Greenbuild 2023

This year, Greenbuild’s theme highlights the decades-long legacy and unwavering commitment of the green building movement to transforming the built environment to serve, prepare and protect our communities in a rapidly changing world. Connect with thousands of building professionals for future infrastructure development.

IWBI Speaking Sessions

Designing Healthy, Net Zero Spaces for Kids: Integrating LEED Zero and WELL

Wednesday, September 27 | 11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Making the connection between high performance, net zero energy design and health and wellness is critical to transforming the way we design buildings both for people and the planet. This session will explore strategies for integrating LEED Zero Energy, Zero Carbon, and WELL certifications through three children-focused showcase projects in Brazil. These projects include Creche Hassis, a public-school achieving LEED v3 BD+C Platinum, LEED Zero Energy, and Zero Carbon; Hospital Erastinho, a LEED Gold children’s hospital pursuing WELL v2 Gold and LEED Zero Energy and Carbon; and Parque Turma da Monica Gramado, an amusement park pursuing LEED v3 BD+C Platinum, WELL v2 Platinum, and LEED Zero Energy and Carbon. Following a short presentation, participants will engage in a flash design charrette to apply net zero and healthy design strategies in small teams and develop decision-making processes to guide future project work. Attendees will leave the session with a comprehensive list of strategies for integrating LEED Zero and WELL certifications into future projects.

Speakers:

• Janera Soerel, Senior Director Global Market Development | Real Estate, International WELL Building Institute
• Ricciano Liberali, Partner and COO, Petinelli
• Jannah Carter, Project Manager, School District Environmental Health, U.S. Green Building Council

Moving from Effort to Effect: Perspectives from the front lines on ESG reporting and strategy implementation beyond checking the box

Wednesday, September 27 | 11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

There have been increasingly urgent critiques of the incrementalist measurements characterizing sustainability reporting to date. These critiques have spilled over to the ‘S’ of ESG, with reporting agencies now evaluating or requiring specific, impact-driven metrics specific to social impact. The recent release of the updated Sustainable Development Performance Indicators (SDPI) by the UNRISD, which provides indicators for assessing organizational performance in the context of sustainability thresholds, has been called ‘a major inflection point’ and has potential implications for reporting on the human, social aspects.

Given the spotlight on ESG, there is now growing concern around effort versus effect – or “checking the box” versus substantive impact measured through key performance indicators and metrics. Join our panel of experts to discuss key topics such as: What does measuring effect vs effort mean for reporting agencies, clients, and stakeholders? What is a context indicator, and how is it linked to measuring impact? How can organizations align internal impacts such as health and performance with community impact through measurement and metrics? The panel includes speakers from: JLL: a global real estate organization on creating sustainability strategies for commercial real estate owners and occupiers, Moodys: a global reporting agency on impacts of thresholds and contexts for current reporting standards, SEAM: a non-profit on the challenges of designing a social equity measurement framework to capture impact to stakeholders and progress towards societal thresholds, and International WELL Building Institute (IWBI): a global health and well-being organization on how their new framework for measuring health and well-being for human and social capital can align different reporting streams. The panel will include practical tools and strategies to enable organizations to distinguish their reporting activities from effort vs effect, setting them up to meet upcoming challenges in stricter metrics and reporting for ESG.

Speakers:

• Angela Loder, Vice President, Research, International WELL Building Institute
• Annalise Dum, Vice President, Sustainability, JLL
• Lindsay Ross, Senior Manager, Climate Risk, PwC
• Rainey Shane, Co-Founder, SEAM, Inc.

