Green Building and Sustainability Leader John Harrison (Returning Guest)

The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti

TITLE: Green Building and Sustainability Leader John Harrison (Returning Guest)

John Harrison, FAIA, RDI, LEED Fellow. John is a sustainability innovator and licensed architect with extensive and diverse experience in both project and enterprise level certifications and design standards. He is one of the world’s foremost experts on the global application of sustainable strategies at scale and utilizes his expertise in sustainable architecture, engineering and construction to enable organizations to reach unprecedented goals.

John is a pioneer in the evolution and implementation of multiple LEED rating systems; as an early adopter for the original 1998 LEED pilot, the first commercial interiors rating system, and the LEED retail and volume build pilots. While at Starbucks, he co-authored the company’s LEED for Retail Volume Build Program and led the execution team responsible for sustainable strategies and LEED certifications. With over 1,600 certified stores in 22 different countries/territories and all 50 US states, the program is recognized as the most successful green building program of its kind in the world.

In private architectural practice, John spent 13 years at Mithun in Seattle working with a variety of sustainably driven retail, commercial and institutional clients including: Recreational Equipment Incorporated (REI), Precor, Miraval Resort and Spa and the IslandWood Environmental Learning Center.

IslandWood was one of the first five LEED Gold certifications in the world and an American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten Award winner. For the outdoor retailer REI, John executed more than five dozen sustainable core stores, in addition to flagship projects in Bloomington, MN and Tokyo, Japan. With John’s leadership, the REI building portfolio was elevated with scalable core standards based on sustainable strategies explored in flagship projects resulting in some of the first LEED ID+C Retail Projects ever certified.

John is a dedicated environmental advocate who has donated thousands of hours, through multiple channels at local, regional, national and international levels. Through outreach, service and education, he has elevated the sustainability knowledge of building industry professionals, provided board leadership for ecologically focused nonprofits and helped develop environmental education for the next generation of leaders. He currently serves on the AIA COTE Advocacy Task Force, the Greenbuild Advisory Board and is board vice president for Northwest Natural Resource Group (NNRG), which is a regional non-profit focused on responsible forest practices and FSC certifications. Prior to his service with NNRG, John was board president for the environmental restoration and youth leadership development organization EarthCorps.

John is a nationally and internationally recognized speaker on sustainability at scale and has led presentations to building professionals on subjects related to LEED volume certification and sustainability at the national AIA convention, multiple Greenbuild conferences and a variety of other industry events.

Show Highlights

• Navigating global sustainability standards and challenges of working with different sustainability standards across countries.

• Importance of adapting to local codes and practices while maintaining global sustainability goals.

• Examples of projects in various countries, luxury retailers, and their unique challenges.

• The future of green building with a focus on carbon reduction and human health in building design.

• The need for generative design and inclusive leadership in the green building movement.

• Importance of addressing existing building stock and portfolio-driven solutions.

• John's collaborative and multidisciplinary approach to projects in his career.

1. Exposure to sustainable materials and practices

2. Early adoption of sustainable practices and materials.

3. REI flagship store in Seattle.

4. Challenges and successes in certifying over 1600 Starbucks stores globally.

• Collaboration with USGBC and GBCI to develop and refine the LEED volume program.

• Impact of his work on colleagues and the broader green building community

“The other thing I think is thematic and necessary is that we can build a lot of really cool, perfect buildings and it takes a lot of effort and maybe they use very little water and no energy off the grid, but it doesn't account for the vast majority of the housing stock and the business stock and the office stock and the retail stock. The portfolio driven solutions are going to be another thing that is going to continue to drive the industry. It's like how do I take a massive machine and make it 20% better, because that 20% represents a whole heck of a lot of carbon and other negative impacts.”

-John Harrison

“I think it's more about the ripple effect. The ripple effect of green building projects is pretty cool, and totally quantifiable. It's like basic math and something people understand, the ripple effect with people that you either influenced or helped along the way or they helped you along the way and what they've become and where they've gone.”

-John Harrison

Get the episode transcript here!

Show Resource and Information

• LinkedIn

• 11 Years: A Biography of a Cancer Survivor

• How to American

• Previous Podcast EP: Starbucks Global Sustainability with John Harrison

• A SustainAble Production

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