Hannah Solar is a home-grown, two-year old full-service solar integrator. Its growth has skyrocketed to more than$4 million in current sales. For more information, please visit Hannah Solaror call 404-609-7005.

Hannah Solar has completed the largest solar array on any office building in Atlanta’s history. Partnering with Atlanta Property Group’s ten-story Peachtree 25th Building located at 1720 Peachtree Street, the two companies have equipped the first multi-tenant building in the city with a solar plant. The array consists of 684 Solar Panels covering the entire roof and is able to generate 225,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually.

The project is a joint venture that also includes the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA), the U.S. Department of Energy, Georgia Power, the Public Service Commission and solar panel manufacturer, Schüco-USA.

“This was one of the most complex solar arrays to build due to the interconnection with the utility company and the custom engineered rooftop mounting system that was required,” said Hannah Solar CEO Pete Marte.

“We are committed both to reducing operating costs for our tenants and to being leaders in resource-saving innovations,” said Jonathan Rodbell, Partner with Atlanta Property Group. In addition, advised by Perkins + Will, the Peachtree 25th Building is in the process of obtaining LEED-EB certification, and anticipates receiving the designation from the US Green Building Council in 2011.

A commissioning ceremony will be held on the roof of the building at noon on Tuesday, December 21st to coincide with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. Expected to attend, are public officials as well as executives from Georgia Power, Schüco. Georgia Public Service Commissioner Chuck Eaton will pull the power switch at noon and many school children will witness this generation’s commitment to the next generation’s energy needs.

Jay Richardson, vice president of Hannah Solar said, “holding the event on the winter solstice is a symbolic way to dispel longstanding myths regarding the commercial viability of solar power. Even on the shortest ‘solar’ day of the year, solar energy works in Georgia. Not only does the equipment work, but renewable energy creates good jobs – solar ‘works’ in Georgia.”

The solar array consists of 684 Schüco 225-watt solar modules, two ‘PV Power’ inverters and a custom engineered mounting system for securing the arrays to the roof.The system is considered a 150-kilowatt DC solar array and will have an output of 225,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, equivalent to the consumption of nearly 50 homes.

“This array is projected to generate more than 6.75 million kilowatt hours during its 30 year life with very little operating or maintenance expenses and without any harm to the environment,” said Pat O’Donnell, VP of Operations for Hannah Solar.

CEO Marte added, “The long-term delivery cost will be far lower than current electric rates and are essentially fixed for the life of the system, giving the Peachtree 25th Building a distinct advantage over the next 30 years. This project will also help to save up to 225,000 gallons of water annually that would normally be required to cool traditional electricity production plants.”

The Peachtree 25th Building is a 365,000-square foot office building and a notable midtown landmark in the Brookwood section of Peactree Street. “It is fitting that such a well known and highly visible building is leading the way in commercial solar application,” said Marte, who also applauded Ted Turner’s recently announced ground mounted solar array in downtown Atlanta.

As an active member of the Georgia Solar Energy Association, Pete Marte also said, “we would like to see more solar tax incentives tied to jobs, like the movie production tax credits which require no funding until after the job is complete and people have been employed.”

Atlanta Property Group was formed in 2003 to invest in multi-tenant office and industrial properties in the Atlanta area and currently controls assets totaling 1.6 million square feet.

Cushman & Wakefield EVP Jim Dieter
On Industrial Real Estate

Chicago industrial icon Jim Dieter, who was lured out of retirement to take over industrial brokerage at Cushman & Wakefield early this year, says he picked a great company and a great time to come back into the market. The former head of CB Richard Ellis’ industrial practice says he’s having the time of his life, with energy and passion of getting involved in the operational side again.

Recently, Dieter spoke with about the coming year, how movement has begun to pick up for industrial tenants nationwide, vacancy rates are stabilizing and absorption has increased substantially since late 2009. The US industrial market is ending the year on a positive-but-cautiously optimistic note, Dieter says.

You’ve been at your new position since January, how have you adapted to un-retirement and the new job?

Dieter: It’s going great. We’re recruiting around the country, including here, and we’re instituting cutting-edge practices that I’ve learned in my experiences. This really includes collaboration – all large companies, including this one, are challenged by pushing to the edge of a oneness culture. I’m able to take everything we’re doing in the industrial platform and connect the dots, throughout the division and with the company as a whole. This communication includes a series webinars on all facets of the industry, both internal and inviting clients to participate. We just held a transportation webinar that cut across our industrial platform. We’re also conducting conferences throughout the industry, and geographically, one-to-two day conferences for brokers and clients. Finally, we have regional conference calls, with the single mission being collaboration, leveraging the great enterprise of Cushman & Wakefield. This is what clients expect of us, they want the national and global platform, but catered to their local need.

