Sustainable Construction Strategy

Gilbane’s commitment to sustainability is underpinned by our corporate responsibility and core values.

Practices and Services

Gilbane is committed to sustainability in both our internal business practices and in the services we offer to our clients, with an over-arching goal of eliminating waste, reducing pollution, promoting recycling, utilizing repurposed materials, and increasing energy efficiency to reduce our carbon footprint.

To accomplish this, we apply our comprehensive experience with efficient base building systems, high-efficiency heating and cooling strategies, interior lighting low-flowaylight harvesting strategies, interior lighting controls, equipment and appliances, solar optimization, water management/treatment and all other energy conservation measures applicable to our projects. We also analyze materials, insulation, low flow plumbing fixtures, water sense appliances, rainwater harvesting strategies, and existing systems as specified by the design team.

Strategies and Tools

We deploy strategies for reducing carbon through smart building material selections, starting with life cycle assessments (LCAs) of building materials. Our project teams utilize LCAs to compare products determining their expected life span, functional equivalence, and quantitatively compare individual materials based on their environmental impacts, including material versus operational carbon savings.

Product databases are utilized to gather the environmental attributes associated with the various building materials. This information is then used to evaluate the materials’ embodied carbon. By looking at individual building material types, we are able to assess the available options and maximize the reduction of embodied carbon associated with the various specified building materials, which results in the overall reduction for the building.