Engineering Inc. - November/December 2015 - (Page 44)

Guest Column BY HAL KASSOFF Envisioning Sustainability In the Infrastructure Business T he leading firms in our business continuously strive to strike the right balance among compelling (and occasionally conflicting) goals-to do what is right for our planet, to reflect the underlying values of our profession, to adhere to the culture of the company, to respond to the needs and desires of our clients, and to achieve the profitability essential to our continued viability. We constantly scan the horizon to discern and to help define the leading edges of our practice, and to determine whether to actively engage in Hal Kassoff emerging concepts and ideas or continue to assess them against the prisms of plausibility and practicality. WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff's strong allegiance to the principles of sustainability is rooted in beliefs and practices that span well over a decade. However, the decision on whether and when to participate as a charter member in the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) Envision® rating system required more deliberation than may have been indicated by our firm's obvious philosophical support for sustainable infrastructure. In fact, we were not among the earliest to enroll as charter members. What caused us to hold back just a bit? Over the past five years and more, a multiplicity of sustainability rating systems for transportation infrastructure (mostly, though not exclusively, focused on highways) have appeared. We made the decision to be, as the CEO of our U.S. company, Greg Kelly, put it, "agnostic" rather than tilt toward any of the proposed systems. While others signed on to their preferred systems (Greenroads, GreenLITES, INVEST, STARS or Envision®, among others that were rapidly emerging), we formed a team to study them all, to 44 ENGINEERING INC. NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2015 work with clients on the system that would be the most appropriate to their interests and needs, to learn from and share our experiences, and to see over time which approaches would prove the most sustainable in their own right. Our team developed and circulated information within the firm and to clients and found that the narrower the rating system's focus, the less appealing it seemed to be to the broad range of clients that we serve. At least one client asked us to develop a system from scratch tailored to its specific needs. So what brought us from neutrality to joining ISI as a charter member in support of Envision®? It was the result of a number of threads. First and foremost was the appeal of a universal system whose breadth extended across the complete array of infrastructure categories-from levees and dams to roads and rails, from airports and seaports to pipelines and power lines, from clean energy and telecommunications to water supply and wastewater treatment. The idea that each of these individual infrastructures would be associated with its own sustainability evaluation system simply did not seem viable over time. The second consideration was the broad base of support from the three sponsoring organizations-ACEC, the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Public Works Association- whose reach among professionals and organizations across the industry is so pervasive. A third factor was the early movement of Envision® to an open body of knowledge available to all interested organizations and professionals, regardless of whether they had the desire or the budget to engage ISI in the full-fledged, fee-based, third-party review system. Fourth was our early rapport and ultimate trust in the competence, commitment and collaborative approach of the ISI professional staff-particularly its leader Bill Bertera, who came out of retirement and has so skillfully navigated among the occasionally disparate goals and expectations of the founding organizations and early adopters. Fifth was the early movement among progressive clients to train their staff to gain the ENV SP credential. A few reflected in their procurement documents their desire for-indeed, in some cases their demand for-ENV SPs on the professional staffs of firms competing for their business. As these factors aligned toward the end of 2013, the company moved quickly to join the community of charter members. As professionals, and as leaders in our industry, it was the right thing to do. And from a business perspective, it was the smart thing to do. When these reasons for signing on became evident, our leadership moved with dispatch from "wait and see" to "sign us up" to "how can we help?" ISI told us they needed to build the corps of ENV SPs to a critical mass, to serve as advocates as well as analysts in advancing sustainable infrastructure. We also agreed that we

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Engineering Inc. - November/December 2015

Engineering Inc. - November/December 2015
Contents
From ACEC to You
Market Watch
Legislative Action
Traveling Smart
Idustry Drone Use Taking Flight
Back to Life
Economic Power of Employee Engagement
Young Professionals of the Year
Market Driven
2015 Fall Conference
Guest Column
Guest Column
Business Insights
Members in the News
Mergers and Acquisitions

Engineering Inc. - November/December 2015