PWC's on the 'Green' express that is going places.

"Last year, Professional Women in Construction, got on the 'green' train with forums on the subject at a time when many rejected it as too costly. Now the interest is booming," said PWC President Lenore Janis following "Building a Greener New York," the latest PWC developers' forum presented on July 29, at the The Yale Club. Herman Miller Inc. and MSD Visuals sponsored the event.

Michael Deane, senior project manager with Bovis Lend Lease and chair of the US Green Building Council's New York chapter, summed up the progress of "greening": "As green building becomes less foreign it becomes ... more accepted and then expected--it becomes the new norm. And that is truly transforming the market. Given the choice ... people will choose to five and work in a healthier building."

Elizabeth J. Heider, AIA, vice president with Skanska USA Building Inc. and the program moderator agreed, "What was once considered 'bleeding edge'--due to high initial cost outlays and unproven performance--has become leading edge and will eventually become commonplace." Heider explained that there are four LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) ratings: certified; silver, gold and platinum.

Heider assembled the panelists to represent four diverse perspectives: Christopher Albanese, executive vice president with the Albanese Organization, Inc., private developers; David Burney, AIA, commissioner of the NYC Department of Design & Construction, public developers; Daniel Kaplan, AIA, senior principal, Fox & Fowle Architects, designers; and Deane, construction managers.

Burney explained that the Department of Design & Construction manages approximately $1 billion per year in city-funded capital projects for such agencies as the Department of Transportation and the Department of Environmental Protection and added an Office of Sustainable Design in 1997.

Albanese spoke of the Albanese Organization's Battery Park City Authority project, the Solaire, which has received a gold LEED rating. The Solaire, a 400,000 s/f, 27-story, 293-unit luxury apartment building that opened as the first green residential high-rise in the nation in July 2003, has set a new standard for residential construction. Albanese's second green residential building has just broken ground with occupancy anticipated by the first quarter of 2006.

Deane discussed the ways that the initial resistance to greening has been lowered as developers learn that increased construction costs are recouped through lower operating costs. "Even if the 'payback' time is five years, that represents a 20% return on investment," he said. Deane predicted that in the next few years 25% of public construction and 10% of private work will be green.

Kaplan said, "Opportunities for sustainability abound in the City. There is a groundswell of interest and activity." Fox & Fowle, he said, "jumped on the train" with Four Times Square, which acted as "a catalyst for a lot of people" through its comprehensive application of sustainable strategies on a large scale. The Helena, a 600-unit residential tower currently under construction at West 57th Street, is targeted for a gold level LEED rating.