Integrating Sustainability
Significant Savings Achieved at Two Halls Sustainability Showcase
Supporting a Massive Green Roof Engineering Showcase
Reducing the Footprint of Structural Engineering Four Years of Reporting
Business Operations A Progress Report
2015 Sustainability Report
Social Responsibility A Progress Report
Contents “When I shared our aspiration to be one of the most sustainable firms, I could not have predicted what a fantastic opportunity we would have.” Executive Message
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“We saw high satisfaction levels in areas critical to employee wellness.” Where Are We?
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About Thornton Tomasetti Thornton Tomasetti provides engineering design, investigation and analysis services to clients worldwide on projects of every size and level of complexity. We are a 100 percent employee-held organization of engineers, architects, and sustainability and support professionals collaborating from offices across the United States and in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. We focus on providing a diverse suite of integrated services and leading innovation in our industry to ensure the continued success of our clients.
“We continue to see a significant decline in the average amount of embodied carbon in our structural projects.” Our Services
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“We experienced rapid growth in the number of Green Champions and were engaged in more projects to achieve LEED certification for our new offices.” Business Operations
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“With the merger of Thornton Tomasetti and Weidlinger Associates, we joined two similar histories of engagement.” Social Responsibility
Winner of
2015
City & State Reports’ Corporate Social Responsibility Award
21
“We compare our financial performance with progress in lowering our carbon footprint.” Financial Sustainability
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“With reductions and the purchase of offsets, we will still be on target to meet our goal of carbon-neutral business operations.” Where Are We Going?
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Personnel
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Integrating Sustainability: 2015 Sustainability Report
Overview Long-Term Goal
To be the global driver of change and innovation in our industry. History Dating to
1920 1,200 Number of Employees
Practices Structural Engineering Weidlinger Protective Design Façade Engineering Weidlinger Transportation Construction Engineering Sustainability Weidlinger Applied Science Forensics Property Loss Consulting Renewal
Sectors Aviation and Transportation Commercial Cultural and Institutional Education Government Healthcare Hospitality and Gaming Mission Critical Residential Special Structures Sports and Public Assembly
Offices Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Glasgow, Scotland
New York, New York – Wall Street
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Newark, New Jersey
Austin, Texas
Hong Kong, China
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Beijing, China
Irvine, California
Portland, Maine
Boston, Massachusetts
Kansas City, Missouri
San Diego, California
Bristol, England
London, England – Farringdon
San Francisco, California
Chicago, Illinois
London, England –
São Paulo, Brazil
Christchurch, New Zealand
Lloyd’s Avenue
Seattle, Washington
Cupertino, California
Los Angeles, California
Shanghai, China
Dallas, Texas
Miami, Florida
Toronto, Canada
Denver, Colorado
Moscow, Russia
Washington, D.C.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Mumbai, India
West Hartford, Connecticut
Edinburgh, Scotland
New York, New York –
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Madison Avenue
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Executive Message
“Just as important as our complementary suites of services and geographic footprints were our compatible cultures. While no two firms are exactly alike, ours bore many similarities – including the drive for innovation, long-standing entrepreneurial spirit, and shared values in philanthropy, employee enrichment, embracing challenges and a desire to make lasting contributions.” — Ray Daddazio Former CEO, Weidlinger Associates Co-President, Thornton Tomasetti
In our 2013 sustainability report, I wrote, “We aspire to be one of the most sustainable firms in the AEC world, in the way we design our projects and in how we operate as a responsible business.” Two years later, as we welcome colleagues who have joined Thornton Tomasetti through our 2015 merger with Weidlinger Associates, I am even more confident that we can realize this aspiration In some ways, 2015 was business as usual. We continued to do great work for our clients, with strong teamwork across offices and practices, and we continued to make personal contributions to the communities where we live and work. However, this year also marked the beginning of “business unusual,” with the historic union of two industry-leading firms. From the start, we had an unusual meeting of the minds. We shared a passion for engineering excellence, but what really drew us together was our shared commitment to innovation. Thornton Tomasetti is one of only a few engineering firms that have corporate sustainability departments. We made this commitment of money and people because we embrace sustainability, both as good business and as a proven route to innovation. In their Harvard Business Review article, “Why Sustainability Is Now the Key Driver of Innovation,” Ram Nidumolu, C.K. Prahalad and M.R. Rangaswami state, “Sustainability is a mother lode of organizational and technological innovations that yield both bottom-line and top-line returns.”
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Integrating Sustainability: 2015 Sustainability Report
Tom Scarangello, Chairman & CEO; Ray Daddazio, Co-President; and Bob DeScenza, Co-President.
Even in this report, chronicling a year in which the integration of the two firms was in its earliest days, we can see evidence of new avenues for innovation in sustainable design. The Jacob Javits Center, for example, boasts the secondlargest green roof in the United States, an engineering feat made possible by our new colleagues from Weidlinger. We measure our success in sustainability with regard not only to the environment but to social responsibility as well. In this area, Thornton Tomasetti and Weidlinger also shared a long-standing commitment. Founders of both firms have established a legacy of giving and volunteerism, helping disadvantaged students to prepare for careers in architecture, engineering and construction through the Salvadori Center and the ACE Mentor Program (see page 22). Our employees continue to give generously of their time and money to support these initiatives. It is an exciting time. Two years ago, when I shared our aspiration to be one of the most sustainable firms in our industry, I could not have predicted what a fantastic opportunity we would have to do so through a new, merged Thornton Tomasetti and Weidlinger. As we continue to weave our organizations together, I look forward to accelerating progress toward our sustainability goals for our business operations and projects, employees and communities.