What do you think of the current state of the industrial market?

Dieter: If you look at absolutes, look at the year to date, there’s overall nationwide negative absorption of 6.1 million square feet, significantly better than the negative 118 million square feet of absorption that we recorded at the same time in 2009. We’re starting to absorb space. If we want the rents to creep up, the number one way is to chip away at absorption, and the number two way is to not building anything anymore. We’ve got new construction at about nil, that’s great news, there’s really nothing that’s been added to the supply of any consequence. If this trend continues, we’ll see rents increase.

What about the fundamentals of the industrial market? Moving forward, or not?

Dieter: Well, look at the trend in manufacturing. According to the Institute of Supply Management, there’s been a slowdown in manufacturing up until the past 12 months, where there’s been improvement and increased output. That is a huge factor. Also, look at the ports – with a few exceptions, US ports are reporting a year over year gain in container traffic, and a gain in exports by 15%. Intermodal business is up 17%. However, jobs still trump everything. If there’s a weight on everyone’s shoulder it’s the job market.

What drives the current activity now is that companies have been consistently looking over the last few years, nonstop, at efficiencies, how to do things better but more efficient. When a company is looking at efficiencies, whether in production or in distribution, the end result is usually a real estate transaction. The company goes through a study, and the end result is that they have too many buildings, or not enough buildings, or there’s modernization issues, or outsourcing to third-party logistics companies that allows the firm to take less space. The end result may be a real estate transaction, but not necessarily absorption.

Do you think we’ve seen the end of the one-million-square-foot-plus distribution building, at least for a few years?

Dieter: I think we will see continued large building development. You’re always more efficient under one roof vs. having multiple smaller buildings. When the world gets back to normal, I think you’ll see that trend again. There will be new development coming, but it’s going to be very targeted and finite development.

What do you see as the state of the industrial market next year?

Dieter: I’m cautiously optimistic. There’s been positive trends, exports and manufacturing continue to show growth, railroad shipments show growth, and companies appear to show growth in income statements. They appear to have cash in their companies. If there’s a confidence level that comes across nationally, companies will expand and move forward, and I see confidence written all over the state of affairs now. (credit globe st.)

By Terry Dalton

Terry Dalton is founder, CEO and executive principal of Charlotte, N.C.-based DMR Architecture. He can be reached at 704-372-0116 or visit www.dmra.biz. Read other articles on the DMR blog

Is it really less expensive to incorporate sustainable design into retail projects? Absolutely! Let’s explore the value of sustainable design and the practices that will allow you to realize that value over time.

Retail and green building

During the past decade, the green building movement has become more influential in public, institutional and private construction design. However, retailers and retail developers are just starting to engage major sustainability initiatives. This is significant because the retail sector comprises the second largest commercial building sector, only slightly behind office buildings. And as such, it has a tremendous impact on the environment.

Green building practices can reduce the environmental impact of retail construction. But some developers are reluctant to fully embrace sustainable design because they fear that it will result in additional construction costs.

One must look at long-term benefits over the lifecycle of the project, from design to construction to ownership and operation to realize the true economic value of sustainable design. The fact is that good sustainable design reduces operating and maintenance costs, reduces water and energy consumption, enhances building marketability and increases productivity. Furthermore, sustainable design adds value to retail branding by communicating an environmental responsibility message.

Sustainable design practices that deliver great returns

How can you achieve the benefits of sustainable design in a retail project and receive the greatest returns? The following practices are just some of ways you can accomplish this:

Site – Select sites in urban areas with easy access to public transportation. Careful site selection will maximize land use efficiency, minimize traffic and related air quality issues, and reduce the negative impact of construction on undeveloped areas.

Water – Optimize water use with highly efficient plumbing fixtures and irrigation systems. In addition to being environmentally responsible, this design practice will save a bundle in operating costs.

Energy – Design so that mechanical systems will effectively meet all functional requirements at the minimum energy consumption level. This includes allowing for monitoring HVAC and refrigeration systems continually to ensure optimal calibration. The amount saved with this design practice is impressive.

