Know-How

ASHRAE provides updated guidance for facilities’ energy efficiency efforts with a revised standard that includes expanded scope for building sites and major additions appearing for the first time in a minimum-efficiency U.S. model energy standard or code.

Experts in the field of mass timber construction discuss the various advantages of using prefabricated wood systems for residential projects.

The last pieces of a master-planned community that spans almost 30 acres are starting to come together.

The Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center’s (CFJC) holistic approach to serving justice-involved youth and their families helped the project earn an innovation credit toward LEED Gold certification. O’Brien360 served as the LEED certification consultant for the project, whose journey is chronicled in a new case study.

A first-of-its-kind initiative teams the Biden administration with state and local governments dedicated to delivering cleaner, healthier, and more affordable buildings.

Learn about how O'Brien360's partnership with Bellevue College helped them reach their sustainability goals and steered them toward LEED certification of their Student Success Center.

Construction has begun on the Pine, a new 140-unit multifamily apartment building developed by one of O'Brien360's most valued clients, MainStreet Property Group LLC.  O'Brien is providing LEED verification services for the building slated for completion in 2023. 

When Kitsap Community Resources (KCR) needed help to navigate the USGBC certification process, they engaged O'Brien360 to help them meet state requirements for their newly constructed Larry Eyer Early Learning Center in Bremerton, WA.

No buildings impact the health of their occupants more directly than healthcare facilities, but the existing LEED rating systems weren’t designed specifically to record and reward green medical buildings. With the first building now certified under the LEED for Healthcare (LEED-HC) rating system, the industry has its first case study in the Kaiser Permanente Puyallup Medical Center.

Commercial tenants and residents expect a new building or home to be comfortable, healthy, and efficient, but without a structured hand off, expectations sometimes go unmet. This hand off period, which occurs between late construction and early occupancy, is called 'Transition to Occupancy,' and it is often fraught with risks as building staff and occupants adapt to new, potentially unfamiliar equipment and systems.

Incredible drone-captured photos and video footage show work underway on the new Edmonds Waterfront Center, which recently resumed construction. 

In April, after a nearly 6-month process, O’Brien360 launched its new website.  In alignment with the company’s vision to “equitable advancement of the built environment toward positive life cycle impacts” and our value to “…expand our work to more broadly address health, equity, and financial sustainability,” we endeavored to ensure that those with disabilities would enjoy the same equal access to our content and expertise as those without such challenges...

By Allyson Jackovics

Biophilic  (bī-ō-ˈfi-lik) adj. Of, relating to, or characterized by biophilia: relating to, showing, or being the human tendency to interact or be closely associated with other forms of life in nature. 

Inspired by Erin Rovalo's prompt in Living Future 2020's "Getting Started with Biophilic Design" workshop, "What top three biophilic design elements would you use to redesign your home office?" I gave my work-from-home station a biophilic upgrade to see if I could replicate some of the design elements she discussed. 

O’Brien360 is known for its inspiring and productive facilitation. From stakeholder meetings to workshops to charrettes, we integrate engaging activities, breakouts, and expert-laden synthesis to glean the most feedback from participants and to create the most appropriate next steps. But how does this dynamic – highly contingent on face-to-face interaction – work in the era of social distancing. Is it even possible? Yes, it is.

Due to impacts of COVID-19 on our state, Governor Inslee has proclaimed a delay in implementation of the 2018 Washington State Building Code. 

The Triangle project was recently recognized at NAIOP Night of the Stars as the 2019 Multi-Family Residential Suburban Development of the Year.

As green building consultants, O’Brien360 advises project teams on the use of an integrative approach to project management and design that seeks to achieve high performance on a variety of environmental and social goals. This approach is based on a peer review process to create an ANSI standard for the application of the integrative process (IP) and is the foundation of the LEEDv4 and LEEDv4.1 Integrative Process credits. Give us a call early in your project to talk about how to earn LEED credits and improve performance of your project.

The Smart Buildings Center (SBC) has developed a new video training series.

Congratulations to Miller Hull and the many team members who worked for over a decade on the multi-phase renovation of the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry (SYLPOE), which was completed just before Christmas. O’Brien360 worked with Miller Hull and GSA during the master planning phase consulting on attaining LEED Platinum certification on all three project phases under the LEED 2009 rating system and using the LEED Application Guide for Multiple Buildings and Campuses. We continued on with the project assisting in with the Platinum certification for Phase 1 and advising teams working on Phases 2 and 3 which are also pursuing Platinum. It’s been an incredible decade long journey!

Congratulations to O’Brien360 team member Ryan Guan on becoming a Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC®)! CPHC certified professionals receive instruction in energy modeling software, and as well as training explicitly tailored toward the unique climate variations, market conditions, and building components in North America. In addition to Ryan, O’Brien360 is proud to count among its staff Passive House (PHIUS+) Verifiers, as well as other green building credentialed professionals.