Tom Scarangello, Chairman and CEO
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2015
Where Are We?
In last year’s report we asked, “Where are we going?” We are making progress, but it’s too soon to determine whether we met expectations.
A smaller carbon footprint and early achievement of our five-year goal. Looking for progress toward our goal of carbon-neutral business operations by 2030, we hoped that in 2015 we would see a smaller overall carbon footprint for the firm and lower average carbon emissions per employee. Instead, our reported carbon footprint grew slightly, but this could be a result of our methodology. Because we conduct a full carbon footprint analysis only every two years, our 2015 analysis uses 2014 data for all but the two locations that moved mid-year – Kansas City and Dallas.
Integrating sustainability practices into our structural projects.
As a member of the AIA 2030 Commitment, we are dedicated to achieving carbon-neutral buildings by 2030. By 2016, we expected to see sustainability practices integrated into our structural designs. We have moved in this direction by developing a plan for an internal educational curriculum on low-carbon buildings. In 2015, taking another step toward this goal, we held a workshop on low-carbon buildings for our structural engineering leaders.
Measurable gains in employee engagement. 2015 was the first year in which we conducted a comprehensive employee engagement survey. The survey was distributed to all employees, and received a 47 percent response rate. Most respondents ranked our corporate sustainability efforts as adequate, and half indicated that they are receiving a benefit from corporate sustainability programs. We saw high satisfaction levels in other areas critical to employee wellness. A 2016 survey will assess measurable gains, and new initiatives that were introduced this year will likely result in a broader perception of the benefits of corporate sustainability.
Note: 2015 progress reports show data only from Thornton Tomasetti pre-merger to allow for more meaningful comparisons with 2014 reports.
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Integrating Sustainability: 2015 Sustainability Report
Our Services Progress Report This progress report measures our success in achieving the goals of our Sustainability practice and in realizing sustainable design in other service areas. Performance indicators that are new this year show only one bar.
Thornton Tomasetti helped our client, Vasakronan, achieve LEED certification for more than 120 of its buildings through the LEED EB:OM Volume Initiative. The Sweden Green Building Council awarded its 2015 LEED Prize to Vasakronan.
0.0
Ranking by Engineering News-Record Among “Top Green Design Firms�
0
#34
2013 2014
#16 #18
2015
0
Embodied (Life-Cycle) Carbon in our Structural Projects (kgCO2 per ft2) 40
2013 2014
32 33
2015
0.00
Energy Savings as a Result of Sustainability Consulting (kBTU) 2015
594,346,074
Energy Cost Savings as a Result of Sustainability Consulting
0.0
2015
$4,382,417
LEED Projects for Which We Provided Sustainability Consulting 2013 2014
0.0
100 122
2015
217
Employees with LEED Accreditation 188
2013 171
2014 2015
194
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Our Services Sustainability Showcase Project Cornell University Upson Hall
50%+
energy use reductions
75%
Courtesy Perkins+Will
daylight autonomy
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“A complete renovation comes with unique challenges, including an existing structure that may stand in the way of the lowest-cost energy solutions, but with Thornton Tomasetti’s assistance, we were able to achieve a superior performing wall system and design to LEED Platinum standards.” — Robert Goodwin Principal, Perkins+Will
To help Cornell University achieve its goals for the first renovation project in its aging engineering quad, Perkins+Will and LTL Architects retained our services in structural engineering, façade engineering and sustainability consulting. The Upson Hall project involved the gut renovation of a 1950s metal-clad 150,000-squarefoot science and engineering building. The project is targeting LEED Platinum certification, and its design has achieved exceptional levels of energy savings and daylight autonomy with the help of advanced building analytics and collaboration across disciplines within Thornton Tomasetti. Daylighting 75 Percent of Major Spaces Cornell wanted a laboratory and classroom building where natural light rather than artificial lighting was the norm; we helped them to define a goal of having 75 percent of major spaces lit most of the time by daylight. This daylight autonomy goal drove much of the façade design. We provided daylight analysis and, through close collaboration between our sustainability and façade teams, compiled a predesign multidisciplinary study that examined cost, energy and daylight performance; structural implications; and the construction sequencing of six façade options. This analysis led to our suggestion to demolish some of the existing wall structure, which yielded improved daylighting and cost savings. By using parametric modeling to analyze a variety of depths for the wall and window area configurations, our integrated team developed a façade design that met the high daylight autonomy goal. High Levels of Energy Savings Achieved Using Advanced Modeling
mechanical systems. We suggested some ambitious targets, including an insulation factor of R26 for the walls, which was achieved by using 12 inches of mineral wool insulation. After the façade system had been selected, we used EnergyPlus, a highly advanced simulation platform, to model the dedicated outdoor air system – which circulates only the air needed for ventilation, not for heating and cooling. The precision of EnergyPlus allowed us to separate the heating and cooling loads from the ventilation air to arrive at the most accurate results. We modeled the whole building and tested three HVAC systems. The analysis showed that using either a chilled beam or fan coil system would exceed initial energy-savings targets. Our façade team pushed the building’s predicted energy savings even further by using 3D modeling to develop a façade system that minimized the use of thermal bridges in the building skin, despite the challenges of working with a thick wall system. Impacts Beyond the Project – Improving Workflow Using EnergyPlus on this project prompted us to develop and refine our own internal workflow for future use with this platform. Working with the National Renewal Energy Laboratory, the developer of OpenStudio, we created an efficient workflow between SketchUp and OpenStudio – the EnergyPlus interface – that enables these two programs to more easily “talk to” each other. This improved connection between SketchUp, which can generate a variety of alternative geometries for a building, and OpenStudio dramatically reduced the number of hours required to conduct an energy use simulation.
