Gannett Fleming’s Los Angeles Office Recognized for Green Initiatives
May 7, 2010
Two members of the Hines Green Team (left)
with Rod Dawson and Ann Kovara from Gannett Fleming’s Los Angeles office (right) The Los Angeles office was honored because it successfully implemented Hines’ Green Office Tenant Guide, a program that aims to improve how companies operate and encourages them to have a positive impact on the environment and the well-being of their employees. Several benefits of participating in this program include a demonstrated leadership in sustainability, a competitive business advantage, more engaged employees, and it also serves as an effective recruiting tool.
Achieving this status was one of the Los Angeles office’s key sustainability goals. Its staff completed a simple questionnaire with questions in the following categories: energy efficiency; people and atmosphere; travel and commuting; and reduce, reuse, and recycle, along with several “bonus” categories, such as remodeling and construction. By way of answering the questions, the office could see what it was already doing well and areas in which it could improve. It achieved 72 out of 100 possible “leaf credits,” or points.
The following highlights key actions that the office already had in place. It would:
- Utilize carpooling and mass transit
- Replace obsolete computer monitors with ENERGY STAR-qualified LCD flat screen monitors
- Install compact fluorescent lighting rather than incandescent lighting
- Use low- or no-VOC interior paints during maintenance
- Use reusable rather than disposable flatware and plates, when possible.
Several key areas where the staff will increase their efforts include the following:
- Purchase paper with a minimum of 30-percent post-consumer recycled content
- Better utilize technologies such as teleconferencing
- Improve upon its existing recycling program
- Organize office employees to participate in an annual community project focused on sustainability.
For additional information, please contact Rodney Dawson at (213) 624-0347 or via e-mail.
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