>> sala, you were the project manager. tell us what your experience was. how the budget looked to you. >> i can jump and say 15 percent. but that's not the whole story. it's about how you're pushing. you can make it in 10 or 15 percent or 25 percent. i think it's about how the team, when i say the team, the client, the contract, the designer, sorry, and architect, the contractor, the move manager and the staff, all of those are on moving towards one goal. if they are not doing that all together. that 15 or 10 percent or

whatever number can be 50 percent because you're pulling and pushing. and as beverly said, we are in an existing structure. almost 100 years old. there are other variables that you have to work out with the landlord, contractor. so the same concept you, have to look at the time and the cost of the project. once you decide what your goal is and you do the design work, you do that on budget whether it's sustainabilitior not. mean the quality so you don't have major cost changes. >> well, but there is also the twist here the combination of an old building and trying to use materials and ways of construction that is a little

bit sort of go against each other. the building was built in a certain way and you are trying to create an environment within an old structure >> i just got back from the u.s. building council convention in chicago. it seeming to me, the biggest issue is not how do we up the standards for new buildings or anything like that. it's existing building stock and how to manage that to increase or address the sustainability. >> as an interior designer who spent my entire career in san francisco, it's all working within with the framework of an existing buildings. whether you're moving people in

our out. we can't afford to tear everything down >> we have all this embodied material. we just want to do upgrades >> if we are able to change the language, we will be able to accomplish so much more. there's a cost that no one talks about. it's the satisfaction of your employees in a green space and the health in a green space. there's more and more data being revealed that that has a significant impact on your real cost. we know the building cost is significant on the front end, but over the life of the company, the real cost is your

people. if you are able to recognize a 2 percent increase, you have more than paid for the front loaded cost of the construction >> what kind of features do we see in here that make it green? >> one of the things is what they asked for, so a lot of it is usability. tackable surface >> so the walls, you can stick pins in here? what is the material? >> all the tackable surfaces are either recycled cork or recycled polyester. they are formaldehyde free. >> is that the corn based stuff? >> it's an agricultural

biproduct. and of the fabrics are corn based fabric fiber. at the end of the life cycle they will be composted >> sometimes people say it's hard to find them. >> i think our specifiers were getting in touch with that. these products had been around and had been advertised a fair bit. people have seen them and we noticed our workers were keen to kind them. some of the challenges of making this leed. where were they manufacture exclude what went into them. some of the manufactures didn't know where to find their answers >> we made an effort to be as

innovative as possible >> what do we have here? >> this is a great example of a green product because this came from your old office. this is one of the 3 r's. this was reuse. there is credit in leed available for reusing furniture products and taking existing building stock >> how about the table? >> this is reused. beverly prior brought this and made it into a new conference table >> i see new chairs? >> those are all recycled as well. >> how about the lighting in this room? it's a lovely diffused lighting. >> they picked a great spot

because the perimeter daylighting, you can take advantage of that and see the electric lights aren't on. >> these are interior lights. >> they are on a censor which will shut them off. this is required to have daylighting. >> is there an over ride? >> part of it is you get credit for local products. the other aspect is if you are locating your office in a place with public transportation, there is public transportation, you are not doing something where everybody has to drive

there >> if you move into a space with a particular density and a particular development per square acre, you will get a credit. it's an embedded credit. this doesn't cost you anything. >> one of the things that

you'll see as we walk around, we have groupings of work stations some of them are standing. some people like sitting down and working together. but every time i'm sitting in one of these areas, i'm just so impressed by the quality of light. it makes so much of a difference. it's because we have so such natural light. it helps you feel good and i think that's a real key of what attracted us to the site. >> ventilation is a big energy use in buildings. so -- >> in the beginning, we were trying to use fresh air. that's a point with leed. just from the point of view as