The building is expected to achieve an energy-use intensity of 40 kBTU/ft2/year, which is very low for a science building. We performed early energy modeling to develop key performance requirements that drove the façade design and the choice of
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Our Services Sustainability Showcase Project San Francisco City Hall
50%
reduction in water use
91
Energy Star score
Oldest Building to achieve LEED EB:OM Platinum
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Integrating Sustainability: 2015 Sustainability Report
The San Francisco City Hall project achieved LEED Platinum certification in 2015, demonstrating to city officials and the public at large that high levels of water and energy savings can be achieved in a 100-year-old building. Thornton Tomasetti served as the sustainability and LEED consultant for this 516,484-squarefoot project, working with kW Engineering, EnerNOC and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Substantially rebuilt a century ago, after the 1906 earthquake, City Hall is part of the San Francisco Civic Center and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. After work had begun in 2009 on what was then an energyefficiency project, our sustainability consultants conducted a feasibility assessment, which showed that LEED certification could be attained. Beginning with a sustainability charrette, we helped coordinate the efforts of half a dozen city departments to realize the highest level of LEED EB:OM certification for the oldest building in the United States to achieve that distinction. Operations Policies Now Used Across City Buildings LEED for Existing Buildings requires a broad focus on defining or refining building operations policies. Our team helped to refine the purchasing, integrated pest management, and waste policies guiding the operations of City Hall. These updated policies have proven so effective that they are now used across San Francisco city buildings for general operations. To better understand municipal employees’ commuting behavior, we partnered with the Transportation Management Association of San Francisco to conduct a commuting study focused on City Hall. When an online transportation survey offered by the city yielded little data, our team gathered at 4:00 a.m. one morning
on the steps of City Hall in mustard-yellow “volunteer” sweatshirts, along with other volunteers we had recruited from city departments, to distribute surveys. These efforts resulted in a 60 percent response rate. Despite Historic Features, Significant Water Savings Achieved Due to the historic nature of the building, many of its fixtures simply couldn’t be updated, and many updates – including hanging the LEED certification plaque – required several levels of review and approval. When considering opportunities for water savings, we had to work around restrooms with old fixtures, such as 4-foot-tall urinals that could not be updated. Despite the challenges, the project achieved a 50 percent reduction in water use. By switching to low-flow and flush fixtures, the building will reduce its water use by an estimated 825,000 gallons each year. This achievement was particularly important for a public project in a city that often imposes water restrictions on its residents. A Re-lit City Hall Offers Substantial Energy Savings We facilitated an in-depth analysis and field survey to identify areas that would not meet resource efficiency goals. The results of this analysis led us to recommend a major retro-commissioning effort to reduce the building’s energy use. Changes to the HVAC systems alone will reduce electricity consumption by 293,598 kWh per year. Historic light fixtures presented a challenge, but in the end, 95 percent of the lights were replaced after we were able to source new acceptable LED fixtures.
