zero Energy certification; DPR Construction is also LEED Platinum. The
second is a building, the Mosaic Centre, located in Edmonton, Alberta owned by the Mosaic
Family of Companies. The Mosaic Centre houses various companies, is certified both Net-‐
Zero Energy and LEED Platinum, then applied to be Living Building Challenge certified. The
businesses are diverse, providing opportunity to analyze difference in the two dissimilar
sites.
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CASE STUDY: MOSAIC CENTRE
The Mosaic Centre for Conscious Community and Commerce in located in
Edmonton, Canada, known for being Net-‐Zero certified, LEED platinum certified, then
applying to be Living Building Challenge certified. The 30,000 square foot commercial
center cost $10.5 million, five percent under budget, and was completed three months
ahead of schedule, opening in February of 2015 (Dodge & Kinney, 2015). The building
covers all the major sustainability categories of social, economic, as well as environmental
implementations for an overall complete and holistic design. The Mosaic Centre is a unique
sustainability project because it incorporates all aspects of sustainability. “A community
with a shared vision that you can do GOOD while doing WELL, a community of businesses
enabling positive social change through business” (Burdeniuk, 2015). For the developers,
the social challenges of sustainability were just as valuable as the environmental or the
economic challenges. The Mosaic Centre brought in a community kitchen, wellness center,
childcare facility, lounge areas, game rooms, a restaurant and an outdoor terrace (McKay,
2016). A unique tradition of the Mosaic Centre is the communal kitchen (Figure 3), every
day at 11:55am a bell rings to alert all businesses headquartered in the building to have
lunch together-‐ strengthening the community while developing a culture of transparency in
Figure 1: Mosaic Center Exterior Figure 2: Mosaic Centre Interior
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addition to openness. The name of the building, ‘The Mosaic Centre for Conscious
Community and Commerce’, describes how implementing social sustainability throughout
the entire design was an indispensable part of the process. The Mosaic Centre for
Conscious Community and Commerce was built with user-‐centered design with beauty in
mind by using natural elements. Within the foyer is a three story living wall used to
produce bananas within their building (Figure 4). The banana tree also provides something
more to the space; it regulates humidity, produces fresh air, moreover in the harsh winters
in Edmonton the living wall provides green space to lift moral in addition can even improve
the ability for one to concentrate on a task thus reduce errors and fatigue (Hemingway and
Steven, 2011). Bringing natural elements indoors such as a living wall provides the
building with better air quality, increasing the condition of the building as well as
increasing tenant’s human thermal comfort as well as respiratory wellness. Another
unique feature in the foyer is the staircase, the Mosaic Centre built their staircase to best
suit the different businesses; the staircase gives opportunities for the employees to leave
their traditional office to sit in natural lighting on the staircase (Figure 5). The furniture
within the space was created to be environmentally conscious too-‐ all furniture was
Figure 3: Mosaic Community Kitchen Figure 4: Mosaic Centre Living Wall
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produced locally and with offsets from the construction process of the building (Burdeniuk,
2015). Nontraditional furniture inspires employees plus sparks interest within the office
while allowing employees take pride in their office space (Hemingway and Steven, 2011).
Another feature the Mosaic Centre took in mind is creating a unique experience through
their wayfinding system within the building Figure 6). Local artisans were hired then asked
to paint murals to make the wayfinding inside of the building more interesting than dull
signs traditional buildings use. A study published in the interdisciplinary journal Spatial
Cognition and Computation found that color helps people of all ages find their destination
more quickly when navigating through an unfamiliar large environment (Jansen-‐Osmann
and Wiedenbauer, 2004). The particular attention the Mosaic Centre paid attention to
detail as well as the user experience combine together to make a healthier, more engaging
environment to host businesses.
As much as Net Zero Energy Certification is a benefit for the environment, it’s a huge
economic factor for sustainability. The Mosaic Centre for Conscious Community and
Commerce is Alberta’s first net-‐zero commercial building aimed at being a model of
sustainable construction together with an incubator for startup businesses within the
community (Mosaic Centre for Conscious Community and Commerce). The building holds
Figure 5: Mosaic Centre Staircase Figure 6: Mosaic Centre Wayfinding
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213 kWatts worth of PV solar paneling on both the vertical and horizontal portions of the
building to produce as much energy as they consume annually, making the commercial hub
net-‐zero (Burdeniuk, 2015). Additionally, the Mosaic Centre capitalized on the
geoexchange through 32 bore holes, 230 feet below the parking lot, which allowed for a
reduction on the PV load by 40 kWatts, saving the $80,000 in energy after factoring in the
geothermal system (Burdeniuk, 2017). To encourage startups and new business within the
community, the Mosaic Centre has a co-‐working space for socially conscious
entrepreneurial startups they’ve named interChange (Burdeniuk, 2017). Encouraging
startups in the community builds local business building the economy of their city, as well
as having a space that startups can host their business functions in early stages assists
these companies in nearly completely eliminating facility operation costs, a great financial
incentive and benefit the Mosaic Centre offers to the community.
