Inside/Out Newsletter | Autumn 2012 | Issue 47

INSIDE/OUT ISSUE 47

AUTUMN

NEWSLETTER

OCTOBER 2012

Envision Rating System - Today’s Tool for Tomorrow’s Infrastructure As more national and local attention has been given to the necessity for environmental sustainability, BergerABAM has been focusing on the goal of how a wharf, bridge, or other nonbuilding, civil infrastructure project might be built to gain national environmental sustainability recognition.

For the past year, the company has been following the development of a rating tool advancing this goal, called Envision.

In addition to LEED accredited professionals, BergerABAM has five Provisional Envision sustainability professionals to help monitor and measure the sustainability practices in infrastructure projects.

Over the past decade, many of our infrastructure clients have been asking us to include sustainable design in their projects by meeting LEED credits.

Unfortunately, many aspects of infrastructure projects did not translate into the buildings-based rating system and, therefore, could not meet LEED requirements. In the past, BergerABAM’s LEED accredited professionals have incorporated sustainable design principles from LEED where feasible. This rating tool will better fit our clients who want sustainable infrastructure.

Envision was developed by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) and the Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

ISI is a not-for-profit association founded by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Council

of Engineering Companies (ACEC), and the American Public Works Association (APWA). These three engineering organizations felt the need to invest in a rating tool that would help develop sustainable infrastructure to fulfill the economic, environmental, and societal needs for today and the future.

Envision’s 60 credits are spread across five categories: Quality of Life, Leadership, Resource Allocation, Natural World, and Climate and Risk. These categories help guide a project by including stakeholder involvement and holding high regard for developing the right project for that community, not just designing the project right. Registration and recognition of projects through Envision began on 1 September 2012.

Recognition is based on the percentage of applicable points (continued on page 2)

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achieved. This is different from how LEED calculates points. If credits do not apply to the project, then those credits are omitted. A minimum number of applicable points and a minimum percentage in the five categories must be met in order to have the projects achieve the Levels of Achievement: Acknowledgment of Merit, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

There are three key roles (shown in the graphic below) in designing a sustainable civil infrastructure project using Envision. The first role, the Provisional Envision sustainability professional (ENV PV) has only been available since April 2012. Because Envision is a new tool, it is expected that input from users in the first year will help define the best requirements for effective credentialed professionals, which will later be called Envision sustainability professionals (ENV SP). BergerABAM staff members have demonstrated that they are committed to the design and construction of sustainable infrastructure by credentialing as an ENV PV within the first month that it was available. The individuals in the second (verifier) and third (authenticator) roles are handled by ISI. Verifiers must be credentialed as an ENV PV, have at least 10 years of professional experience in a field related to civil infrastructure or in a field directly related to one of the five categories, current licensure in their field, and worked for at least 1,000 hours per calendar year. The third-party verification is an integral part of Envision to review that the documentation is sufficient to show the desired Level of Achievement of projects, as well as acting as mentors to the ENV PV on the project team.

Anticipating the September launch of Envision, ISI recruited individuals to become verifiers to perform third-party verification of registered Envision projects. In August, Elise Hanson, Evan Sheesley, and Amanda Schweickert were accepted to become ISI verifiers. They were part of a group of 35 other professionals from all over the country and Canada, composed of engineers, water and wastewater professionals, urban planners, and infrastructure industry leaders to complete training in Washington, DC. They will be contracted through ISI to mentor ENV PVs on projects and to verify that the credits were met. The hands-on training involved reviewing case studies and discussing the types of documentation needed for specific credits. There was an opportunity to comment on the web portal and process that will be used for all projects, and to give suggestions on how to make the process easier for ENV PVs and ISI verifiers. “Being trained as an ISI verifier has given me great insight on how to be a better and more efficient ENV PV. It will also be interesting to learn what other firms in our industry are doing for sustainable infrastructure projects,“ said Amanda Schweickert.