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Our Services Engineering Showcase Project Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
#2
Second-largest green roof in the United States
6.8 M
gallons of stormwater runoff prevented
26%
energy use reduction
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When an aging Jacob K. Javits Convention Center needed renovation to address its leaky roof and façade and outdated mechanical systems, Weidlinger Associates (now merged with Thornton Tomasetti), which had provided the original structural design, was retained as the engineer of record. This iconic “palace” encompasses 1,800,000 square feet and spans 18 acres on Manhattan’s west side. Our structural engineers assisted Javits II Architecture, a joint venture of FXFOWLE and Epstein, in incorporating a translucent façade and an expansive green roof into the renovation. The project received an American Council of Engineering Companies 2015 Engineering Excellence award and achieved LEED Silver certification. Supporting a Massive Green Roof
presence of up to 100 workers each day on the roof platform. We verified and approved the nine-phase logistical construction plan, established the criteria for maximum construction loading, and reviewed the contractor’s work. To develop a feasible green-roof scheme utilizing the loading reserves from the space-frame roof structure, we evaluated other green roofs for comparison, including the one atop the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitor Center, for which we had also provided engineering services. The Javits Center’s expansive green roof is the second-largest in the United States, and the absorption of water by its plants will prevent approximately 6.8 million gallons of stormwater runoff per year. Structural Design Contributes to Energy Savings
The Javits Center is covered by a complex of crystalline and flat opaque roofs assembled from 747,000 square feet of space-frame components, one of the largest space frames ever built. We were asked to determine whether the existing space-frame structure could sustain a major building renovation. After performing a detailed assessment study over a six-month period, we found that the original space frame designed by our engineers in the 1980s was still viable and had a reserve capacity that would support a new 6.75-acre green roof and other proposed improvements. This study entailed building an up-to-date computer model of the space-frame structure and incorporated new wind tunnel and snow study results. We worked with Tishman Construction to ensure that the underlying structure remained sound during the renovations to the 12-acre roof – which involved the replacement of 93 rooftop mechanical units, each weighing 20,000 pounds, and the
Improvements to the facility reduced energy consumption by 26 percent and resulted in operating cost savings of $1.5 million annually. Our structural design services contributed indirectly to these savings by safely supporting the green roof, new glazing and updated mechanical units. The building’s original dark glazing was replaced with translucent, energy-efficient glass, which is notable not only for its efficiency but also for the way it changed the look of the building. Our team reviewed the design for replacing the glazing, which entailed removing the old cladding and installing 240,000 square feet of glass curtain wall, 88,000 square feet of steel panels, and almost 90,000 square feet of skylights.
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Our Services Reducing the Footprint of Structural Engineering Average Embodied Carbon per Square Foot 60
kgCO2e/ft2
50
40
We are also finding that, among market sectors, mission-critical and healthcare projects have the highest levels of embodied carbon. These building types have high dead loads due to the large complement of equipment they must house; they carry more weight and therefore require more material to provide structural strength. We saw little difference in average amounts of embodied carbon between our 2014 and 2013 projects, possibly due to more accurate data collection and stringent standards of modeling. We noted a similar result for the percentage of recycled steel content in our projects, but the trend over several years will likely tell us more than year-to-year comparisons.
30
20
10
0
2011
2012
2013
2014
As a firm whose largest service area is structural engineering, we recognize that our best opportunity to realize the Architecture 2030 vision of carbon-neutral buildings is to be found in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions related to structural materials. Building structures incorporate substantial amounts of such materials, predominantly steel and reinforced concrete. These materials contribute to climate change through their embodied energy and carbon (the energy used and carbon dioxide emitted during raw material extraction, refining, manufacturing and transportation). In a typical building, structural materials account for 50 percent of the embodied energy and carbon. In 2010, Thornton Tomasetti was the first primarily structural engineering firm to join the AIA 2030 Commitment. We are meeting its reporting requirements by measuring our embodied carbon footprint every year. This helps us identify ways to reduce the impact of carbon-intensive materials through efficient design and the introduction of low-carbon technology.
Beyond measurement, we are creating software tools that integrate what we are learning about embodied carbon. We are developing early design tools that can guide decision-making by our engineers and clients in the direction of low-carbon outcomes. In 2015, we completed the first phase of development of the Thornton Tomasetti FootPrint application, an interactive platform on which to view and compare the carbon footprints of our projects and operations across locations. Visit core.thorntontomasetti.com/apps/footprint to learn more.
Carbon Tools Research and Development
Parametric analysis of embodied carbon and operating energy
Thornton Tomasetti
Database of embodied carbon for more than 300 projects
Our Goal is LowerCarbon Buildings Revit carbon calculator tool for analyzing BIMs
Now in our fourth year of measurement, we continue to see a significant annual decline of 20.87 kgCO2 per square foot in the average amount of embodied carbon in our structural projects.
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LCA tool for providing analysis to match the LEEDv4 LCA credits
Integrating Sustainability: 2015 Sustainability Report
Mapping our carbon footprint Researching the carbon cost of transporting materials
4 years as a reporting member of AIA 2030 Commitment
38%
As we develop our internal knowledge of embodied carbon, we are also working with others in the industry to bring innovations in low-carbon structures to the market. While the focus in sustainable design has been on operating energy, as buildings perform at higher levels, their embodied carbon represents a larger proportion of their contribution to climate change.
decrease in embodied carbon since 2011
We are collaborating with a research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to create a global online database of structural embodied carbon as a step toward proposing appropriate baselines against which to compare projects’ relative efficiency. Thornton Tomasetti has contributed data on more than 300 projects to the MIT database. In August 2015, together with MIT and Arup, we co-authored a paper in the ICE journal Engineering Sustainability detailing initial findings that underscore the important role that structural engineers play in advancing sustainability during the design process.
Courtesy Gensler
As a sponsor of the Carbon Leadership Forum, Thornton Tomasetti contributes to industry/ academic research focused on the use of life-cycle assessment to achieve a quantifiable reduction in the environmental impact of buildings and construction. This year, in our role as a member of CLF, we spearheaded the Building and Real Estate Climate Declaration campaign – www.climatedeclaration.us/build – with the U.S. Green Building Council and Ceres. The Declaration, released in time for the 2015 COP21 climate summit, provides an opportunity to demonstrate our sector’s leadership in calling for action on climate change.
