NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL EVENT

Best Places to Work 2008 Awards Reception

September 25, 2008, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Doubletree Hotel, Rohnert Park

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Autodesk,CamelBak go LEED

SOFTWARE MAKER GETS GOLD; WATER-PACK LEADER UNDERTAKES SILVER PROJECT IN PETALUMA

SAN RAFAEL – San Rafael-based Autodesk put its architecture, engineering and energy-efficiency software design know-how to good use in planning its first certified green office space in Marin County. Similar know-how has been going into CamelBak’s new headquarters tenant improvements in Petaluma.

Autodesk recently received gold-level certification from the U.S. Green Building Council under the Washington-based nonprofit group’s Leadership in Energy Efficient Design rating system for commercial interiors, or LEED-CI, for its 100-employee office at 1 McInnis Parkway in the San Rafael headquarters cluster.

It won’t be Autodesk’s last such project in the North Bay, according to Lynelle Cameron. She was brought on last year in a new company position as director of sustainability to guide the greening of all Autodesk facilities, starting in Oregon.

Two common challenges are unfamiliarity among building owners, architects and contractors with rating-system requirements and alternatives, according to Ms. Cameron. “The building owner said we could do all we wanted for LEED certification as long as we pay for it,” she recalled about the 1 McInnis project.

In planning the project, Autodesk worked with DPR Construction, which has a number of LEED-accredited staff members, as does Autodesk. In the end, Autodesk reused or recycled 87 percent of the project materials. By positioning cubicles near windows and using high-efficiency lighting and climate-control systems, the company estimates electricity savings of more than 27 percent over the company’s five-year lease.

Petaluma-based CamelBak, best known for its backpack canteens, also was looking for 30,000 square feet of green headquarters space. The company eventually found a building owner with experience in green construction that was ready to share costs to attain silver-level certified LEED-CI space, according to CamelBak’s commercial space broker, Brian Eisberg of Orion Partners.

CamelBak’s first choice was Barker Pacific’s Hamilton Landing office project in Novato. It isn’t certified green but could rack up many LEED rating points for reuse of hangars, fresh air circulation, access to public transit and energy efficiency. However, the timing of the end of CamelBak’s current lease didn’t allow for that option.

Then RNM Properties approached CamelBak with green ideas for RNM’s new 144,000-square-foot South McDowell Landing complex in south Petaluma based on work in RNM’s headquarters in San Francisco.

The first certified LEED-CI project in Sonoma County was Redwood Credit Union’s new headquarters in Santa Rosa, and one in progress is Codding Enterprises’ Sonoma Mountain Village project in Rohnert Park. In Napa, a LEED for new construction project called Napa Square is under way.

At the base of Mt. Tamalpais near Mill Valley, San Francisco-based nonprofit Citizens Housing Corp. went for a less-demanding GreenPoints rating by Berkeley-based Build It Green for the renovation of the decrepit Fireside Inn property into 32 senior units and 17 for families, according to project manager Jake Weggman. TWM Architecture + Interiors in San Rafael was part of the design team.

At $23 million, the Fireside project already was nine years in progress because of disputes and $9 million over budget, so Citizens decided to shoot for a GreenPoints rating rather than the more rigorous LEED rating the group attained in another project that recognized resource-efficiency achievements above stringent state building codes.

Though it may seem counterproductive to specify some premium materials such as low-emissions paints and methods such as natural cross ventilation in a project funded by a patchwork of benefactors, putting those sources together can be easier via green building, according to Mr. Weggman.

“When green building is required by a jurisdiction, it justifies the raising of money as part of the regulatory environment,” he said.

Some sources actually have specific green-building funds, and Citizens got $75,000 from Enterprise and The Home Depot that largely went to cover the up-front green planning costs that typically aren’t funded initially.

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