Debra Gondeck-Becker, Associate AIA, LEED® AP is vice president of special projects for Adolfson & Peterson Construction. With A&P, she transitions the owner and facility information from construction to occupancy and management. She oversees the design and implementation of several value added services including building lifecycle management, warranty management, and sustainability opportunities for clients. She works with A&P’s virtual construction team to integrate building information modeling and lifecycle management to help clients build more sustainable, efficient facilities. She has over 18 years of experience working with people, processes, and technology to inform and manage the built environment. This includes work in architecture, construction, training, visualization, and information technologies. She has a Master of Architecture and a Bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of Minnesota. She is active in several organizations including the American Institute of Architects, the International Facility Management Association, and the buildingSMART alliance. Gondeck-Becker has given numerous industry presentations and is a contributing author to "Facility Design and Management Handbook."

Topic for Green Building Focus

Sustainability Opportunities throughout the Facility Life Cycle

More About the Topic

Sustainable building is achieved through careful planning and implementation during the design and construction process. Engaging the owner early in the design/construction process enables an efficient information gathering process and identifies opportunities for making choices that support high performance through the full facility lifecycle. Case studies on high performance green office, higher-education and medical/technical markets will be examined that demonstrate sustainable opportunities in preconstruction, planning, design, construction, and operations.

The essential facility information backbone will be discussed along with the flow of data over the design/build/manage process. Importance of this data related to sustainable operations will be reviewed including demonstrations of building information modelling linked with life cycle data to create 4D models that support long-term facility management.