Does Your Company Need a Sustainability Manager?

Whether your company is big or small, you should consider having someone on staff who can handle the social, economic and environmental responsibilities that will help your company be considered more sustainable.

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The construction industry faces many challenges when it comes to staying competitive and being sustainable is no different. Many contractors simply do not have the time to learn about sustainable construction practices that can help them stay competitive and compliant and this is where they need to consider hiring a sustainability professional to educate them and move the company forward. 

"It has been challenging for construction companies to compete with other companies such as manufacturing or food processing to manage sustainability efforts, let alone capturing data," Erin Loza environmental & sustainability specialist with Granite Construction says. Over the last 10 years, sustainable business practices have become more important not just to customers and stakeholders, but employees too. Hiring for this role keeps that company abreast of new trends and possibilities with employees, green construction and community relations."

Through a sustainability manager, a construction company can keep up with regulations and trends and rely on that person or persons to benchmark and work with other construction peers in the industry. Construction companies can lead the way in sustainable practices and share their stories and achievements with others through a sustainability manager. This person can assist in aligning sustainable goals with their company’s strategic plan or strategies and work with employees and customers on being successful in doing that. 

Why Hire a Sustainability Manager

There are many reasons why a construction company should consider training all engineers, architects, site supervisors and managers on sustainability principles," says Angela Casler, executive director, Sustainability Management Association. "The company and the client will benefit when a zero waste approach is utilized from the very beginning to the end of the project. Utilizing resources efficiently during the entire process can take more time to plan, work with partners to take excess materials, work with subcontractors on installing efficient technologies for energy, water, solid waste, or pollution can take a lot of time. A sustainability manager can specialize in working with many partners to accept unused material, purchase the most efficient technologies, reuse and upcycle waste materials, research new appliances, fixtures and textiles coming to market, etc." 

Another reason to hire a sustainability manager will be to open new markets to your company. The government is increasingly requiring all government buildings to be built to green building standards, such as the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). LEED is used in two prongs: 1)  to build a sustainable building and also 2) allows contractors who are LEED certified to bid for projects.

"A sustainability manager can be a value add to the construction team to design projects for customers that will reduce costs of occupying the building as the end goal," Casker says. "When a building is designed to be energy efficient, water efficient, smart landscaping that requires little or no water or collects water, pollutants are reduced by selecting paints, insulation, textiles, and venting that will be healthy for the occupant, and setting up solid waste disposals it can often times add to the property's value. This is a win win for the client and for your company." 

Finally, a sustainability manager can be centralized point of contact for a company to build relationships with important partners to create a solid infrastructure within a community. A good example is to think through the whole build from start to finish, and by finish it is helpful to think through to the end of life of the structure itself. A sustainability manager can definitely help the city or county reach it's climate action plan by building new structures that are going to mitigate pollution, traffic congestion, use local subcontractors to contribute to the economy and use materials that will reduce demand on the energy grid, water input, and waste water treatment. 

"A sustainability manager will assist the company with increasing value and brand reputation by being a trusted partner in the community and achieving social responsibility for the company and the client," Casler says. "The company will also be able to create environmental restoration in many cases to use the natural resources on the property wisely and  create a healthy ecosystem for species to thrive. Strategically, the company can achieve social responsibility, environmental stewardship, and profitability while contributing to the economy with each build project." 

What Their Role Will Be

Before you decide to hire a sustainability manager, it's a good idea to define what your sustainability goals are, if you want to become involved in more sustainable construction projects and what role this person would play in your company.

"Our market and owners drive sustainable construction," says Jenelle Shapiro, senior sustainability manager at WEBCORBUILDERS. "When cities are building legislation around energy efficiency, water savings and renewable energy, there is a need for a sustainability manager to help drive the development within their organization. In addition, if a company wants to be leading the policy discussion to drive what future development looks like, it’s important to have a manager who is familiar with integrating large scale strategic plans across municipals, owners, developers and design firms."

Shapiro also says that their private and municipal clients are asking for sustainability managers and therefore construction companies need to be able to provide the expertise for them.