An interesting component of the Mosaic Centre is the false advertisement that has
largely impacted the business through their marketing. The Mosaic Centre has been often
nicknamed Triple Play due to its goals to achieve LEED Platinum, Net Zero Energy, as well
as Living Building Challenge. However, the Mosaic Centre found that they could not
accomplish Living Building Challenge certification (Burdeniuk, 2017). During the interview
with Brandy Burdeniuk, one of the leading sustainable consultants throughout the Mosaic
Centre project and co-‐founder of ‘EcoAmmo’ headquartered in the Mosaic Centre, was
disappointed to relay that the Living Building Challenge qualification fell through after
minor details with the restaurant inside the Mosaic Centre. The first year of occupancy the
Mosaic Centre was eligible for the Living Building Challenge certification; however, the
property owners of the Mosaic Centre found that restaurants were not interested in the
Sustainability Certifications and Impacts on Business
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space because there were no natural gas lines available, which Living Building Challenge
does not permit natural gas lines in their certified spaces. The Mosaic Centre needed to
have their commercial restaurant space filled in order to keep the building owners from
going bankrupt. They had to compromise by giving up their Living Building Challenge
certification in order to keep the space functioning with the property owners within profit
margins. Living Building Challenge certifications are extremely difficult for building owners
to earn while being in Alberta with an extreme climate, it makes it even more difficult to
earn Living Building Challenge certifications as Alberta’s fuel of choice is natural gas for
heating and electrical generation (Alberta Energy, n.d.).
The Mosaic Centre was able to fill their other commercial spaces with a yoga studio
as well as a day care. Implementing a fitness center and a day care from outside sources
encourages start-‐up businesses while providing the other building tenants to have their
needs more accessibly met. The yoga studio is rented out regularly after working hours to
host community event such as a salsa-‐dancing club (Figure 7) that allows for the building’s
useful life to extended as well as allowing the community to come together for
entertainment. Childcare is a huge concern to working families. Consequently, having the
opportunity to have a childcare facility within their working environment alleviates a lot of
Figure 7: Fitness Center Facility
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pressure from staff thus makes working at the Mosaic Centre more convenient. Brandy also
shared that the childcare facility was at maximum capacity year-‐round because of it’s
competitive edge being housed in a building designed to eliminate toxins, retain great air
quality, as well as having high standards for the materials used in the businesses. The
Mosaic Centre companies that are within maintain collaborative spaces, with the fitness
center hosting a salsa dancing event monthly that fills with dozens of local community
members. Their other collaborative spaces throughout the building have achieved this as
well. The rooftop terrace is used in the comfortable months for various reasons including
rooftop yoga and client appreciation meetings. The Mosaic Centre for Conscious
Community and Commerce is an intentionally designed community with a vast amount of
sustainable elements across economic, environmental, in addition to social factors. While
the Centre has received high recognition, they hope to inspire new buildings or businesses
to take their top spot (Burdeniuk, 2015). The Mosaic Centre is working to create a cultural
change within the built environment therefore it’s important to analyze how their attempts
have been both successful and unsuccessful to what rate they find their sustainable
implementations working from expectations.
