Earlier this month, the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International hosted its 2024 conference in Philadelphia, PA. Here are a few of our takeaways from the event for those of you who couldn’t make it out!
Focus on the “Treasure”
Tom Arnold, CEO of Gridium, moderated the panel “How To Optimize Building Performance In a Capital-Constrained World,” discussed how to foster a culture of efficiency in your building.
“Over the years, we’ve learned how important positive language and reinforcement is in fostering a culture of energy efficiency among building teams,” he said. As an example, using language such as “treasure-hunting” in lieu of cracking down on energy “hogs” or waste can help promote a more virtuous cycle of efficiency improvement.
Brian Coon (Kilroy), Gina Abbott (Lincoln Property Company), and Tom Arnold discuss building optimization on this year’s BOMA 2024 panel.
Operational Excellence Starts with Data
Brian Coon, who leads a team of over 100 engineers at Kilroy Realty, knows that data is king when it comes to scaling operational excellence across a portfolio. Brian shared how a few basic views into interval data help him and his team identify the most actionable efficiency opportunities.
In one example, he showed a heat map that revealed a potential start-up issue in one of his buildings. “This type of insight helps our engineers see how buildings are performing, and helps me know where to focus our efforts,” said Coon.
In another example, he showed how looking at portfolio-wide meter and building data helps him identify the leaders and laggards, and where to prioritize action.
Funding Retrofits is Easier Than You Think
Getting capital approved for building upgrades can be a challenge. However, through creative on-bill repayment programs in California, Lincoln Property Company’s Gina Abbott discussed how they were able to incorporate retrofit costs into their utility bill, passing them to tenants. This program help resolve the split-incentive challenge: when tenants pay utility bills, they’re incentivized to conserve energy but disincentivized to invest in efficiency upgrades; when landlords pay the bills, they’re incentivized to invest in efficiency upgrades, but tenants are disincentivized to conserve.
Through a low-interest loan from its local utility, Lincoln was able to complete a lighting retrofit throughout one of its landmark office buildings in San Francisco, which helped drive down overall energy bills by 15%. The benefits? Lincoln paid nothing upfront for the upgrades, tenants face no new charges, and both enjoy a more energy-efficient building (read the full case study).
Partner for Success
Lastly, a key highlight of the annual BOMA Conference are the industry-leading TOBY Awards, which recognize building teams with the best-managed and most efficiently operated properties in the industry. We love this annual tradition and applaud the nominees’ and winners’ commitment to offering tenants and stakeholders superior service and value.
We also couldn’t help but notice something that a few of the award winning buildings had in common: Gridium! Two of the award winners utilize Gridium to gain insights into their building performance and intuitive tools to manage energy costs more strategically.
Congratulations to:
- Post Montgomery Center, a 38-story, certified-LEED Platinum, Class A office building located in the Financial District of downtown San Francisco, which received the TOBY Award in the .5-1M sq. ft. category. Owned by Post Montgomery Associates and managed by JLL, this property has received multiple TOBYs over the years. According to BOMA, it has “upgraded its HVAC systems, added a tenant engagement platform, and maintains a beehive that produces 55 pounds of honey.” It’s also been ENERGY STAR certified for over 20 years, according to ENERGY STAR.
- 407 North Maple, TOBY Award winner in the 100-249k square feet category, a Tishman Speyer Properties-managed building located in Beverly Hills, CA. A LEED-Gold certified recently renovated office building, 407 North Maple is an “architecturally rich office building with extensive amenities in the heart of Beverly Hills.”
We’re proud to partner with these buildings and many more on their journeys to be award-winning, energy efficiency, and sustainable office spaces. And we look forward to seeing you at future BOMA events!
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