life is invigorating, so does fresh air. we tried really hard to make the windows operate >> are they operatable now >> most of them are not. it does not rely upon the operatable windows >> at this point, we would have had to work with the landlord. >> that's a really big deal in san francisco much we are dealing with new buildings where they want operatable windows. you have smoke and fire issues. >> somehow, it does something to the circulation of area. in other offices you hear and

feel the whoosh of air coming down. here we don't feel that. you feel a constant temperature and flow of area >> alex, i came in here, did you have special problems with the hva c? >> no, we didn't. it following the natural contours of the building >> when we first sat in my office and looked, i thought the mechanical system is so beautiful, it was one of the hardest decisions are they going this way or that way. how do we make it work? there aren't a lot of walls to cover things up. i think they are really beautiful >> this is a recycled cork product.

it's a bigger investment, >> is this real cork >> i believe it's recycled from old wine corks. >> silver oak. yeah. so it's a recycled. i know people say cork is soft so it's quiet to walk on >> it's a renewable material as well. >> good. >> and very durable. it lasts longer than and comparable bct product. >> how about this other stuff? >> the carpet is a hybrid recycled. 90 percent of the carpet is recycled. it's a unique application. it's traction backed. it doesn't require adhesive.

i take one step out of the process. eliminate a material all together that's associated with a lot of boc's. >> the chairs are 100 percent cradle to cradle. it's an outside certification that means the product is entirely recyclable. it's easily disassembled. you can send it back and have them disassemble it >> i would like to see stuff let's repairable. so you don't have to replace the whole chair? >> i am positive that we can send this back to the manufacture and have it replaced rather than getting a new chair. >> this has that aleron. >> the entire assembly of this

furniture has been put in a testing room and they have tested off gassing and it's met a green guard. we have tackable, rather than covering them with any fabric. we used a biodegradable product, who's base is corn. >> that's good for us in corn farming. >> in case of an earthquake >> is there any limitation on the life? >> in the building department, i see people coming forward with some new product. one the things we have to look at is not that they meet the structural but meet standards for durability and meet the expectations people have.

do you think we meet our durability and other expectations using these products? >> i would absolutely say the manufacturers that put these products together are risking their reputations. they do testing before they let it go out with their name on it. all of our products, most of them have lifetime warranties. although i say this is compostable. it's not like sunlight and a little water and it will disintegrate. >> i think one of the things we need to do and everybody involved in this field, keep an eye on this. some of this is not going to

work out. >> just underlining what robin said, i think this was not our first choice material. our first choice material they were not, they had it out on display, but not willing to sell it to us. just let us have that. no. we have to wait until we are completely confident with it. we got something else that we loved and that speaked again to how much they are laying themselves on the line >> you get and leed points for this material as well? >> absolutely. >> let's talk about leed. they might think it's the only way to make it green. that's actually not the case. it's one of the standards. perhaps the host highly developed one.

there is no leed for residential. >> there is >> it's official >> they officially adopted leed. >> the cost the leed certification are quite high. for small are sustainable projects there are other standards. build it green? green point rated is one. used for residential. there are a whole bunch of areas being developed. we're real grateful we have leed. one of the issues with leed is it's expensive to go through the leed process. you have to document everything you do. pay them a fee. they have to check it. what is a leed certification

cost? >> there's an initial cost to register the project. the initial registration cost has come down and the u.s. gb c has worked really hard to bring this down. they are trying to address this and all nc. >> nc, new construction? >> yes. sorry. >> so what are we talking about? 10 that , $10,000. >> the certification will be around $1,200. >> that's not so much. i had been told many times it was cost prohibitive. but that doesn't seem to be the case >> i think part of it is the

documentation. i think that's an important cost that gets pay back. because leed is third party verification. so talking to real estate agents. when they appraise places and say, this is absolutely a green place. third party verification will be a little stronger. hopefully that will get folded into the price. >> we have some clients that say, we want to do it in leed standards. why we disencourage them from that and encourage them to go through the certification is a lot of it is processes that happen during construction. how you deal with your construction waste. are you recycling it? are you dividing it out?

