Going Green

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CEO James Bearden says the incident helpecd the large architecturefirm “walkk the talk” about sustainability. Being sustainable and gree n is no longer justen vogue. It’sx business, and customers, investors and employeew are driving the efforg toward making company executives pay Gresham Smith now looks atthe “tripler bottom line,” a buzz word amonhg businesses these days that means they go beyonfd the balance sheet and consider their profits and planet when making businesws decisions.
Companies like Gresham Smith say being green can meansaving money, having less impact on the planetg and keeping good people all good for the bottom Experts say many factors are driving the shift: a growing segmenyt of the investment community that only invests in socially responsible companies, employees who want to work at company that matchez their sustainable values and consumerse who demand that the companies they do business with be in line with thei environmental values. Companies are taking theit business model of maximizing profits beyond financials and looking at environmentaol and socialimpacts too.
“Before it was just ‘do you It was very minimal,” says Jeff Gowdy, a sustainability consultant in Nashvills who has worked with Bridgestone and othefr companies to implement the triplebottom “Now it’s a whole new ball Once companies start talking the talk of people have higher expectations of you. So, if you have a bunch of throw away waste at an it doesn’t reflect on your message.” Whilse the recession that has left some companies just clawinyg to survive will put greej initiatives on the back burner for some, others like Wal-Martr say that going green means savin money. Nationally, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
has led the way with its requiring reduced packaging and new standardws forshipping goods, whil e hiring a sustainability director to overse e it all. Back at Greshaj Smith, the 709-employee firm — which employs about 367 at its Nashvillesheadquarters — hired a sustainability directorf in February and started greeninfg its processes. The award-winning desigj firm has long been helping clientds design green buildings and developsustainabl places, but has only recentlyy taken a look inward to make green a day-to-day routine.
Gresham’s Bearden says when he draw s out a diagram to illustrate the triplesbottom line, he thinkws of the “sweet spot” as the place where the profits and planet intersect. What’s in the overlao is worth doing, he says, and what’s not is Jane Ahrens, Gresham’s new sustainability has worked at the firm for more than two previously as a project architect in the aviation The hope at the firm is that herpositiojn won’t be needed one day because beinvg sustainable will become part of the corporate But for now, Ahrens is focusing on three The first is “greening” the which means making sure architectz always use green materials in designa unless clients dictate otherwise.
The second is greening the pursuits, which meanx truly understanding clients’ needs to help them be And third, greening Gresham Smith, which includesz everything from reducingthe firm’es contributions to landfills, to cutting travell and drinking out of thos e reusable water bottles. The obvious sustainabilitg steps had alreadybeen taken: They’ve changed the lighr bulbs to CFLs, they’re recycling and the computerz are being turned off at the end of the day.
For the the firm has purchased a videol conferencing system for all its officese so employees and clients can meet withoutf the cost and environmental impactof “If you show up to a job site in an SUV and you say you know abougt sustainability, that’s a little bit of a contradiction,” Ahrenx says. So far this year, Bearden has had 16 days that he woulr have been in an airplane or carthat he’sw now sitting in front of the video He estimates the travel costs alon e — not including the cost of employees’ time — will pay for the more than $250,000p cost of the video conferencing systej in nine months.
The company also considerzs sustainability when deciding where to locats its 17 offices throughout the Downtown environmentsare preferred. They allow stafferzs to walk to lunchand don’t typicallg involve parking lots or green areas that are wastin g water with sprinklers, Ahrend says.