"Here in California, we are starting to see requirements for achieving Net Zero Energy (NZE) for our buildings," Shapiro says. "It takes a collaborative integrative design process to make sure the goals are met and the contractor is a critical piece of the puzzle to accomplish this. By integrating a sustainability manager into pre-construction design meetings, clients understand we are serious about the mission at hand and will be able to successfully provide them with a NZE building they will be proud of."

Sustainability managers across all institutional boundaries have a central focus and that's producing real reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions. Your sustainability manager will need to focus on reducing GHG emissions. That means they will have ideas that will focus on reducing the use of fossil fuels. And that means a focus on LEED-certified green buildings and retrofits, use of Energy Star appliances and supplies, installation of on-site green-energy generation capacity, buying green energy from local utilities, switching to alternative fuel, Tier 4 or hybrid vehicles and so forth.

This person will also oversee any sustainability goals and achievements the company wants to accomplish. They should be directly involved in the process and impact of the company’s sustainability reporting (if applicable) and any communication internal and external on sustainability efforts and direction. 

Shapiro says her role spans collaboration with every one of the departments at Webcor. "I work with Business Development to work on RFP pursuits and partnerships. I work with HR and Training to develop new programs for our people – if it is new lunch and learn discussion topics or Earth Month Challenges. I work with Estimating to define and refine the construction cost impacts related to high performance sustainability, and look at new ways to integrate sustainability software into our preconstruction work.  I work with Operations to continually push site and office improvements for our people, and work with safety to be sure health and wellness are addressed for everyone."

Who to Look For

Therefore, a good candidate for the position of sustainability manager in this industry will have creativity and great communication skills and be able to take on many different roles in the company that interacts with all departments. 

There is an added element to finding a good sustainability manager in the construction industry if your company plans to participate in green rating programs like Leadership in Environmental Energy Development (LEED), GreenLites, Envision, or other programs. A good candidate will have degrees and certifications in planning and to be strong advocates of "smart growth" planning ideas -- compact development; protection of forests and open space; more rigorous building codes; public support for energy efficiency and green fuels; redevelopment projects; free or low-cost energy audits; high-profile "greening" of public buildings; strong programs for watershed protection and water efficiency; and public information clearinghouses/educational workshops about green lifestyles.

"Sustainability managers roles are very technical, yet high level," Shapiro says. "In order to steer your companies strategic mission as it relates to sustainability, it is important to hire someone who understands how to attain LEED certification for a building, but also how to develop a corporate plan to “green” and lean the business.  Sustainability is more than just LEED, and companies need to understand there are embedded financial and performance improvements by integrating sustainability in its operations.  Things like health and wellness for its people, and reduction of natural resources through more efficient construction practices is critical."

In addition, Loza says a person with sustainability manager qualifications should be a champion and coordinate/focus on greenhouse-gas emissions reduction, green building, procurement, waste management, energy and water conservation, and other business initiatives.

"This person will provide leadership and coordination and develop plans to reach goals with others at their company," Loza says. "This person will integrate sustainability into every day business."

"A potential candidate will also have certification in sustainability management," Casler says. "The Sustainability Management Association offers education and certification in how to manage for sustainability geared toward project managers, while LEED certification will increase the expertise for the design and build of the project." 

Regardless of who you hire, construction companies should recognize the increasing demand for sustainable buildings and hire someone who can help them achieve sustainability goals and even obtain more business with their knowledge of green practices and changing reglalations. 

"I believe any company, large or small, public or private should have a person or persons oversee their sustainability efforts in today’s world," Loza finishes. "As awareness increases around creating a sustainable future, customers are looking at companies who can do more with less without removing the quality element in the work they do. As millennials start the onboard hiring processes, these new employees want to know that their new employer takes pride in leading the way on sustainability."

"Sustainability needs to be driven top down at your company and without support from your Executive Team, it would not be a success," Shapiro says. "Sustainability is part of our inherent makeup as a company and by having people support the initiatives I am so passionate for, the whole company can be more familiar with ways to integrate sustainability not just at work but also with their families at home." 

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