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CASE STUDY: DPR CONSTRUCTION-‐ PHOENIX
DPR Construction is a technical building company specializing in complex,
sustainable projects spread all across the nation. DPR Construction’s expertise is in smart
construction in which they focus on collaborative virtual building, sustainable construction,
preconstruction, special services group, self-‐preform work, as well as safety. DPR
Construction’s office in Phoenix, AZ, known as a ‘living laboratory’, was Arizona’s first Net-‐
Zero Energy Building. In 2013, DPR Construction Phoenix was the largest building in the
world, in addition to the second in the United States, to receive the Net-‐Zero Energy
Building certification (DPR Construction, 2013). DPR Construction’s Phoenix office includes
a wide variety of rooms for the employees benefit to encourage a comfortable, productive
environment. Their office was designed to hold an employee nap room, allowing employees
to maintain peak wellness and awareness throughout the day, as well as a gym, again
Figure 8: DPR Construction-‐Phoenix
Figure 9: DPR Kitchen and Outdoor Seating Area Figure 10: DPR Construction Conference Room
Sustainability Certifications and Impacts on Business
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helping their staff move towards wellness as they encourage active lifestyles at work to
keep energy plus moral levels high. Another additional feature they inputted in their office
is a large common kitchen area (Figure 9). This space allows their staff to come together to
have meals as well as providing a collaborative space where lunch meetings can happen
comfortably within the office setting. From the kitchen, there are additional collaborative
spaces that extend outdoors for meeting space or for employees to enjoy the outdoor
environment as they work, again encouraging wellness over a sedentary work
environment. Even the conference rooms within DPR Construction Phoenix are not
traditional (Figure 10); they have informal conference spaces for less traditional meetings
with unique seating options along with more of a dynamic seating pattern to encourage
creativity within meetings. They designed their space to benefit their employees by
focusing on the best work environment experience.
DPR Construction’s original intent of the project was to accomplish Net Zero Energy.
Their major goals were to use the environment to their advantage, for the space to be less
‘officey’, maximize natural light, implement passive energy and cooling strategies, while
within a building that was nearing the end of it’s intended lifecycle to redevelop. They did
not rely on PV systems when designing the space, yet focused first on passive systems that
could be implemented. One of the Phoenix office’s biggest passive energy-‐saver is the solar
Figure 11: DPR Evaporative Cooler
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chimney; the solar chimney creates convection as well as buoyancy in the space so that
they do not have to use energy to cool the office area. The solar chimney is assisted in
passive cooling with the evaporative cooling system (Figure 11). Their evaporative cooler
takes the Phoenix hot, dry air then pushes it through a water sheet by motorized dampers,
as the air is cooled it is then moved through the space by the solar chimney’s effect. The
fans within the office space are controlled by a computer system keeping the space within a
range of data sets for the office to be thermally comfortable. After completing their
renovation on just the building envelope, they added the PV arrays needed to complete the
Net-‐Zero Building certification, also achieving a LEED Platinum certification.
As DPR Construction highlights their sustainability knowledge in construction and
design in their office space, when asked the Phoenix office’s accolades have not led to new
projects since its construction in 2013. Their high notoriety has provided tours, awards,
great marketing for their business, in addition it has allowed them to engage with those
interested in similar ideas and design principles. DPR Construction-‐ Phoenix also
acknowledged that Net-‐Zero Building certification is not a blanket construction idea they
can fit to each new project. Within DPR Construction Phoenix there are nevertheless
employees who are not thermally comfortable with the change and some people struggle to
adapt to the new technological building. Indoor human thermal comfort is difficult to
quantify for each person effected by the space, however, most of the employees have said
that DPR Construction in Phoenix’s office is friendly feeling as well as an above average
office space.
Sustainability Certifications and Impacts on Business
23
DISCUSSION
Creating a holistic approach to sustainability is an admiral goal that DPR
Construction-‐ Phoenix and Mosaic Centre has both achieved as well as has set each space
apart. As people experience in holistically designed spaces, they are inspired. It can be
concluded that companies that design their building focused on user-‐centered design have
workforces that feel more appreciated and more encouraged to do their work. The Mosaic
Centre and DPR Construction have achieved this user-‐centered design at a high level
through using the guidelines set in place by sustainable certifications by putting their
employee’s interests in mind through the designs. Further, their employee’s agree, DPR
Construction’s employees stated that the facility felt friendly as well as they felt their office
was an above average building to work in. The Mosaic Centre’s sustainability consultants,
EcoAmmo, chose to move their headquarters into the Mosaic Centre. Brandy stated in her
interview it is extremely rare to find staff involved in a project interested in the building at
all after construction is completed because of building complications (Burdeniuk, 2017).
However, the Mosaic Centre’s entire design process was so focused on social success
through sustainability that the building was still attractive enough to EcoAmmo to move
into.