Materials – Good sustainable design takes into account construction materials and the process for using those materials. Salvaged and recycled materials play an important role in green construction, as do regionally produced materials. In addition to reducing the environmental impact of the project, this design practice reduces overall material costs. Facilitating the recycling of construction waste is another key component of this design practice, protecting natural resources from continuous depletion and preventing construction waste contamination.

Building – The building envelope provides the thermal barrier between the indoor and outdoor environment. Designing for highly effective building envelope thermal insulation is a key determinant of a building’s energy use. Proper building envelope thermal insulation will lower the initial cost of equipment and also reduce excessive use of mechanical systems due to thermal leaks. Another sustainable design consideration is daylighting, which is the controlled admission of natural light to reduce or eliminate electric lighting. Daylighting creates a more productive work environment while significantly reducing lighting costs.

As more data is being gathered, there is significant financial evidence that sustainable design is a smart business choice. Understanding sustainable design practices and how you can benefit from them will help your company succeed.

RHarper Consulting Group

Roger Harper

Interesting to contemplate, isn’t it? Here we are in the midst of the worst recession in our history, and someone wants to talk about the next construction boom? What better time, though, to think about and prepare for the inevitable uptick in construction starts? How will we provide better value to our clients, control costs more effectively, establish and meet schedules, and prevent costly and time-consuming claims? What will be different – and what should be different – about the next boom?
Costs are already increasing so don’t count on more starts based solely on costs – The reduced construction cost that is fueling a portion of the recovery looks to be short-lived. The country has been experiencing a pretty robust increase in public sector work as a result of the stimulus programs. In addition, many states and municipalities have also taken advantage of reduced construction costs to start many planned building and infrastructure projects. This has effectively reduced construction material inventories, and we are seeing marked increases in commodity prices as new orders are placed. Lumber, copper, and concrete appear to be the most affected so far, but others are sure to follow. Manufacturing capacity is not expected to expand until demand picks up, so these commodity price increases will probably be sustained for the foreseeable future.

Takeaway: projects that aren’t working today because of costs, probably won’t work tomorrow either.

Increased Due Diligence and Accountability – As the economy recovers and borrowers and lenders begin to fund new projects, we can expect significantly more due diligence relative to construction budgets and schedules. Many lenders have been left holding the bag on poorly planned and mismanaged projects. The level of scrutiny during pre-construction will be significantly higher, and lenders will require contractors to assume more risk. Change orders and schedule delays will receive more than “rubber stamp” treatment by lenders in the future. Owners will be required to fund unanticipated scope increases and delay costs, and lenders will require borrowers to continue to put more “skin in the game” until the project is complete and performing.

Takeaway: even if a project has a finance commitment, the scrutiny, documentation and review time will be greater.

Greater Involvement by Construction Monitors – Lenders will monitor construction more closely, and lender moni-tors will take more proactive roles, not just reporting on conditions and reviewing payment requests. Lenders already require higher qualifications and broader scopes of service from their construction monitors on new projects, and pre-funding reviews are becoming more thorough and detailed.

Takeaway: The bank construction monitor needs to be your new “best friend.”

Integrated Project Delivery – New project delivery systems are becoming more commonplace where the parties collaborate and share risks jointly. Improved control of project cost, quality, and schedule have been commonly demonstrated with IPD, and more teams are utilizing Building Information Modeling (BIM) to identify building coordination issues and provide the owner with improved information during commissioning and operations.

Takeaway: If you aren’t up to speed on IPD and BIM, you better get there – fast.

Use of Dedicated Project Neutrals – Project stakeholders are recognizing the huge costs of claims and disputes and using various mechanisms including dispute review boards (DRB), initial decision makers (IDM), and embedded neu-trals to address emerging claims and disputes as they arise, rather than after substantial completion. Early resolu-tion of claims and immediate presentation to a neutral third party for resolution provides significant savings, particularly when alternative solutions are available and can be implemented at a significant cost advantage.

Takeaway: claims are almost inevitable, deal with it – resolve early and fast.

The next construction boom will probably start as a gentle rumble. Contractors, architects and developers who have survived the recession will find that new projects will be designed, financed and constructed under very different conditions; risks will be distributed differently and recognition of profits will come much later in the project development life cycle. Takeaway: the next boom will be slow to grow, have a lower peak, and hopefully, will be more sustainable.
For more information please contact:
Roger Harper
615-218-4102
rharper@rharperconsulting.com
www.rharperconsulting.com
RHarper Consulting Group provides development consult-ing, program management, and owner representation ser-vices focused on the senior living and mixed use sectors. In addition, Mr. Harper is also a listed mediator and arbitra-tor providing dispute resolution services for the construction and real estate industries.

