One of Burns & McDonnell’s recent projects was the Hawaii Air National Guard Squad operations and training campus at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The LEED Platinum project was designed for zero-net energy use. Burns & McDonnell developed an energy-conservation investment program for the integration of photovoltaic arrays. The building also is resilient enough to withstand hurricane forces.
“Just being green is not enough,” says Stephanie Graham, Burns & McDonnell’s Sustainability Manager. Her firm has seen increasing demand for supplier transparency, where clients qualify and rate service providers based on their third-party certifications.
At a minimum, she says, providers are expected to benchmark their carbon emissions, track goals, and publish results. She adds that a growing number of her firm’s projects now aim for zero-net water use and zero-net waste in construction.
The majority of Page’s design teams now use parametric energy modeling tools to take advantage of opportunities to design passive energy solutions prior to engineers taking over to create active solutions, says Robert Phinney, Page’s Associate Principal and Sustainable Design Director.
ALSO SEE: BD+C Giants 300 green rankings
Top 130 green architecture firms
Top 45 green engineering firms
Top 85 green construction firms
Phinney says achieving zero-net energy in buildings is now a “mainstream” pursuit for many developers and their AEC partners. “New technologies, renewed knowledge of passive systems, and affordable renewables are evaporating the boundaries that have traditionally kept a large part of the industry from pursuing green building,” he says.
Burns & McDonnell is designing buildings to recapture and filter stormwater to replenish aquifers and alleviate burdens on sewer systems. Its construction group offers material reuse services to place excess or “like new” construction products into buildings.
Burns & McDonnell is also incorporating wellness components, such as biophilia and optimized views of the outdoors, into projects. One such case: its renovation of the three-story, 47,500-sf Independence Utilities Center near Kansas City, which opened last November and earned a LEED Platinum rating.
SEE ALL 2017 GIANTS 300 RANKINGS
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Oct 4, 2017
Top 40 airport construction firms
Hensel Phelps, Turner Construction Co., and Skanska USA top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest airport sector contractors and construction management firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 3, 2017
Top 30 airport engineering firms
AECOM, Burns & McDonnell, and Arup top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest airport sector engineering and EA firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 3, 2017
Top 30 airport architecture firms
Jacobs, Corgan, and Gensler top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest airport sector architecture and AE firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 2, 2017
Delicate balance: Needs vs. capital for government agencies
John Caulfield, Senior Editor
Giants 400 | Sep 28, 2017
Top 85 government construction firms
Turner Construction Co., PCL Construction Enterprises, and Clark Group top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest government sector contractors and construction management firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Sep 28, 2017
Top 55 government engineering firms
WSP, AECOM, and Arup top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest government sector engineering and EA firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Sep 27, 2017
Top 95 government architecture firms
Stantec, HOK, and Gensler top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest government sector architecture and AE firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Sep 22, 2017
Welcome home: Hotels want guests to feel more like residents than visitors
Because hotels can take as long as six years to complete, spotting trends—and differentiating them from fads—is tough when tastes and systems change so rapidly.
Giants 400 | Sep 22, 2017
Top 80 hotel construction firms
Turner Construction Co., Swinerton, and The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest hotel sector contractor and construction management firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Sep 22, 2017
Top 30 hotel engineering firms
NV5 Global, WSP, and DeSimone Consulting Engineers top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest hotel sector engineering and EA firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
