Green is all the rage. And almost nowhere more than in the architecture arena. But even with the tidal wave of news and information about being ‘green’, sustainable design and LEED certification, we often hear from clients who are downright confused. They wonder:
Why make a building green?
What is the difference between green and LEED?
How much more does it cost to build a green or LEED building?
What’s the payback on LEED?
In the presentation below, Gary Sebach, Principal and Director of Architecture for OHM’s new division, Bird Houk, gives the down and dirty on green buildings. Gary answers these common questions and shares a simple six step approach to LEED.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
OHM and Bird Houk: Advancing Communities Meets The Placemakers
Urban, Suburban Renewal Work Brings Firms Together
Here's real big news in the OHM world: we've merged with Bird Houk Collaborative, a 22-person architectural, planning and urban design firm headquartered outside Columbus, Ohio. We're now an AEP firm; architects, engineers and planners.
So how did this merger happen? For OHM, it was almost love at first sight. Our mission is Advancing Communities. When we saw the great work that Bird Houk Collaborative produced, we were impressed. But then, when we learned about their collaborative approach with clients and community, we were infatuated. And finally, when we learned about their mission to make places better for people (their tagline is "The Placemakers") we were ready for a permanent union.
Take 5 minutes to watch this video about Bird Houk. You'll see why we're so excited to join forces!
Here are some of the details:
The merger integrates OHM’s public-sector focused architectural design, civil, environmental and transportation engineering, surveying and GIS services to municipalities and agencies with Bird Houk’s award-winning architectural design, urban planning, and economic analysis serving both private and public sectors.
OHM President John Hiltz said Bird Houk will retain its name becoming a “Division of OHM”. Founding partners Jim Houk and Gerry Bird, along with Gary Sebach and Anthony Slanec will become partners in OHM and will manage the Columbus Bird Houk/OHM Division office and team of 22 staff members, which will include engineers from OHM’s Columbus branch, at their Creekside Gahanna headquarters. Bird Houk is known throughout the mid-Ohio region for many signature projects, including Creekside Gahanna a large public/private partnership development, Cardinal Health, and smartgrowth developments, Jerome Village, and Saxony in the Town of Fishers, Indiana.
According to Hiltz and Houk, the impetus for the merger was growth.
“Our mission is to advance communities,” said OHM’s Hiltz. “And that mission is in sync with Bird Houk’s ‘place making’. Our goal was to step out of our geographic area and add services and disciplines that continue to add value for our clients – especially as we recognize there is a ‘new normal’ which has not yet been defined.” Hiltz was referring to cities, towns and villages needing to redevelop old infrastructure for the communities of tomorrow.
“What really gets me excited is the opportunity to help those cities that need to redevelop because of shifting economic bases,” says Hiltz. “Merging our public sector focus with Bird Houk’s urban planning and public/private partnership experience means that we can really make a difference to communities in the Midwest.
Jim Houk says his firm’s goal has always been regional growth, “The merger will accelerate regional growth and open doors to new markets and opportunities. We have always felt our multidisciplinary make-up is a benefit to our clients, and an integral part of what makes our thinking holistic, our processes streamlined and our solutions sustainable. The merger with OHM adds more disciplines to our practice and the ability to continue our success in creating community revitalization/redevelopment public-private partnerships.”
Hiltz said OHM began courting potential partners in 2009. He said it was not about the where – but the who. People, core values and vision were the key criteria they were seeking for collaboration.
“When we met the Bird Houk partners we felt the energy - the shared values of integrity, focus on people, approach to market and value-based asset creation. It was not a matter of convincing us to do this – it was a matter of finding the ‘no’ – why shouldn’t we do this,” stated Hiltz.
“We hope eventually to grow jobs both in Michigan, and in the Columbus office,” said Hiltz. “There’s very little overlap in the companies. These are complementary firms with complementary disciplines.”
Here's real big news in the OHM world: we've merged with Bird Houk Collaborative, a 22-person architectural, planning and urban design firm headquartered outside Columbus, Ohio. We're now an AEP firm; architects, engineers and planners.