Don Rosenthal, of Reno, Nevada, will be stepping into the vacancy at Atlanta’s Building Department, taking the place of Ibrahim Maslamani.  He starts with the department December 1st.

We found this article about Mr. Rosenthal’s philosophy on the Internet and thought you might enjoy reading it:

Interview with Don Rosenthal

Keep up with the city’s plans for change here – http://www.sustainableatlanta.org/

The plan is to “Amend Atlanta’s building code so that it responds to advances in building technology to protect the health, safety, and welfare of Atlantans and to safeguard Atlanta’s long term comprehensive competitiveness.”

This article courtesy of Joseph Blanner, of Behr, McCarter & Potter

Joseph Blanner

Example 1: Bid Bond

ABC School District has put out a Request for Proposals for a new roof on their high school building. Contractors X, Y and Z submit bids to perform the work listed in the RFP. The School District requires each of the contractors to submit a bid bond with their bid. The bid bonds are purchased by the three contractors from sureties. The School District decides to accept Contractor Y’s bid. Contractor Y determines that they have underbid the project and decides not to execute the contract and not to perform the work. In this instance, the School District can make a claim against the bid bond due to Contractor Y’s failure to abide by its bid. Thus, a bid bond is a type of bond (often required on publc construction projects, but not exclusively) designed to protect the owner in the event that the bidder refuses to enter into a contract after the contract is awarded or the bidder withdraws his bid before the award. A bid bond is an indemnity bond, which will be discussed below.

Example 2: Performance Bond

Municipality 123 retains Contractor AB to construct a municipal swimming pool at its recreation center. Contractor AB enters into a written contract and begins performing the work. During the performance of the work, Contractor AB goes out of business leaving the work about 50% finished. Additionally, some of the work that was performed was defective. Contractor AB has provided Municipality 123 with a performance bond. Municipality 123 can assert a claim against Contractor AB’s performance bond for the cost to perform the unfinished work and the cost to correct the defective work. Thus, a performance bond protects the owner from the contractor’s failure to perform in accordance with the terms of the contract. A performance bond does not provide protection against subcontractor or suppliers who have not been paid. A performance bond is also an indemnity bond.

Example 3: Payment Bond

Public Water District QQ has retained Contractor ZZ to install a new water tower. Because the project was over $25,000, Contractor ZZ was required by the Water District to provide a payment bond. Contractor ZZ completed the work, but failed to pay Subcontractor X for its work. Subcontractor X cannot pursue any claim against the Water District. However, Subcontractor X can assert a claim against the payment bond for the amount owed to it for its work on the project. Thus, a payment bond is designed to provide security to subcontractors and materials suppliers to ensure payment for their work, labor and/or materials on the project. A payment bond is also an indemnity bond.

Indemnity Bonds: As set forth above, bid bonds, performance bonds and payment bonds are indemnity bonds. These bonds are not insurance policies. If a covered claim arises against a commmercial general liability policy, the insurer has a contractual obligation to indemnify and defend the insured (i.e. the party obtaining the policy) and cannot seek repayment from the insured for amounts paid out as a result of a covered claim. If a claim arises and is paid out on a bid bond, performance bond or payment bond, the surety (the party issuing the bond) will look to the contractor to indemnify and defend it. So, if a claim is asserted against Contractor XYZ’s performance bond, the surety is going to look to Contractor XYZ to defend the lawsuit and to pay any damages.

Please let me know if you have any questions concerning the foregoing. Additionally, we would recommend that you consult with your attorney regarding any specific scenarios.

-Chris Laumer-Giddens

Chris is a licensed architect and energy efficiency professional who leads Energy Vanguard’s Design and Technical Services.

Follow Chris on Twitter: @claumergiddens

When my wife and I moved from Tampa to Atlanta in 2008, we decided to try high rise living. We were living in a 1916 bungalow, which we loved dearly, and looked forward to something fresh and new. Something that would not leak like a sieve, and that wouldn’t use so much energy. The sales team for the Midtown condo development we now live in told us what we wanted to hear, “average electric bills will be around $50 – $80 for your 900 square foot unit.” Great! Sign us up!

Bubble Burst – Last winter, we had an electric bill pushing $300…for 900 square feet!

Let me qualify one thing before I go in to what I have discovered over the last two years about this “energy hog” we call our home; My wife and I have always been conscious about the amount of energy we use, and we’re constantly reminding each other to turn the light off when we’re not using it, and I’ve tried to sell my wife the idea, “If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.” (Not happening!). We also layer up in the winter to keep the thermostat down, etc. The list goes on.

