Florida Trend | Florida's Business Authority

What's the biggest reason your company and customers want to build green?

developer
Loretta Cockrum
Chairman/CEO - Foram Group - Miami


600 Brickell, located near two Metromover stops, has a reflective roof and lights that adjust as daylight streams in through heat-dispersing windows. [Photo: Daniel Portnoy]

"The market wants green because it is socially responsible, reduces operating expenses and improves the quality of the tenant experience. In designing 600 Brickell, we asked ourselves: What will the world need tomorrow? The answers were: Sustainability and technology. Platinum precertification actually results in lower costs for utilities while creating a healthier, more pleasant and productive work environment."

architect
Michael R. Carlson
President - Carlson Studio Architecture - Sarasota

Cancer Support Community facility in Lakewood Ranch
The columns of the Cancer Support Community facility in Lakewood Ranch are made of century-old heart pine recovered from the bottom of the Suwannee River. [Photo: Dick Dickinson]

"Green buildings are better buildings for the money than non-green buildings. Now that there is a widely recognized, sophisticated way to determine how green a building is and have that tested and verified by an independent third party, we can determine how much better each design is. Our clients are motivated differently to build green. Most like the savings generated by energy and water conservation combined with higher quality of interior space that is healthier to live or work in. Some are motivated to save money while others share our concerns about the future of the planet."


contractor
Mary Tappouni
President - Breaking Ground Contracting Co. - Jacksonville


"I was strongly led to mesh my personal philosophy with my business, and green building was an amazing discovery and turning point for me. Leadership on this issue is the most critical to me because it is lacking in the standard business model where profits and other business-oriented goals tend to push the care for human beings and the environment to the background. We're providing design-build services for Steve and Elaine Wyman's green dream home in St. John's County. With five children and nine grandchildren, they said they felt that sustainable design and construction is the responsible approach for the present and the future."