So how did this merger happen? For OHM, it was almost love at first sight. Our mission is Advancing Communities. When we saw the great work that Bird Houk Collaborative produced, we were impressed. But then, when we learned about their collaborative approach with clients and community, we were infatuated. And finally, when we learned about their mission to make places better for people (their tagline is "The Placemakers") we were ready for a permanent union.
Take 5 minutes to watch this video about Bird Houk. You'll see why we're so excited to join forces!
Here are some of the details:
The merger integrates OHM’s public-sector focused architectural design, civil, environmental and transportation engineering, surveying and GIS services to municipalities and agencies with Bird Houk’s award-winning architectural design, urban planning, and economic analysis serving both private and public sectors.
OHM President John Hiltz said Bird Houk will retain its name becoming a “Division of OHM”. Founding partners Jim Houk and Gerry Bird, along with Gary Sebach and Anthony Slanec will become partners in OHM and will manage the Columbus Bird Houk/OHM Division office and team of 22 staff members, which will include engineers from OHM’s Columbus branch, at their Creekside Gahanna headquarters. Bird Houk is known throughout the mid-Ohio region for many signature projects, including Creekside Gahanna a large public/private partnership development, Cardinal Health, and smartgrowth developments, Jerome Village, and Saxony in the Town of Fishers, Indiana.
According to Hiltz and Houk, the impetus for the merger was growth.
“Our mission is to advance communities,” said OHM’s Hiltz. “And that mission is in sync with Bird Houk’s ‘place making’. Our goal was to step out of our geographic area and add services and disciplines that continue to add value for our clients – especially as we recognize there is a ‘new normal’ which has not yet been defined.” Hiltz was referring to cities, towns and villages needing to redevelop old infrastructure for the communities of tomorrow.
“What really gets me excited is the opportunity to help those cities that need to redevelop because of shifting economic bases,” says Hiltz. “Merging our public sector focus with Bird Houk’s urban planning and public/private partnership experience means that we can really make a difference to communities in the Midwest.
Jim Houk says his firm’s goal has always been regional growth, “The merger will accelerate regional growth and open doors to new markets and opportunities. We have always felt our multidisciplinary make-up is a benefit to our clients, and an integral part of what makes our thinking holistic, our processes streamlined and our solutions sustainable. The merger with OHM adds more disciplines to our practice and the ability to continue our success in creating community revitalization/redevelopment public-private partnerships.”
Hiltz said OHM began courting potential partners in 2009. He said it was not about the where – but the who. People, core values and vision were the key criteria they were seeking for collaboration.
“When we met the Bird Houk partners we felt the energy - the shared values of integrity, focus on people, approach to market and value-based asset creation. It was not a matter of convincing us to do this – it was a matter of finding the ‘no’ – why shouldn’t we do this,” stated Hiltz.
“We hope eventually to grow jobs both in Michigan, and in the Columbus office,” said Hiltz. “There’s very little overlap in the companies. These are complementary firms with complementary disciplines.”
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Stormwater BMPs: Brought to You by State Revolving Fund Loans
This week the Advancing Communities blog takes you into the wonderful world of stormwater management using Best Management Practices (BMPs) to reduce pollutants in runoff.
Vicki Putala, PE, one of our stormwater gurus gave the following presentation at a recent conference of Drain Commissioners, the elected officials in Michigan's more populous counties, who are responsible for planning, developing, and maintaining surface water drainage systems. Michigan's high density of waterways and low-lying areas throughout the state led to the creation of an elected position to handle drainage.
The presentation covers:
-What stormwater BMPs do to reduce pollutants
-Common types of stormwater BMPs
-Examples of stormwater management projects funded by State Revolving Fund loans
-Stormwater BMP maintenance considerations
-Advice about funding stormwater BMPs and tips to get you started.
Questions? Contact us at 888-522-6711.