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Business Operations Progress Report We measure our progress toward carbon-neutral business operations through a biennial carbon footprint analysis of our office locations. Since our last complete analysis was conducted in 2014, this report reflects no significant change.
Our Shanghai office holds the title of Carbon Footprint Challenge Winner, with the lowest carbon footprint in the firm. Shanghai employees proudly display the wristband pedometers they were awarded for this achievement.
0.000000
Average Annual Carbon Footprint per Employee, Without Offsets (tons of CO2e) 2013 2014
5.3
0.00
1.90
0.000
4.4 4.7
2015
Emissions from Electricity Use, with RECs (tons of CO2e /person) 2013 2014 2015
1.13 1.26
Emissions from Employee Commuting (tons of CO2e /person) 1.50
2013 2014
0.000
1.52 1.63
2015
Emissions from Air Travel, Without Offsets (tons of CO2e /person) 1.68
2013 2014
1.37 1.30
2015
Office Products Purchased with Recycled Content 2013
34%
2014 2015
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49% 45%
0.0
Business Travel 28%
Business Operations Our Carbon Footprint Co2 Footprint CO2 Footprint by Indicator
by Indicator
Waste 1%
1.060000
2.120000
Business Travel 28%
Heating Fuel 11% Commuting 34%
Co2 Footprint by Indicator CO2 Footprint with Offsets
by Indicator, with Offsets
Waste 1%
Electricity 26%
Heating Fuel 11% Commuting 34% 0.38
Electricity 26%
Commuting 47%
Electricity 37%
Heating Fuel 15%
0.76
Footprint Indicator TheCo carbon footprint of by our business operations comprises emissions related to our electricity and 2 heating fuel use, office waste, commuting and air travel. We measure and evaluate progress toward with Offsets our 2030 goal of carbon-neutral business operations through a biennial carbon footprint analysis of 1% all our major officeWaste locations. 0.326
0.652
2015 Carbon Footprint Our most recent full carbon footprint analysis was for 2014. The next biennial analysis will cover 2016 and will be the first carbon footprint report to include data from the office locations we added Electricity 37% Commuting in the recent merger. Consequently, the change in our 2015 carbon footprint is minimal. 47%
0.336
9.8
0.672
19.6
While this report reflects a slight increase in our total carbon footprint and in our average footprint per employee, we are still within reach of our 2018 goal of 4.0 tons of CO2 per person. This year’s Heating Fuel 15% increase reflects the addition of data from two offices – Dallas and Kansas City – that were not footprinted in 2014 because they changed locations mid-year. Additionally, we replaced the 2014 air-travel figures with updated data from 2015 in calculating this year’s footprint. When the carbon offsets that we purchase are taken into account, emissions from air travel are brought to zero and emissions from employee commuting become our highest-impact area, representing 47 percent of our total footprint. Our largest office – our New York headquarters – is the most significant contributor to the firm’s carbon footprint, with an emission level twice as high as our next-largest location. Data Transparency We strive to be transparent in reporting our carbon footprint data, hoping that by embracing the challenge of working toward carbon neutrality, we can lead by example. This year, we launched the second phase of our FootPrint mapping application at core.thorntontomasetti.com/apps/footprint. FootPrint tracks the carbon footprint of our operations and building projects and provides an interactive map with charts and data by office location.
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Business Operations Our Green Offices
352
employees in LEED registered or certified offices
$20,000 green office grants
provided in nine offices
1,000
tons CO2e neutralized by purchasing offsets
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Integrating Sustainability: 2015 Sustainability Report
We continue to move toward our goal of carbon-neutral business operations by the year 2030. This year, we experienced rapid growth in our number of Green Champions, and we were engaged in more projects to achieve LEED certification for our new offices than in any previous year. We have continued to work in our existing locations to reduce energy use and waste and encourage employees to minimize their high-emissions commuting. Our progress toward carbon-neutral business operations is largely supported by the purchase of carbon offsets that neutralize emissions from one of our highest-impact areas, business travel.
recycled plotter paper, and raised awareness of the health benefits of standing desks, which led to a new corporate policy. In individual offices, Green Champions encouraged bicycling through local bike-share programs, secured filtration systems and plants for their offices to ensure clean indoor air, reduced waste through creative education programs and better bins, and established green purchasing and new composting programs. Our Chicago office, one of our largest, achieved an impressive fifth-place ranking in the Chicago Green Office Challenge, a citywide competition among 170 offices and 500 individuals.
Green Champions Making a Difference
Offices Achieving LEED Certification
This was the fourth year of the Thornton Tomasetti Green Champion program, which invites employees to volunteer to coordinate the greening of their offices and to meet the guidelines of our sustainable operations policy. By the end of the year, the program had grown to 50 Green Champions in 25 offices. This growth was largely due to greater interest and the addition of six new offices from our merger with Weidlinger.
Since 2012, Thornton Tomasetti has embraced a policy of seeking LEED certification for all new office fit-outs and major office renovations that are 4,000 square feet or larger. Our goal is LEED CI Gold or higher. The Denver office received LEED CI Gold certification in 2015, bringing the number of LEED certified offices to three, including Chicago and Philadelphia.