It turns out, even when we set the thermostat to 78 in winter, which is already much higher than we should have to keep it, we are still layering up. It was our first winter here that we realized that there is something strange, if not wrong, about the design of this “fancy-shmancy” brand new condo, with it’s post-tensioned slabs, floor-to-ceiling double-paned windows, and a ‘state-of-the-art’ fitness room. In fact, the summer months proved to be just as bad. We topped out this past August at $167! Have I mentioned it’s only 900 square feet?

So, what’s the problem? When we asked the developer, they offered little, other than, ‘Georgia Power this and that’ and ‘The building across the street blocks the sun.’ Seriously?

Anyway, the answers were over my head and beneath me…literally! But, that’s not all. The following is what we’ve discovered, so far:

Answer A

One of the great design features of this building is all of the exposed concrete columns and ceilings. And, one of the greatest amenities is the cantilevered balcony in every unit. But, they are also both among the leading contributors to our problem. All that wonderful heat being forced in to our condo in the winter from our electric furnace (I’ll talk about that next), is being sucked right out through those concrete slabs and columns that surround us in every room (and, vice versa in the summer). Due to the nature of post tension slabs and cantilevering, thermal breaks were not an option.

Answer B

Our heating and cooling (split) system is oversized, and improperly designed, causing short-cycling and unbalanced air distribution.

• The air conditioner is a 13 seer, 3-ton system (remember, 900 s.f.), which is even too big using the ‘rule of thumb’ of 400-500 s.f./ton. Based on the load calculation and rating I’ve done, it’s over-sized by at least 1.5-tons. (REM/Rate calculated a required cooling load of 11,700 btu/h.)
• The heat is entirely supplied by an 8kw strip heater! Yes, it’s 100% efficient, but that’s not very good for electric heat.
• The static pressure levels and inadequate duct layout cause some rooms to feel as much as 5-8 degrees cooler or warmer than the room with the thermostat.

Answer C

The “wall of glass” on the west side of the condo is an aluminum storefront system with reflective, double-pane glazing. Despite its reflective properties, the glazing allows an unusual amount of heat than expected during the summer months. I’d like to say that this helps in the winter, being west facing, but nope! Like with many things during the construction of the building, the developer cut corners. The glazing has a poor U-Value and SHGC (Solar Heat Gain Coefficient), and the storefront system they chose came without thermal breaks in the metal frames. This is most apparent in the winter, when the mullions are literally too cold to touch. (I dare you to stick your tongue to it! I triple-dog dare you!)

Solutions?

1. Concrete Slab. Apply a few band-aids to the thermal bridging problem by adding rigid foam insulation to the floor, ceiling, and columns. Although we would lose the ‘exposed’ design feature, we might gain a little more efficiency and comfort.
2. Concrete Slab. Cut the balconies off (impossible) and add a thermal break before reattaching the balconies with concrete or metal columns running the full height of the building. (That’s attractive!). To be completely effective with this logic, though, we would need to insulate the rest of the slab edge (where there isn’t a balcony), which is covered with a continuous aluminum trim to hide the exposed edge. (Piece of cake, right?).
3. Storefront. Replace all storefront windows in the building with a system that has a thermal break (typically neoprene) within the frame, and better performing glazing. (Yeah, cheap fix.)
4. Heating and Cooling. Replace the existing split A/C system with a right-sized, somewhat higher efficiency (14 or 15 SEER) air source heat pump system (with variable speed), along with right-sized ductwork and new layout. Now we’re talking.
5. OR…the developer’s design team could have designed the building with energy efficiency in mind. Even the slightest bit of effort could have saved a lot!

The case for energy efficient design

The payback for the upgrade of our HVAC system would be approximately 3-5 years, and we will most likely end up doing this. But, fixing the problems is not the point of this article. How to avoid inefficiencies and sucking energy is.

The fundamental flaws are in the design and construction approach of the building.

As many of us do, I fully appreciate beautiful buildings, and that sacrifices are sometimes made to achieve beauty over performance. But, there are a great number of high performance buildings that are just as amazing as any other structure out there. In fact, some of the more notable high performance buildings (homes included) have used energy efficient features successfully as design features.

It takes thought. That’s all.

Grease Trap Reviews at Atlanta are now being routed through the site development department.

Dekalb has raised their minimum fee to $175 and the c.o. fee to $50.