BIZVOICE: Rein in consumption

As headlines about our region’s extended drought become as scarce as Georgia’s rain, I want to encourage all Atlanta commercial real estate companies to make water conservation a top priority this year.

While Atlanta and Georgia continue to look for ways to solve our water crisis, we all need to individually act responsibly when using water. As an office developer and manager, I know the efforts to reduce consumption at work can be even more challenging than at home, but with a team effort, the impact can be substantial.

Since the water crisis started making the news, many of our fellow building managers and owners have been implementing strategies to help reduce water usage in our buildings. While we invest heavily in landscapes and water features to provide attractive workplaces for our clients —- the firms that employ hundreds of thousands of Atlantans —- we realize our need to balance that with proper stewardship of a diminishing resource.

There are 125 million square feet of office space in the Atlanta area. My company manages 5 million square feet. With the help of our building managers and our tenants, we have implemented programs that have reduced water consumption by an estimated 900,000 gallons per month. As other office building owners and managers in the region invest in similar efforts, it is conceivable office users can save an aggregate of 20 million gallons per month. That is a substantial amount of water savings, and those owners and managers who are engaged in this complex effort should be commended.

One example of an efficient office tower is 1180 Peachtree in Midtown, owned by an affiliate of the General Electric Pension Trust —- advised by GE Asset Management. This 41-story tower is the largest structure in metro Atlanta to receive a national designation as a “green building,” earning Gold LEED status from the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit group of developers, architectural firms and local governments supervising the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design awards.

Across the world, building developers share ideas in order to continually improve our workplaces and reduce our use of resources. For instance, among the many environmentally friendly features at 1180 Peachtree are:

> A water-management system that captures air conditioning condensate and storm water runoff to fully irrigate the property’s landscaping. This system completely circumvents the need for city water to irrigate plants.

> Faucets that emit only a half-gallon per minute.

> Urinals that limit flushing to a gallon of water.

> Vegetation on half of the roof’s surface to reflect heat and reduce storm water runoff.

During this extended water crisis, my firm has acted to implement additional water conservation initiatives at our 11 metro locations, such as One Atlantic Center, Atlanta Financial Center, Ravinia, One Overton Park, Perimeter Summit and Deerfield.

As requested by the city, we initially shut down all of our exterior fountains, opening them only after we supplied the fountains with either runoff water or condensate.

We have also posted signs in all restrooms reminding visitors to be mindful of water usage; have installed water-reducing fixture valves; installed drought resistant landscaping; utilized water retaining landscaping materials; and are employing creative and aggressive methods for efficiently running building mechanical systems that consume water.

I call on fellow building owners to join together to employ methods that will measurably reduce the water we consume in office buildings in 2009.

Together with our office clients who inhabit our buildings, we are all partners in creating and maintaining the efficient workplace of tomorrow. It is the responsible thing to do.

> Stephen J. Sontag, vice president property management for Hines, has been in the field of property management since 1977 and has been employed by Hines for more than 25 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics, a master’s in curriculum development, and has achieved the certified property manager and real property administrator designations.