Flex Office/Warehouse Building First of its Kind to Go Green

In Phoenix, Arizona, where flex office/warehouse buildings are a staple of the landscape, the Chandler Airport Commerce Center is unique. Perceived by some as an unlikely candidate for sustainable design, the building—which includes 3,000 square feet of office space and 27,000 square feet of warehouse—is the first of its kind to achieve a Green Globes™ rating.
                                           
“In the past, I wouldn’t have considered pursuing green building certification for this type of structure,” said Michael O’Connor, Senior Vice President with Irgens Development Partners, LLC. “It’s a market driven, light industrial building and wouldn’t justify the cost of other systems, which require a lot more documentation, the use of consultants, etc. But I read an article on Green Globes that talked about its cost-effectiveness and user friendliness and decided to give it a try.”

The structure, which earned a one globe rating, incorporates a variety of green features, including:

• Materials with recycled content, including concrete (the building is tilt panel concrete construction) and steel
• Spray foam roofing material, which has both a significant amount of recycled content and a reflective white color that reduces the heat island effect
• High-efficiency lighting, HVAC equipment and water heater
• Low-flow water fixtures
• Skylights that reduce energy consumption by bringing natural light into the warehouse area
• Desert landscaping that reduces the need for irrigation and, where irrigation is necessary, access to recycled water (provided by the City of Chandler)

“When I was approached with the idea of a green flex building, I was apprehensive,” said Timothy Becker, PE, whose company, Nelson Phoenix, LLC supplied construction services. “I wasn’t sure how we’d make the facility energy efficient and incorporate other aspects of sustainability without substantially increasing construction costs or otherwise undermining market-driven lease rates and sales prices.”

What helped, said Becker, was the fact that Green Globes encouraged an integrated design process, which required input from all members of the project team—including the developer, architects, engineers, builders and others. “The process facilitated an integrated approach that not only fostered creative problem solving, but helped to ensure a necessary balance between environmental performance and building functionality.”

“Green Globes is a practical tool,” said O’Connor. “It captures and rewards advancements made at the community level—such as cut-off lighting for the dark sky, which is an issue in Arizona because it’s such a great place to enjoy the night sky—as well as things like skylights and low-flow faucets that we initiated at the company level to create a more efficient building. But the rating itself is also valuable.”

O’Connor believes that, in a highly competitive market, green building assessment—via Green Globes or any other credible system—helps to distinguish his company as a developer of quality structures. “We’re currently putting several other projects through the Green Globes process in Phoenix, including five flex buildings similar to the Chandler Airport Commerce Center and a three-story Class A office building, and a two-story medical office building in Chicago. It’s not as though every tenant demands it, but I can’t think of one that’s going to look at a green building that’s also competitively priced and say ‘No, I don’t want that.’”

For more information:
Irgens Development Partners, LLC
Nelson Phoenix, LLC