Because Envision is in its early stages, it is an opportune time to give feedback to ISI on the infrastructure rating tool. BergerABAM is beginning a case study on the use of Envision for the Port of Everett. Staff credentialed as ENV PVs are working with the Port to review the project documents for dolphin berth improvements, as well as the Port’s environmental, social, and economic policies and goals. The study will include suggestions on ways the Port can increase the sustainability of the project and its operations. Ultimately, results of the study will be used to gauge how well the project fits into this sustainability rating tool for infrastructure, by highlighting the strengths and weakness in terms of the Envision categories. Results of the study will be presented in a blog on ISI’s and the Port’s website.

Since Envision launched in September, BergerABAM staff credentialed as ENV PVs can help register projects and administer them to help guide the process in attaining the most points and proper recognition. At this time, the credentialed ENV PVs at BergerABAM are located in Washington.

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Inside/Out Newsletter

Advisory Groups Advice for Involving Key Stakeholders in Decision Making

Like most things in life, there are upsides and downsides to advisory groups. But with plenty of forethought and clarity of purpose they can be an effective conduit to stakeholders.

In an era of wavering political courage, the notion of appointing a citizen advisory group to analyze an issue and provide a recommendation can look like a pretty easy way for a politician to avoid a tough spot. But appearances don’t always mirror reality.

If used with forethought – and we will define conditions that can help ensure a good outcome in a moment – an issue-specific advisory group can be a very effective tool to buffer a difficult political decision. It has the potential to provide a neutral forum to calmly and methodically dissect an issue, examine and weigh the options, and provide a rational and reasoned recommended course of action.

There is no guarantee of such a beneficial outcome. But the odds of a good outcome can be dramatically enhanced by the application of some very simple conditions, which precede that first phone call asking for volunteers.

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Make sure the work of the committee matters. If the appointment of a committee is really a ruse to avoid a difficult political issue or rubberstamp a preconceived

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outcome, people will smell it out instantly and there will be permanent harm done.

Create and support a legitimate process. Be prepared to live with the results.

Do not select members by lottery. Think about the kind of background and thinking skills needed to achieve desired outcome.

If the issue is about budget matters, a self-admitted “bad with numbers” person probably is not the best choice. Think about the chemistry within the group.

Appointing two people who have more bad history than the Hatfields and McCoys is not going to give a good result.

Tell the members exactly what is needed.

Left to their own devices, it is easy for a group to make up a mission. If they do, it will frustrate them and the appointing body. Give them a clear job description with an expected outcome.

Give them a time line. It is rare that an ad-hoc advisory committee should exist longer than six months to a year. Make sure they know they have to complete their work by a given date and, if not, the process will continue without their input.

Editors / Writers Jana Roy Dee Young Amanda Schweickert Abby Wood Kim Pierce John White Nora Bretaña Design and Production Jana Roy

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Create routine. Schedule meetings on the same day at the same time and, to the extent possible, at the same place. If meeting during a normal mealtime, feed them, and snacks between meals are always good. Do as much as possible to make the meetings predictable so they can focus on addressing their assignment, not trying to find the meeting room.

Avoid appointing a chairperson. The value of an advisory committee is the underlying assumption that all the members are equals and they each have something to contribute. Appointing a chair upsets that balance and creates a hierarchy that suggests otherwise. Meetings can just as easily – and preferably – be run by an independent facilitator or a senior staff member who has a background in facilitation.

Keep a good record. Because time will elapse between meetings, some members may try to recreate history by fashioning their recollection of the last meeting. A good set of minutes that carefully identifies critical decisions and discussion areas is the best remedy for revisionism. Send the minutes of the last meeting out well before the next one.

Keep the elected officials away from the process. It can be tempting for committee members to want to consult “off-line” with elected officials about how the official sees the process playing out. If they are put in that situation, the elected official should be armed with a one sentence response that simply asks the committee member to stay focused on their process. There will be plenty of time to talk about it when it’s concluded.

The bottom line is that advisory committees – if established and supported to provide legitimate input – are a valuable tool that can reap great rewards. Done badly or without forethought, they can create a whole new set of issues no one was even thinking about.

New Hood River Office and Addition of Staff BergerABAM is pleased to announce the opening of a new Hood River office and the addition of Senior Planner Scott Keillor, AICP. This new office represents the firm’s commitment to better serve our clients and markets in the Columbia River Gorge and in central and eastern Washington and Oregon. The firm has experienced steady growth in the Northwest and nationwide in the past five years executing strategic expansion plans; and the new Hood River office, which is located at 116 Third Street, Suite 217, becomes BergerABAM’s tenth location.