The Green Champions led an effort to celebrate Daylight Hour 2015 around the world, inspired a companywide switch to
Many office moves were underway in 2015, with LEED certification expected for Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; and Chicago (expansion) in 2016. The Kansas City
Staff from our Chicago office received an award from the City of Chicago recognizing Thornton Tomasetti as the Greener Purchasing Policy Leader and for gold level achievement in the 2015 Chicago Green Office Challenge, an impact-driven competition among commercial offices.
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Business Operations: Our Green Offices (continued)
By turning off the lights for an hour or more for Daylight Hour 2015, 18 of our offices in six countries brought daylight to 194,000 square feet of office space, and we continue to practice the simple act of turning off the lights. Daylight Hour is pictured here in London, Los Angeles, and Chicago (counterclockwise from left).
office had received LEED Gold certification as of this report’s publication and now features LED pendant occupancy controlled lighting, low-emission paints, coatings, furniture and carpet tiles, a high-efficiency heat pump for the server room, and good daylighting and exterior views. When No Other Option, Purchasing Offsets Achieving carbon neutrality requires the purchase of carbon offsets to neutralize emissions from activities that are central to attaining success in our business. Many of our locations have switched to the most efficient lighting fixtures and Energy Star appliances, but electricity is still necessary to power those offices. In 2015, five of our offices purchased
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green power certificates, or “RECs,” offsetting the greenhouse gas emissions related to their electricity use. This year we offset 381,560 kWh of electricity, or 16 percent of our total electricity use. Surpassing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s threshold for joining its green power program, in 2015 we became an EPA Green Power Partner. Since January 2014, Thornton Tomasetti has committed to purchasing carbon offsets to neutralize emissions from all business air travel. In 2015, we offset more than 1,000 tons of CO2 emissions by supporting renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects through Carbonfund, an offset provider.
Integrating Sustainability: 2015 Sustainability Report
Social Responsibility Progress Report This report shows progress in employee engagement and contributions to our communities. We believe volunteer hours to be underestimated on timesheets and therefore underreported here.
A number of enthusiastic employees from the London office sported face paint when participating in Maggie’s Cultural Crawl, a 15-mile nighttime walk organized to raise funds to benefit Maggie’s cancer centers.
Employee Volunteer Hours on Company Time
0.000000
0
869
2014 2015
1,308
Charitable Contributions
0.0
$199,317
2013 2014
$193,368 $307,317
2015
Support for Research and Development
0.000000
$120,000
2013 2014
$220,000 $230,000
2015
Percent of Employees Receiving Promotions
0.0
19%
2013 2014
23%
2015
23%
Employees with Ownership of the Company 2013
0
84 90
2014
101
2015
Percent of U.S. Employees Who Are Women or Minorities 2013
50%
2014
49%
2015
49%
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Social Responsibility Community Engagement Our long history of supporting the communities where we live and work has created a tradition of giving, upon which we continue to build. We continue to support educational and humanitarian organizations, with more contributions made by the firm in 2015 than in any previously reported year. Our employees are dedicated volunteers, giving of their own time but also contributing to their communities through Thornton Tomasetti’s volunteer benefit programs. Trailblazers in Supporting STEM Education The merger of Thornton Tomasetti and Weidlinger Associates joined two similar histories of engagement in enriching STEM education for young students. Mario Salvadori, a founding principal of Weidlinger Associates, established the Salvadori Center in 1987. Similarly, Charlie Thornton, a founding principal of Thornton Tomasetti, initiated the ACE Mentor Program in 1993.
20+ years of support for STEM education
37% increase in charitable contributions
34% more volunteer hours
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The Salvadori Center teaches middle school students from underserved communities in New York about math, science, and the understanding of engineering and architecture through collaborative hands-on projects. We provide financial support to the center, and our employees serve as board members and as volunteers for the annual student design charrette, during which student teams are paired with professionals to solve a design challenge with a specific set of parameters and materials. We also contribute time and financial support to the ACE Mentor Program and its scholarships. Thornton Tomasetti ACE Mentors teach groups of students about design approaches by working together on the planning and management of a construction project, such as Yankee Stadium. Our employees also participate in the national ACE Design competition, which invites teams to submit design entries that are judged by a panel of industry experts.
Integrating Sustainability: 2015 Sustainability Report
Thornton Tomasetti Foundation In 2015, the Thornton Tomasetti Foundation, an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, distributed $71,250 toward scholarships, charitable projects and other efforts in support of its mission to fund educational and philanthropic activities related to building engineering, design and technology. Since its inception in 2008, the foundation has distributed more than $690,000 in grants and scholarships to more than 30 organizations. Thornton Tomasetti, Inc., provided donations totaling $125,000 to support the foundation’s work in 2015. See more at www.ThorntonTomasettiFoundation.org
Employee Volunteerism In our second year of offering a volunteer day benefit to all regular employees, we saw a rise in volunteer hours contributed on the clock. This year, employees in 10 locations used their eight hours of paid volunteer time to participate in such activities as building low-income housing with Habitat for Humanity and providing meals to underprivileged families. Often, our employees found opportunities to share their professional skills with others. For example, a group of sustainability consultants from our Portland office (above) spent their volunteer day building a composting system and rainwater collection system for a local preschool. These activities are in addition to the many hours that our employees contribute to ACE and the Salvadori Center. In 2015, the 74 employees registered as ACE Mentors contributed mentorship hours on and off the clock with an estimated total of more than 2,000 hours. Company policy allows employees to use up to 16 hours of paid time each year for serving as ACE Mentors. Philanthropy Notable charitable contributions for 2015 include the establishment of an annual memorial scholarship in honor of former President and CEO Daniel Cuoco for engineering students at his alma mater, the City College of New York. In the wake of the destructive earthquake centered near Lamjung, Nepal, in April, the firm pledged matching donations of up to $250 per employee in support of the American Red Cross relief efforts.