even your construction processes, you are avoiding contamination? your rigger, i think isn't going to be the same if you're not realizing you need to prove this . you can talk about the construction processes >> it's absolutely. having to document every material used in the place and we were taking pictures constantly. it really forced us to up the anti. >> so documentation is a huge issue? >> so you at the contractor had to keep collecting the stuff and keeping it in order and submit it somehow >> we submit today online. but it was a great way to keep tabs on everything and to realize do we have everything taken care of? >> there's something else i

remember. the company, this is what this cost us. and that is actual control of the construction environment. i remember we have to segment the place with plastic and fans and somebody was actually monitoring everything was okay. controlling the environment >> so the leed is not just the products at the end? >> as a general contractor. we look after the health of our employees and ocea doesn't do all that. in that way, it's worth the intense for sure. >> a team member or 2 team members are not here. one is the move manager and the other team are the vendors.

they are in here, the furniture, and other products. because without them, even when you are moving in and you are planning the move. all the card board. what are you going to do with that? what are you going to do with the packing materials. even when you do that, how are you going to control the environment? there's this whole process. design is fine. construction is fine. there are other parts, moving in and even after that, we have a committee that's working on how we live green in the space. going beyond the design and the construction. how we live in the space. >> what do you do for recycling here? >> we actually have in our office, the way we work

together. we are defining satisfaction, to be an employee, we have conditions of satisfaction for operating in a green way. we have people that are committed. they have a little area where we put food scraps. it's a personal commitment, they are taking it back to somewhere it can be composted. we have special printers that all they have in them are print that's already done on one side. if you know you're doing a draft, it will be on the back of somebody. i am trying to think of the some of the other policies.

the cleaning products. we talked with our landlord. we were happy to find out, they were already committed to that and the janitorial service was already using those. >> it's a good time for questioning >> your in a historic building, does leed count toward that, you did not replace any of the windows with double glazed windows. how is energy accomplished to leed gold and 3 is did you have leed compliance with construction debris. 4 is have you done audit on how well the space is performing in

reduced mechanical load? >> let's start with question one. has to do with historic building. i see laura is here. she is formally department of environment. do you get points in leed for being in a historic building? >> well the historic building in san francisco, it's to make sure the different strategies to achieve green credits actually meet all the codes, >> you may not get specific leed credit, however, you get other benefits, you get priority permitting under our

building and planning processes. what other advantages? you get to use the historical building code. it does not talk about designation. there was a lot of talk how to incorporate historically features into sustainability programs. because as we were saying before, the biggest problem is, beverly said the codes are already there. okay question 2. was about the windows. you did not replace the windows. how does that work into your

energy consumption. we did not retrofit. how we tried to combat that was on window shades. on the reverse side that faces towards the exterior of the building is a reflective surface that keeps the solar gain out of the space. leed does award you per replacing windows. because anyone sitting close to them is freezing most the time because it's leaking all of the hot air. that's another example if we really wanted to do something like that. we would have this to work with the building owner. for beverly prior to come in

here and change that, we would have had to create an equitable benefit. >> let me talk about windows. i have opinions about windows. you really are not generally well served by replacing historic windows. that is usually in the a good strategy. even though it's a quick and easy way to gain credits. there's a whole embodied principle. they add to the historical value. it's hard to replace with same windows. if you insist on putting in double glazing. you can use the old windows. many buildings are using curtains and drapes that provide energy efficiency at

night. so it's not, just the replacement of them. we have seen them replace them again and again. modern windows don't last 100 years. >> i was going to add that one of the things that people don't necessarily think of is offices it's usually the heat load. even in cold climates, it's the heat load because of the lights. the human bodies. computer systems. printers. there's so much off loading of heat. in san francisco, we're in such a mild climate. i thought it was understanding, i wanted to underline the heat load. she wasn't talking about