Marie Jones Consulting
Green Building & Development
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Green Building Policy Development
City of Long Beach

Marie Jones has been working with the City of Long Beach for over three years to develop and implement the City’s Green Building and Environmentally Preferable Purchasing programs. Marie initiated the project by completing a base-line analysis of existing sustainability efforts in all 13 City departments, and by developing detailed case studies of model green building, green purchasing and smart growth programs undertaken by ten other cities.  Initially she developed and delivered customized training programs on sustainability, residential and commercial green building, environmentally preferable purchasing and smart growth to over 200 City staff and managers.  Forty-six of whom went on to participate in an intensive team-based process, led by Jones, to draft the City’s new Green Building and Environmentally Preferable Purchasing policies.  With full buy-in from key City staff form all relevant departments, City Council approved the policies in July, 2003.  With over $1.5 billion in annual purchasing, 5,600 employees, and a multi-million dollar facilities budget, these new polices and implementation plans are changing the way the City of Long Beach conducts business. 

 

Green Building Program Implementation
City of Long Beach

Since adoption of the City’s Green Building Policy, Marie Jones Consulting has played an instrumental role in policy implementation.  Ongoing activities have included:

§      Obtaining and maintaining top leadership education and buy-in. This activity has included the development and delivery of Green Building workshops for the City’s Planning Commission and City Council and the preperation of annual Green Building progress reports to City Council.

§      Formulation of a Green Building team and on-going team management and meeting facilitation.  The City’s Green team of 20 key staff people comes together once every two months to learn about new green building techniques, identify and resolve implementation issues (such as code restrictions and financial issues), develop new implementation projects, and share resources and learnings.  Marie Jones is the team leader, setting the agenda, facilitating all meetings, and completing follow-on tasks.

§      Development of Green Building implementation tools. Jones has developed 1) a directory of green building contractors, architects, engineers, commissioning agents and others; 2) a directory of green building funding sources; 3) model green building and sustianable landscaping RFP language; 4) model green building specification language;  5) model green lease language; and other tools.

§      On-going Staff development.  MJC developed and delivered an intenisve two-day LEED Accreditation workshop on two separate occasions to successfully prepare over 30 staff people for the LEED Accreditation exam. In addition. MJC has provided on-going staff development in the areas of sustainable infrastructure, building materials, sustianable landscaping, and other topics.

§      Community Outreach and Education.  MJC has prepared residential and commercial green building workshops and seminars for City residents, business owners, and the development community.  MJC also developed a Green Building Website for the City at http://www.greenlongbeach.org/, a Green Building Powerpoint, a wall display of commen green building materials, and green material information sheets for display in the Planning Department’s plan check counter.   Finally, Jones has participated in various ongoing community events, such as the Port of Long Beach’s Green Port Day, to provide green building information.

§      Green Building Project Consulting.  As the City has moved forward with five LEED Certified (or higher) projects, Marie Jones has participated in project charettes, project critiques, and provided on-going consulting assistance with the achievment of LEED Certification.  In addition, MJC has also provided expertise on smaller green tenant improvement and remodel projects at the City of Long Beach.

 

Green Building Consulting

Port of Long Beach

Jones provides sustianability, green building and green purchasing training and consulting services to Port of Long Beach staff, who are undertaking a comprehensive effort to reduce the environmental impacts of Port opperations on Southwest Long Beach, a low-income immigrant community.  The Port of Long Beach is one of the busiest Ports in the world, and its impacts include traffic congestion, air pollution, and noise and light pollution.   For this ongoing consulting arrangement MJC has provided LEED Accreditation training and provided consulting services for specific LEED Registered projects, including:

  • The Pier S Administrative Building (10,000 Square Feet Leed Certifeid)
  • The new Port Adminsitrative Building (275,000 Square Feet LEED Gold)
  • The new Command and Control Center (40,000 Squre Feet LEED Silver)

Sustainable City Strategy

City of Long Beach

For this project, MJC prepared a Sustainable City Strategy for all aspects of City operations. For each topic areas, the strategy outlines performance goals and metrics, best practices from other communities, and implementation potential tactics and strategies. Topics include: Overall Environmental Efficiency, Green Building, Smart Growth & Transportation, Waste Reduction, Energy and Climate Performance, Water Conservation & Quality, Environmentally Preferable Purchasing, and Quality of Life.