The foundation supported the building of an 85-meter footbridge in Bolivia and the seismic retrofit of a school in Guatemala.
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Social Responsibility Employee Engagement
At Thornton Tomasetti, we see our highly skilled and educated employees as valued assets who are essential to our competitive advantage. We invest in the health, education and happiness of our employees as a wise business strategy and as simply the right thing to do. In 2015, we asked our employees to rate their job satisfaction in a companywide engagement survey and learned that, in general, our employees are thriving and satisfied and experience an overall sense of well-being at work. We also learned that awareness of our sustainability programs is high, and that 50 percent of employees who are aware of these programs feel they directly benefit from them. Women in the Workforce While it is widely agreed that diversity in the workforce fosters innovation, the AEC industry is known to employ far more men than women. In recent years, we have
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Social Responsibility: Employee Engagement
“We need to make sure that we are creating an environment where whatever life choices women make, these talented professionals can make the most out of their careers and make important contributions to the firm.” — Aine Brazil Vice Chairman
31% of our employees are women established a strong track record with regard to the percentage of women engineers and architects among new hires. Our goals include improving our retention rate and increasing the number of women in senior positions. Although informal surveys show that most women at the firm believe that Thornton Tomasetti does a good job of recognizing women in the workplace and that men and women are paid comparable salaries, men’s and women’s opinions differ on such issues as work-life balance and career advancement. Women@TT, a discussion group that started in 2013 and continues to grow, offers opportunities for our female employees to set themselves on paths toward professional development and leadership in a male-dominated industry and to assist in developing the careers of younger women. The group was created as a community of women who support and mentor each other and share in one another’s successes.
Integrating Sustainability: 2015 Sustainability Report
50+ employees use standing desks
91% participation in our learning portal
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Social Responsibility: Employee Engagement (continued)
Our office in Washington, D.C., was one of the first locations to obtain standing desks for all its employees, serving as a model for our new policy.
In 2015, Women@TT activities were organized in six offices, including our largest locations. A new mentorship program was initially rolled out in four offices, and 32 female employees were matched with mentors for regular conversations on topics selected by the mentees. In addition to holding lunchtime discussions among female colleagues, Women@TT invited women in senior leadership positions at the firm to talk about their experiences and partnered with the Skanska Women’s Network to present a workshop for 70 employees on “the power of your voice.” The Women@TT community recognizes the need for more girls to be exposed to engineering and architecture and sponsors a Day of Discovery to introduce female high school students to these careers in order to bring more smart, strong women into the industry. Day of Discovery 2015 was attended by 15 female students from New York schools, who toured our office, viewed presentations by staff, and participated in an enjoyable and educational hands-on activity. Employee Health and Wellness In the heavily computer-dependent work that we do at Thornton Tomasetti, one of the biggest occupational hazards is sitting too long. “Sitting disease” is recognized by medical researchers, who have noted in distinguished journals that sitting for prolonged periods increases an employee’s risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and even death. Adjustable-height standing desks give workers the option to stand or sit at their workstations. The seed of interest in standing desks was planted at Thornton Tomasetti in 2013, when a Green Champion who was experiencing back pain requested an adjustable-height workstation through our green office grants program. This employee gained relief from his back pain, became a standing-desk convert, and shared his experience with other Green Champions across the firm. Following this first request, five offices requested grants in 2015 for the purchase of standing desks. This growing interest in better workplace ergonomics and standing desks led to the establishment of a policy calling for a phased approach to introducing standing desks at all of our locations. Currently, offices are testing various standing-desk models, and in 2017, any employee who requests a standing desk will receive one. In addition, all new offices will be equipped with adjustable-height workstations. Training and Education We exceeded our employee training and education goals for 2015, which included the development of courses and a new competency-based performance review system. Our Organization Development department and its four staff members support our unique, comprehensive approach to training and education. Thornton Tomasetti is a U.S. Green Building Council Education Partner, and our 2015 courses were among the highest-rated on the USGBC’s education platform. In 2015, we delivered 27 companywide educational seminars and produced and launched 18 new custom online courses on topics relevant to our work, increasing the total number of courses available at our internal learning portal to 175. Our employees have been successfully engaged by these opportunities, with a high participation rate in the online portal.
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Financial Sustainability Progress Report This report compares our financial performance with our progress in lowering our carbon footprint. While our income and revenue remain consistent with 2014, the carbon footprint of our operations appears to have grown. This change reflects the addition of two offices to our 2014 analysis.
Bob DeScenza, copresident, kicked off the firm’s participation in Daylight Hour 2015 by turning off the lights in his office – saving energy while reducing costs.