Beyond the Numbers Game – New Models to Scale Affordable, Healthy, and Green Housing

Wednesday, September 27 | 3-4 p.m.
Poor housing conditions are linked to poor health conditions, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have forced more people into such precarious housing conditions. One of the leading health issues in substandard housing is poor air quality, which is associated with exacerbated asthma burden in low-income, Black, and Brown communities. Even before the pandemic, asthma-related absenteeism, medical expenses, and mortality cost the US a total of over $82 billion, with numbers having been estimated to substantially increased during the pandemic. As cities across the country strive to achieve housing targets, primarily focusing on creating and preserving a target number of affordable housing units, housing quality and sustainability are not always prioritized. This is often due to lack of scalable programs, initiatives, and tools. In response, this session will focus on providing resources to address this issue, highlighting the Enterprise Green Communities Criteria, WELL v2 Certification, and the Fannie Mae Healthy Housing Rewards program. A deep dive on a case study with Jonathan Rose Companies will feature an urban rehabilitation project in the Bronx, New York.

Enterprise Community Partners and the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) have partnered to advance affordable, healthy, and green housing development through Enterprise’s Green Communities 2020 Criteria. By integrating Enterprise’s green building program with the research-backed WELL Certification, Enterprise and IWBI have developed a roadmap for developing integrous affordable housing that can achieve both goals. The first housing development in the country jointly certified under the Green Communities 2020 Criteria and WELL, Thessalonica Court, was rehabilitated by Jonathan Rose Companies. The development provided retrofitting for improved air quality and energy efficiency in every unit, while also modernizing the building to meet climate resiliency standards and ensure the longevity of the affordable units.

Furthermore, new financial incentives, such as Fannie Mae’s Healthy Housing Rewards, signal industry recognition of the economic and societal value of creating healthy, sustainable, affordable housing. This program builds off the Green Financing program which has widespread national adoption based on backing of properties with Green Building Certifications and existing US rental housing stock that has been retrofit to become more energy-efficient.

Using Thessalonica Court as a case study, this session will bring together expert speakers to discuss the future of healthy, sustainable, equitable housing for all, with a focus on scalable programs, initiatives, and tools to operationalize project success.

Speakers:

• Whitney Austin Gray, SVP, Research, International WELL Building Institute
• Krista Egger, Vice President, Building Resilient Futures, Enterprise Community Partners
• Josh Lomot, Project Manager, Jonathan Rose Companies
• Karyn Sper, Senior Director, Multifamily Green and Healthy Housing Financing, Fannie Mae

The WELL Mind Concept: Nurturing Health for Different Work Scenarios

Wednesday, September 27 | 3-4 p.m.
Given the prevalence of mental health conditions among the working population, the workplace is increasingly being seen as an important means to not only promote health and wellbeing, but to enrich human experience. Through a diverse set of design, policy, and program interventions, the WELL Mind Concept addresses and supports drivers of mental health to improve the cognitive and emotional well-being of people spending time in built spaces.

During this session, we will explore various strategies to identify WELL Mind Features that can be adopted to accommodate different work styles, including the incorporation of Biophilic Design. We will provide examples of how to implement WELL Feature M02: Nature and Place; M07: Restorative Spaces; and M08: Restorative Programming in office, home, remote, and hybrid setups.

Join us in unlocking the WELL Mind features as we guide you through scenarios that enhance human sensing and foster individuals’ health in the workplace while embracing a sense of belonging.

Speakers:

• Renee Christensen, Director, Standard Development & Mind Concept Lead, International WELL Building Institute
• Marwa Alshara, Project Architect, Reimagine Architects Ltd.
• Tyrone Yang, Healthy Building Design Consultant, Entegra + Architectural Health

Honeywell Presents: More Sustainable Buildings: Taking LEED + WELL Scale

Thursday, September 28 | 10 - 11 a.m.
Join Honeywell for a panel discussion on WELL + LEED, detailing the importance and evolution of LEED & WELL standards, the origin of LEED + WELL and how its groundbreaking in terms of answering our narrative – How it helps do one and the other gets done automatically, next steps for stakeholders/recommendations.

Speakers:

• Jason Hartke, Executive Vice President, External Affairs and Advocacy, International WELL Building Institute
• Rishen Kumar, Senior Director Business Development, Sustainable Building Technologies
  Honeywell
• Vijaya Yellamraju, Vice President, Product Management, USGBC