Sustainable by design.

A Better World is the “why” that drives us to build better communities where we and our clients live, work, and play. In many ways, we are the client and end user of our projects, and our process reflects that through the implementation of our Core 4 Toolkit, a multi-faceted approach to sustainable design.

At the most fundamental level, it includes a project specific Core 4 analysis for our projects. This detailed checklist is designed to help facilitate sustainability-oriented goal setting and collaboration between the client, design, and construction teams on our projects, covering numerous considerations related to the Core 4 Principles of Energy, Water, Materials and Health, and Equity. It is because of Wendel’s uniquely diverse skillset that each of the Core 4 Principles can be comprehensively addressed in house for any given project.

Our energy professionals and cost estimators regularly analyze carbon emissions impacts, financial incentives available, and returns on investments for energy efficiency related strategies and systems. This includes various types of energy modeling, individual building envelope designs and passive design strategies with our architects, HVAC and process load analysis and recommendations with our mechanical engineers, renewable energy possibilities, strategies for resiliency from natural disasters and utility outages, and utility and cost implications of various strategies.

Our energy professionals will also collaborate with our environmental and mechanical engineers to increase energy and water efficiencies at water and wastewater treatment plants. Our plumbing engineers and architects work together to specify the most appropriate water using fixtures and appliances to reduce indoor water consumption across all projects, while our civil engineers and landscape architects develop goals and strategies related to stormwater management, potential water reuse strategies, and landscape design to reduce or prevent permanent irrigation needs.

Our architects consider the embodied carbon and healthiness of the materials being used in building projects, as well as looks for opportunities to incorporate biophilic design principles and balance natural daylighting and views with energy efficiency through modeling platforms. Indoor air quality goals and strategies are developed, with consideration around specific levels or air filtration and monitoring and pollutant source and exhaust control.

Human, ecological, and cultural considerations are addressed by the entire design team. A project’s accessibility to any given demographic or physical ability, from inside the building to a community’s ability to access the site, is assessed by our architects and planners. Landscape architects, civil engineers, and ecologists consider downstream impacts to the environment based on new development.

As a design, construction, energy efficiency, and construction management firm, we recognize that our projects can have a significant impact on the environment. It is our responsibility as design and construction professionals to keep sustainability front and center as we work with our clients and partners. Being stewards of the environment, our sustainability goals reflect the efforts already underway to reduce our environmental impact. For our clients, we have refined a new, holistic, and quantifiable approach to the way we design and construct the built environment around us.