Vicki Putala, PE, one of our stormwater gurus gave the following presentation at a recent conference of Drain Commissioners, the elected officials in Michigan's more populous counties, who are responsible for planning, developing, and maintaining surface water drainage systems. Michigan's high density of waterways and low-lying areas throughout the state led to the creation of an elected position to handle drainage.
The presentation covers:
-What stormwater BMPs do to reduce pollutants
-Common types of stormwater BMPs
-Examples of stormwater management projects funded by State Revolving Fund loans
-Stormwater BMP maintenance considerations
-Advice about funding stormwater BMPs and tips to get you started.
Stormwater Management Using State Revolving Funds
View more presentations from OHM Advancing Communities.
Questions? Contact us at 888-522-6711.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Five Steps for Effective Change from Elisabeth Kubler-Ross' Five Stages of Grief
First, a little backstory: OHM has been hosting a series of Lunch & Learn workshops on the topic, Reengineering Municipal Government. These workshops involve a panel of speakers from different areas of government, along with a few policy and economic experts thrown in the mix. Each workshop session has included different speakers to bring a wide range of advice and experience to attendees.
Except for one constant. Charlie Fleetham, president of Project Innovations, a management and consulting firm for government and business, has been a speaker at every Reengineering Municipal Government workshop. Why the same guy, over and over? Because Charlie's message relating the decline of manufacturing in southeast Michigan to the Five Stages of Grief makes a lot of sense to municipal leaders in the midst of an economic revolution.
In Fleetham's talk, A Region Coping with Transitions, he says that what is happening in the region (the rust belt), is a death. It's the death of a way of life, of a 100 year period of economic prosperity. A period that is not likely to return anytime soon. Fleetham advocates that leaders use psychology to help colleagues, staff members and citizens move through the grieving process. "Humans have to react to change in an orderly fashion - first feeling, then thinking and finally acting. We've been short-circuiting the feeling process."
Fleetham recommends that municipal leaders follow five steps to effective change:
1. It's psychology stupid. If you don't understand the psychology of change, your job as a leader gets even tougher, if not impossible.
2. Job 1 is naming the challenge - it's a Long Emergency or an Economic Hurricane or a Fiscal Pandemic. People need an emotional hanger for their fears. Please note: one thing it is not is a "structural change."
3. Hope is a necessary poison! Give too much hope and you feed a fantasy...give too little hope and you feed depression.
4. It's a big lifeboat, but some people are going to try to throw you off in the panic. Build your team and defend it!
5. When it comes to saving money, we are all elephant hunters now. Don't get caught squirrel hunting!
Here's a graphic that explains the stages of grief.
Except for one constant. Charlie Fleetham, president of Project Innovations, a management and consulting firm for government and business, has been a speaker at every Reengineering Municipal Government workshop. Why the same guy, over and over? Because Charlie's message relating the decline of manufacturing in southeast Michigan to the Five Stages of Grief makes a lot of sense to municipal leaders in the midst of an economic revolution.
In Fleetham's talk, A Region Coping with Transitions, he says that what is happening in the region (the rust belt), is a death. It's the death of a way of life, of a 100 year period of economic prosperity. A period that is not likely to return anytime soon. Fleetham advocates that leaders use psychology to help colleagues, staff members and citizens move through the grieving process. "Humans have to react to change in an orderly fashion - first feeling, then thinking and finally acting. We've been short-circuiting the feeling process."
Fleetham recommends that municipal leaders follow five steps to effective change:
1. It's psychology stupid. If you don't understand the psychology of change, your job as a leader gets even tougher, if not impossible.
2. Job 1 is naming the challenge - it's a Long Emergency or an Economic Hurricane or a Fiscal Pandemic. People need an emotional hanger for their fears. Please note: one thing it is not is a "structural change."
3. Hope is a necessary poison! Give too much hope and you feed a fantasy...give too little hope and you feed depression.
4. It's a big lifeboat, but some people are going to try to throw you off in the panic. Build your team and defend it!
5. When it comes to saving money, we are all elephant hunters now. Don't get caught squirrel hunting!
Here's a graphic that explains the stages of grief.
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