Incentives & Mandates

The goal for policymakers should be to craft programs that are attainable, enforceable and beneficial to all stakeholders.
October 16th, 2009 | Mark Rabkin | Comments | Read More

The Bottom Line On Green Buildings

Those of you who closely follow the green building sector are aware that several weeks ago there was an uproar over LEED decertification and the faulure of LEED certified buildings to perform to their design expectations. If you are a property manager or a developer this failure of buildings to perform...
August 5th, 2009 | Rich Cartlidge | Comments | Read More

Chinese Drywall - “The Silent Hurricane”

Chinese drywall claims could reach $15-25 billion, putting it among the largest insured losses of all time.
August 4th, 2009 | Mark Rabkin | Comments | Read More

Sustainable Development: Sustainable or Not?

This week there has been an ongoing poll by the Economist debating whether or not sustainability is sustainable. As of the time of publication 45% of the individuals responding believe that sustainability is unsustainable while 55% believe it is sustainable. While it is my firm belief that sustainability...
July 7th, 2009 | Rich Cartlidge | Comments | Read More

Eliminating the word “green”

I have previously mentioned it will be a great day when the word green no longer needs to be used as an adjective to describe a building as being special as it will just be the norm. A recent article by Hospitality Design suggests that we are indeed moving in that direction.
June 24th, 2009 | Rich Cartlidge | Comments | Read More

The Increased Risk of “Green” Building

Without careful attention to interaction among building systems, new liabilities may emerge from "green" building.
June 22nd, 2009 | Mark Rabkin | Comments | Read More

Changing the world: a city, block, & idea at a time

Like most people you have probably sat around at one point in your life and wondered how you can change the world and make it a better place.
June 16th, 2009 | Rich Cartlidge | Comments | Read More

What if I am forced to rebuild my property?

Will insurance cover me if I must rebuild?
June 5th, 2009 | Mark Rabkin | Comments | Read More

Kelo to kill sustainable communities?

A discussion on the taking of private property from one individual and transferring it to another private entity for redevelopment.
June 2nd, 2009 | Rich Cartlidge | Comments | Read More

Obama Increases Carbon Emission Standards

On 5/19/09 President Obama released his new vehicle emissions and fuel efficiency standards. The goals of the plan and its potential impact on construction projects ability to sell their carbon reductions is discussed here.
May 20th, 2009 | Rich Cartlidge | Comments | Read More