One component both businesses implemented into their designs is collaborative
space. The Mosaic Centre houses an innovative staircase as it’s not only functional as
employees can use the space to work and collaborate outside of their offices, a shared
dining area for all businesses to come together, as well as intentionally designed
conference rooms that are designed for community engagement and thermal comfort. DPR
Construction also holds intentionally designed conference rooms, including those of
Sustainability Certifications and Impacts on Business
24
various sizes, as well as single occupant rooms that allow for users to have undisturbed
conference calls. DPR Construction also has a community designed kitchen area that
extends to the outdoors, allowing staff to change their surroundings throughout the day to
meet their personal comfort needs. Non-‐traditional collaborative spaces prove to be
important because as designers bring people together in a space that is inspiring while
allowing others to collaborate across disciplines, the building occupants will be more
productive and motivated. Having a staff of motivated, inspired individuals leads to
financial benefits as well. While impossible to quantify the exact economic impact of a more
productive staff, it can be recognized that with an inspired, engaged staff there will be less
disgruntled employees, leading to a lower employee turnover rate. As well as, if the space is
designed to be collaborative as well as inspiring, then it will be easier to acquire new staff
with an attractive company image and office environment (Feige, 2013). Collaborative
spaces also attract visitors; both DPR Construction as well as the Mosaic Centre openly
tours their facilities to showcase the collaborative design elements in addition to
sustainable features that make their space unique. The Mosaic Centre found in their last
calculation that nearly 12,000 people have visited to tour the building to see the unique
design throughout the space. Organizations such as EcoAmmo, a sustainable consulting
firm, that are headquarted in spaces similar to the Mosaic Centre, have the opportunity in
marketing by touring their space to show potential clients their work physically.
Sustainability Certifications and Impacts on Business
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CONCLUSION
Building upon a holistic approach to sustainability as a goal as a business’ building
will set the establishment apart. Designing an office in which the building has been created
to be comfortable through the use of natural systems will increase work engagement
within the staff. While there is no clear way to measure work productivity based on the
comfort felt by employees, keeping organization's engaged will keep work from being
stagnant. Designing sustainable spaces that utilize natural systems will positively benefit
the comfort within a space. Additionally, this research is beneficial to architects designing
commercial office spaces for businesses with user-‐centered design to enhance work
performance as well as the experience. This study also serves as an assessment for
sustainability certifications where issues in certifications like Living Building Challenge
prevents business opportunities due to the strict standards that do not take geographical
factors into consideration. While DPR Construction found no direct correlation in increased
number of projects through their sustainable certifications, they have received a new
platform in marketing through the building’s success in the media, tours, as well as a
building that caters better to the wellbeing of their employees. The Mosaic Centre found
direct business impacts through the sustainable certification of the space as they have had
over 12,000 people tour the building since it’s opening in 2015. Then additional impacts
were found through the building’s specific features such as the living wall, various
commercial offices for the daycare, co-‐working for startup businesses, as well as a fitness
center that have financial benefits from the building’s wellness and the design features
aimed at social success through sustainability.
Sustainability Certifications and Impacts on Business
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This research provides a platform for future studies by supplementing the
qualitative research with quantitative research through adding a cost benefit analysis of
the specific sustainability factors. Creating specific questionnaires that investigate the
actual performance, satisfaction, yet also experience of the employees. In further studies it
would be desirable to obtain financial records, survey a wider population of the staff, or to
compare buildings that are more similar in size and climate. It can be then concluded that
office buildings have a direct, positive influence on the business as a whole if the comfort
level within a building influences staff engagement.
Sustainability Certifications and Impacts on Business
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100% Engagement Regarding my career plans the capstone class has allowed me to develop specific interests
within my career path that I believe will really alter the course of my future plans. Within
the course of my senior capstone I have been able to do extensive research throughout a
variety of topics within sustainability in the built environment. I knew that I had interest
within sustainable buildings, but after studying further I found that I was particularly
interested in sustainability certifications and how they impacted business. This allowed me
to see the interest I had in business, which inspired me to take on a business minor as I saw
the great impact sustainability could have in business. The capstone provided a platform to
research extensively on sustainability in the built environment and the certifications that
go alongside business decisions.
To synthesize my knowledge and skills to a potential employer or a graduate school
program, I would describe my experience through the capstone as an opportunity to gain
time management, and the ability to conduct extensive research and the ability to apply
that research to a greater topic and synthesize it into academic writing. Additionally,
through my capstone I interviewed multiple business professionals, this opportunity was a
great professional development skill I had the opportunity to possess. My experience with
the capstone has been a great academic and professional growing opportunity that altered
the course of my future career plans in a positive way.