Greenwood aspires to build sustainable as 'next normal'

In a world struggling with a devastating pandemic and the burgeoning climate crisis, Kansas Citian Sara Greenwood sees an opportunity to adapt to the “next normal” by creating buildings that offer a more sustainable, healthy, resource-efficient and prosperous environment that improves quality of life.

“Now more than ever, the benefit of investing in high-quality, healthy buildings is critical to the community at-large. People want to feel safe returning to work, going to restaurants and moving into a new home,” Greenwood said.

The Kansas City businesswoman's passion and skill were recognized internationally as she was recently named a ‘2020 LEED Fellow’ by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI). Greenwood is among 25 professionals who represent exceptional practitioners and leaders within the green building community who have demonstrated mastery of the technical application of LEED, the world’s most widely used green building rating system.

As the principal and founder of Kansas City-based Greenwood Consulting Group, Greenwood is one of only three professionals earning this designation in the Midwest; and is the only professional who specializes in green building consulting services in the Kansas City metro area.

“I can’t imagine a better time to be a LEED Fellow,” said Greenwood, a 16-year veteran in the green building industry. “In a time where we’ve been forced to imagine the next normal, standards like LEED and WELL reinforce that designing and building healthy buildings matter –for the planet and for people.”

Greenwood has contributed to dozens of highly-recognizable projects in KC, including the new KCI Airport Terminal, Grand Place (the former Kansas City Star building), Lenexa Civic Center, Two Light, 1900 Building, Johnson County Library, the new Aquarium at the Kansas City Zoo, the Johnson County Medical Examiner building and seven new school buildings.

Greenwood’s work extends beyond the Kansas City metro with the REACH Building at Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, MGM CityCenter in Las Vegas, an expansion at the Georgia Aquarium, assorted FBI Buildings, Port of Los Angeles, and several higher education facilities nationwide.

To date, Greenwood has managed the certification of more than 100 LEED projects totaling more than 8 million square feet.

“Our work with the Lenexa Civic Center, which includes a Recreation Center, City Hall and public market, and the Johnson County Library, are iconic examples of taking a campus approach to achieve sustainable performance,” Greenwood said.

“The Lenexa Civic Center attracts thousands of people every year. It demonstrates optimal energy and water efficiency, daylighting design, and provides our community with a healthier, inviting experience. There are so many ways we can apply LEED concepts to improve not only how our city looks, but also to make it more efficient, healthy, and sustainable.”

The Greenwood Consulting Group is a certified women-owned business (WBE) that is one of the most sought-after sustainable building consulting firms, having managed projects from coast to coast.

 "It's interesting and inspiring to me to see how my clients across a wide range of industries genuinely care about achieving high-performance building standards," said Greenwood. “For my clients, LEED certification sets a high bar for ensuring that a building is actually designed and constructed to set criteria. My clients look to me to help projects achieve their performance goals.”

Other projects in Greenwood’s portfolio include:

·      Zappos Headquarters- Las Vegas, Nevada

·      Whole Foods stores in the South Pacific Region

·      Port of Long Beach- Long Beach, CA

·      University of Missouri NEXTGen Healthcare Building in Columbia, MO

LEED Fellows are nominated by their peers and must have made at least 10 years of exceptional impact on LEED and hold an active LEED AP with specialty credential, among other requirements. The evaluation process includes extensive portfolio review and is carried out by the LEED Fellow Evaluation Committee and supported by GBCI.

The LEED Fellow program was established in 2011 to recognize outstanding LEED APs who have demonstrated exceptional impacts with LEED in key mastery elements related to technical knowledge and skill; a history of exemplary leadership in LEED; significant contributions in teaching, mentoring, or research with proven outcomes; and a history of highly impactful commitment, service, and advocacy for LEED.

“The green building industry plays a critical role as we look toward rebuilding our economy and our communities in the months and years ahead,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO of GBCI and U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

Fear is no deterrent to seizing new opportunities for this CREW

Jennifer Hart, president and owner of Hartline Construction, LLC, and Suzie Aron, president of Aron Real Estate, joined moderator Asia Campbell, business development manager at Kansas City Area Development Council (KCADC), last week for a virtual discussion about showing up at work and in life, part of the Women’s Leadership Institute (WLI) and CREW KC “Fearless Series.”

Hart worked as an architect for several years until she was furloughed during the ‘08-’09 recession. She went to work in construction because contractors’ work had not dried up. 

In 2011, Hart founded Hartline Construction. According to Hart, education, perseverance and networking made her fearless in allowing her to move on from her job loss and not give up. 

“I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been told by a male, maybe someone above me, that I can’t do it. So right then that told me why not me?  I can.  You’ve got to turn what you might be able to do into action and make it happen,” Hart said.

When Hart opened her company she did not want any special favors because she was female and had always succeeded at her job before. Consequently, she resisted getting WBE and SLBE certified by the City of Kansas City, Mo.

Her company since has been awarded SLBE (Small Local Business Enterprise), WBE (Women Business Enterprise) and DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) certifications. She admits that the certifications hove opened a lot of doors for her, for Hartline and for her team, including a contract to work on the Kansas City International Airport construction project.

“So don’t be afraid to go ahead and utilize that tool - because we, as females, as much as we don’t want to admit it, sometimes we’re underestimated and we want to show them how powerful we can be,” said Hart.

Hart encouraged the audience members to network.

“I cannot tell you how much has come my direction by networking out in the community and giving back to the community because they call me and say ‘hey, I heard about this project you might want to take a look at,’” Hart said.

Aron, who started out as a community volunteer, said the key to being fearless is figuring out who you are.

“I’m an extroverted person, and I also think outside the box. One way is to look as to what’s out there and where the opportunity is. For somebody like me, it’s looking around and deciding what kind of community do I want?” said Aron.

Several years ago, Aron, who had worked as a real estate broker for many years, took interest in the Crossroads District, then a neighborhood of empty buildings. She saw opportunity to build a community. 

“All of our buildings were abandoned. Eighty percent of our neighborhood was blighted, and because of that, there were opportunities in terms of cheap rents, for putting in sweat equity, for how you might consider doing something that you wouldn’t have been able to do if it was a terrific, only healthy bunch of options out there,” said Aron.

Seizing on the opportunity, Aron was instrumental in developing the Crossroads arts, business and entertainment district.             

Aron said the pandemic has created opportunities to make changes to our community, and she encouraged the audience, while everyone is on pause, to consider what kind of community they want going forward.

“I really think we have an extraordinary opportunity to build and come back and save and create the kind of community we want because we’ve all seen that we’re starting to look at things that we took for granted and say do we want to do things the same way. And, I would encourage us not to,” Aron said.