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Pittsburgh Convention Center Achieves Platinum LEED Certification
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Consulting firm, evolveEA performed a ground-breaking study to evaluate the David L. Lawrence Convention Center’s operations, marking the first time a prominent LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certified building has undergone a comprehensive evaluation for green operations, which has culminated in the facility becoming the first LEED Platinum convention center certified under the Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance rating system.
Christine Mondor, Principal at evolveEA says “This study illustrates that the DLCC, one of the greenest convention centers in the world, is an excellent example of a building whose smart design leverages efficient operations. It is also a great story of what can be achieved by an operations team that looks for constant improvement.”
In 2003, the DLCC catalyzed the green building movement in the convention industry, becoming the first LEED Gold Convention Center. Now, as a result of this study, the DLCC has reaffirmed its leadership after nearly a decade of operations. Evidenced by the more than 50 facilities that have achieved or are pursuing LEED certification, convention centers and event destinations are prioritizing sustainability as they begin to understand the marketing and cost saving implications of sustainable operations.
evolveEA and its team investigated the convention center’s performance, not only as a physical building, but as a functioning organization. To do this, the team benchmarked the DLCC against other convention centers, and provided recommendations to improve operations and leverage marketing opportunities.
The study highlighted that over $15 million in DLCC revenues from 2006 to 2011 came from green-seeking events. These same events brought approximately $176 million in direct spending to the Pittsburgh region. In addition to added business, the convention center’s design and how it has been operated has allowed it to save over $2-million in energy costs since 2005, compared to a conventional venue of its size.
The study can be found online.
Selected from a field of 25 national firms, evolveEA led a project team comprised of CJL Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics, and Civil and Environmental Consultants. By analyzing energy consumption, water use, airflow, purchasing, waste management, transportation, marketing, and occupant behavior and satisfaction, the team identified opportunities to make improvements that will continue to generate financial savings, marketing value, and business growth.
Key findings of the study include:
-- The largest benefit of the DLCC’s sustainability initiatives is increased business. Convention centers exist to bring spending into their communities. Many lose money on an annual basis so that they can bring tourist dollars to local businesses. By pursuing sustainability, the DLCC has attracted more events and direct spending to Pittsburgh while reducing its operating costs. Evidence suggests this could translate to other facilities.
-- It is difficult to imagine a better investment in local economic development than that in the green features of the DLCC. Its green attributes cost approximately $3 million initially, but have been leveraged into $15 million in revenue and $176 million in direct spending (as measured since 2006).
-- Convention centers are extremely difficult to compare. Traditional approaches to benchmarking facilities like Energy Star Portfolio Manager are not adequate for the convention industry, as they do not account for visitorship, number and/or duration of events. Measuring performance by size and visitorship together (i.e. Btu/sf/visitor) is more relevant and actionable for facilities, and the study built a cohort of sustainable facilities to do this.
-- The overall environmental footprint of a convention is much larger than what happens within the convention center walls. The associated travel, hotel stays, local transportation, and dining of conference goers can have a much larger impact than what happens within the convention facility. In addition to focusing on their internal operations, leading facilities are working with their suppliers and local value chain to reduce their overall environmental footprint and increase the marketing value of their “destinations.”
-- The Indoor Environmental Quality of a convention center can be extremely valuable in marketing a facility. The more comfortable visitors are, the more likely they are to stay longer in that space. Longer stays can potentially lead to higher sales for vendors.
-- Convention centers are increasingly competing for the highest waste diversion rate to show their commitment to sustainability. Although important, diverting waste is only part of the equation. It is more sustainable to avoid creating the waste in the first place. As such, source reduction of waste, or the amount of waste created per visitor, is an important metric to track and understand
Stephen Hockley, evolveEA project manager says “This study represents a truly compelling business case for pursuing sustainability. It shows that no matter the business model, an organization can do well by doing good.”
To learn more about the project, visit the evolveEA Convention Center webpage or call Stephen Hockley at 412-362-2100.
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5/21/2012 |
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