Adding this office brings the firm’s professional competence, responsiveness, creativity, and attention to detail within easy reach to all Northwest clients.

“Opening the Hood River office is the next logical step in increasing our level of service and competition within the firm’s growing Northwest market,” explains Arnie Rusten, president and chief executive officer of BergerABAM. “Client service is the company’s top priority. Our overall goal to expand the company is driven by our clients’ demands.”

Scott Keillor is an experienced urban planner with 23 years of experience in land use, transportation, economic development, and public involvement across the Pacific Northwest. He has a master’s in urban and regional planning from the University of Oregon, and his professional experience includes land use and transportation planning – from development permitting to master planning – for commercial, industrial, residential, and mixed-use projects. He has a wide background in port strategic planning and is an expert in development permitting within the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. Scott will be responsible for expanding BergerABAM’s services in all these areas.

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Inside/Out Newsletter

Award-Winning Joint Regional Correctional Facility Southwest Prior to the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act, government officials began planning for the expansion of the Joint Regional Correctional Facility Southwest (JRCFS) at MCAS Miramar in northern San Diego. On 4 February 2011, ahead of the U.S. Navy’s extremely aggressive schedule, the expansion of the award-winning, socially responsible, and environmentally sustainable LEED Silver facilities were completed and doors reopened.

As civil and structural engineers for the design/build contract with Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest (NAVFAC SW), BergerABAM and its team members worked with NAVFAC SW in the design and construction of the expansion. The new, state-of-the-art JRCFS absorbs prisoners from four other correctional facilities scheduled for closure due to the Act. The JRCFS is now one of only five military correctional facilities in the nation, the only personnel military confinement facility for the entire southwest region, and the largest contiguous brig owned by the U.S. Department of Defense.

In addition to fulfilling confinement needs of the Navy, the JRCFS provides innovative rehabilitation programs, including a program that allows inmates to learn a new trade while serving their time. The JRCFS helps accomplish the goals of the Navy: return as many personnel to honorable service as possible and teach prisoners the skills necessary to become productive citizens. The JRCFS also provides successful female-specific rehabilitation programs. The consolidation of all women inmates to the JRCFS provides female-oriented corrections programs for the only Department of Defense facility to house and train females.

In order to meet the Navy’s extremely aggressive schedule, a creative use of precast concrete cells and two-cell modules was implemented, resulting in improvements in the design process. The unique approach allowed for off-site precast fabrication of cell systems that could be transported to the site and assembled as modular units. The cells and modules included a bunk, toilet, and sink prefabricated in Arizona and transported to the site as assemblies. The roof members, not part of the main seismic load resisting system, also used prefabricated open web bar joist. The precast and

The $32 million expansion on 11.85 acres includes 200 housing units, space for a library, classrooms, multipurpose rooms, counseling rooms, and industries building where inmates can learn skills.

prefabricated elements not only allowed for the accelerated schedule and elevated quality control, it also ensured the highest level of material management, greatly reducing the quantity of material consumed for the project, thus greatly reducing the project’s overall carbon footprint. The entire process expedited the project schedule by more than two months. Contract award to completion of construction took less than 18 months, and the project was completed under budget with a perfect safety record.

The many green features greatly reduce the facility’s operation and maintenance costs. Design improvements included environmentally friendly features, such as low-flow toilets in each new cell to reduce the flow of 50 percent of water, solar panels to supplement the hot water supply and to eventually supply 25 to 30 percent of the building’s energy needs, water efficient landscaping, high-efficiency mechanical systems, motion-based light sensors to preserve energy, and 20,000 tons of recycled material.

The benefits from the JRCFS are significant and extensive and have been recognized with awards by various national and local organizations throughout the country, including Design/Build Institute of America, American Public Works Association, American Society of Civil Engineers, Society of Military Engineers, and the Associated General Contractors of America. The new JRCFS is also well received by the government. In addition to incorporating socially responsible and environmentally sustainable features, the new LEED Silver JRCFS will meet the needs of Southwest Department of Defense corrections for the next 50 years.

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