From the Editor
In a perfect world, there would be no gap between architecture and facility management. Buildings would operate as efficiently as they were designed every time, and the architect, engineer, contractor and facility manager would have regular meetings after the building opened to discuss how it’s performing and what could be done to improve.

In reality, as starkly illustrated by several months of talking to facility managers about how their buildings are performing, neither of these scenarios is usually the case. It’s often up to the facility mangers to convert design potential into operational efficiency. It’s a tough task, but there are multiple tools in the belt to help, and multiple success stories.

Building Operating Management’s November integrated package offers advice on how to use tools like the U.S. Green Building Council’s Building Performance Partnership and DOE’s Designed to Earn the Energy Star Label. It also tells the stories of some prominent LEED certified buildings that didn’t perform well out of the gate, and, importantly, what the FM did to tune and massage the building to achieve the promised operational efficiency. Some examples include The Christman Building in Lansing, Mich., the Banner Bank Building in Boise, Idaho, and the Providence Newberg Medical Center in Newberg, Ore.

You can find the link to the whole package below under Green Multimedia. We hope you’ll check it out. And more importantly, we hope you’ll get back to us with your own stories about bridging the gap between design and operations.

Cheers,

Green Strategies
Great Expectations

It's up to FMs to bridge the gap between the goals of LEED design and the realities of sustainable operation.

In the News
Job Creation Efforts Focused on Building Retrofit Projects
A broad spectrum of real estate, business, lending, manufacturing, environmental and energy efficiency organizations, led by The Real Estate Roundtable, U.S. Green Building Council and the Natural Resources Defense Council have launched a joint initiative focused on energy efficiency policies that will create new jobs and boost economic growth.

Green Multimedia
Bridging the Gap
This multimedia package includes four video podcasts and an interactive graphic providing information about how to realize design potential with efficient operations.

GreenTech Conference & Exposition

Recertification: The Key to Making Sustainability Sustainable
This presentation from the 2011 GreenTech Conference & Exposition by Michael Arny, president, Leonardo Academy, provides information on LEED-EBOM recertification, including a seven-step process facility managers should follow.