0
Income from Project Billings
0.0
$144M
2013 2014
$166M $168M
2015
Net Revenue
0.000000
$128M
2013 2014
$154M $159M
2015
Number of Employees
0.00
785
2013 2014
850 951
2015
Average Annual Carbon Footprint per Employee, Without Offsets (tons CO2e)
0
5.6
2013 2014
4.4 4.7
2015
Total Carbon Footprint (tons CO2e)
0
2013
3,020 2,393
2014
3,827
2015
Embodied (Life-Cycle) Carbon in Our Structural Projects (kgCO2 per ft2) 2013
40 32
2014
33
2015
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2016
Where Are We Going?
Looking ahead to 2016, we expect to make progress toward our strategic sustainability goals in these areas.
Achievement of our five-year target for carbon emissions per employee despite our company’s growth.
While our recent merger with Weidlinger Associates is likely to raise our overall carbon footprint from the 2012 baseline, we still expect to meet our five-year target of an average of 4.0 tons of CO2e per employee. Our 2016 carbon footprint analysis will be the first accounting of emissions from the seven office locations and 250+ employees that we gained through the merger. While additional emissions will be associated with this growth, we expect to see reductions in the carbon footprints of Thornton Tomasetti “legacy�offices. With these reductions, as well as the continued purchase of carbon offsets that will apply across the firm, we will still be on target to meet our goal of carbon-neutral business operations by 2030.
A 43% reduction from our 2011 baseline in embodied carbon in our structural projects. Since 2011, the amount of embodied carbon in our projects has decreased by about 20 percent per year for reasons most likely associated with greater embodied carbon efficiencies of steel and concrete. For the past four years, we have been tracking embodied carbon in order to identify design strategies for reduction, and in 2016 we will launch an initiative to integrate these strategies into our services. Assuming a gradual transition, in 2016 we expect to see a 5 percent reduction in average embodied carbon per square foot in our structural projects resulting from this new initiative.
An increase of 20% in the number of employees who see opportunities to connect their community and their role in the firm. An employee engagement survey conducted in the summer of 2015 showed that more than half of our employees see opportunities to connect their community and their role in the firm. Considering our strong support of employee volunteerism and the contribution of paid hours toward the ACE Mentor Program and other volunteer efforts, we expect to see more employees finding opportunities to use their skills to benefit their local communities. In 2016, our efforts to encourage employees to take advantage of volunteer benefits should result in at least 75 percent of employees realizing opportunities to connect their community and their role. Follow our progress online at:
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Personnel Department Staff Amy Seif Hattan Corporate Sustainability Officer Elsa Mullin Sustainability Intern Rachel Tam Sustainability Intern Green Champions Eric Hansen, Albuquerque Penny Tennant, Albuquerque Nasreen Awal, Boston Kim Carr, Boston Rachel Michelin, Chicago Abhiram Tammana, Chicago Jerome Tobolski, Chicago Mary Williams, Chicago Rafael Gomes de Oliveira, Christchurch Christopher Kirchner, Christchurch David Milner, Cupertino Thomas Davies, Dallas Lisa Chong, Washington, D.C. Kate Williamson, Washington, D.C. Lis Cole, Denver Matthew Hardman, Denver Tania Peterson, Denver Vanessa Da Rocha, Fort Lauderdale
Jacqueline Lopez, Fort Lauderdale Michelle Olender, Fort Lauderdale Jane Pereverzoff Ngo, Irvine Casey O’Laughlin, Kansas City Duncan Cox, London Rachael Harding, London Debbie Cervera, Los Angeles Alana Martinez, Los Angeles Sayyed Miyan, Mumbai Harshad Mohod, Mumbai Bhoomi Shah, Mumbai Tiffany Broyles Yost, New York Angela Brysiewicz, New York Alexis Hertzog, New York JungWon Jais Kwon, New York Silverio Patrizi, New York Jason Silbiger, New York Natalia Zawisny, New York Peter Crocitto, Newark Courtney Wells, Philadelphia Amanda Garvey, Portland Dean Schoenberg, San Diego Theresa Curtis, San Francisco Stacy Gaddini, San Francisco Cristopher Gebhardt, San Francisco Marshall Roberts, San Francisco Maggie Smith, San Francisco Gary Lin, Shanghai Evan Lapointe, West Hartford
Corporate Sustainability Steering Committee Thomas Berry, Vice President Greg Briggs, Principal Tanya de Hoog, Principal Bob DeScenza, President Faz Ehsan, Senior Principal John Fairbairn, Vice President Human Resources Bruce Gibbons, Managing Principal Gunnar Hubbard, Principal Leonard Joseph, Principal Jim Kent, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Gary Mancini, Senior Principal Jane Pereverzoff Ngo Senior Project Architect Steve Ross, Chief Information Officer Lynn Simon, Senior Vice President Michael Squarzini, Managing Principal
This was the fourth year of our corporate sustainability internship program. Our talented interns have gone on to work in a variety of exciting positions in the private and public sectors, including as campus sustainability managers, energy efficiency experts, and building scientists.
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Notes
www.ThorntonTomasetti.com