Sustainable and environmentally friendly materials and methods are permeating the industry rapidly.  Capsys has fully embraced these concepts from our beginning; but with any new technology and ideas endurance is determined by performance.  At Capsys we strive to embrace the methods that will stand the test of time, always cautious of what is a fad and what is tried-and-true.  Some examples of our dedication:

Right-size the equipment – The Capsys engineering team always verifies that we are installing the appropriate mechanical equipment.  Oversizing equipment leads to not only additional costs upfront but also short-cycling and reduced efficiency.  Getting the correct size equipment means higher efficiency and lower overall costs and consumption, its proven and we embrace it!

Seal the gaps – Such a tremendous source of heating and cooling costs come from air infiltration, if a building is properly sealed and the design accounts for occupant health then we have a healthy building, person and energy budget.  We make sure to account for not only the cost of conditioning but also the health and comfort of the people living inside the building.

Indoor air quality – The environment inside the building is paramount to the health and productivity of the occupants, we don’t take all the buzzwords and just follow them, we actually make sure the job is done right.

Education – Talking about sustainable design doesn’t do anything, acting on it does!  Capsys ensures that each of our team, from project management to installing professionals understands WHY we are doing something, when people understand the reason for a measure they take extra care in providing and ensuring its effectiveness.  Always keep everyone from the designers to the end-users informed, it does make a difference!

It’s a great day here at Capsys and even better if you need to use a rest room in Greenpoint.

We just delivered and set our 600 sf prefabricated comfort station to the Greenpoint Playground in Brooklyn, NY.

Check out some pictures from today’s setting!

Let us know what YOU think.  Does the city need more public restrooms?

It’s always a treat for us to read about how another country has adopted modular construction to tackle their own unique construction requirements. The following article is from the Australian web site “Construction Source” and was authored by John Rouvalis who is an Associate Director with the international Engineering company the Meinhardt Group. In it, John urges his peers to discover and to fully appreciate all of the attributes that modular construction can bring to a project.

http://designbuildsource.com.au/exploiting-modular-construction

The answer is yes according to Alistair Gibb, Professor of Construction Engineering Management at  Loughborough University.   Loughborough University is located in Leicestershire, England.   It is a leading research school consistently ranked among the top 15 in the UK.

 Professor Gibb supplied the following article to the website Buildoffsite, which is one of our favorite web spots.  Buildoffsite is the trade organization representing the Offsite Construction Industry throughout the UK.

 We at Capsys are often asked about the Sustainable Construction aspects of our fabrication system.  I think the following article by Professor Gibb very clearly and succinctly points out the most important and relevant  aspects of the discussion and comes down clearly on the site that volumetric modular construction will have numerous positive impacts on any typical construction program.

 Please read what professor Gibb has to say in the following:

Is offsite sustainable?

 Offsite manufacture, sometimes called prefabrication, modular or industrialised building, is an approach to constructing the built environment that has been at the leading edge of innovation for a number of years. Put simply, offsite is manufacturing and assembling whole buildings or substantial parts of buildings prior to installation into their final location. The work almost always takes place in a factory environment. The offsite spectrum includes non-volumetric units such as panels and building services modules; volumetric units such as toilet or kitchen ‘pods’; and whole building solutions, often known as ‘modular buildings’. Offsite is a strategy that affects the whole project rather than just the application of ad-hoc products or technologies. Government-prompted reports have extolled its virtues, manufacturers have publicised its benefits, developers have worried about its cost and architects have debated its worth. Notwithstanding, offsite is here to stay as a valuable part of the built environment.

 But, is offsite sustainable? The vision of many of the early exponents fits the sustainable culture very well: Buckminster Fuller’s goal in the middle of the last century was to ‘touch the earth lightly’ and his Dymaxion Dwelling Machine – or Wichita House1 was his realization of this ambition. However, like many such experiments, the Wichita house was ultimately destined to become a museum exhibit. Kieran Timberlake’s Loblolly House2 sees the minimum impact of the construction process through offsite as part of its sustainable credentials, along with the widespread use of recycled and local materials, such as locally quarried stones and sustainably harvested wood windows.

 1 www.designmuseum.org/design/r-buckminster-fuller

2 www.treehugger.com

3 WAS 003.003 – Offsite Construction Case Studies

Here are some photos of Bldg 92 proudly built by Capsys.

A report recently published by researchers from the University of Colorado has generated considerable buzz within the high performance construction industry.  According to Matthew Hallowell, assistant professor of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, he and his fellow researchers found that LEED construction locations had a 50 percent higher injury rate than non-LEED sites. Hallowell and his team visited and made observations at various LEED and non-LEED construction sites, pored over injury reports, and conducted interviews in their process of completing their study.

Key Findings from Research:

Design for Safety Techniques for Green Building Components

Reports and Authors:

Collective results of this study have been organized into three manuscripts, which have been

accepted or are in review by the Journal of Construction Engineering and Management:

 Safety Risk Identification for High Performance Sustainable Building Construction

Bernard R. Fortunato III, Matthew R. Hallowell, Michael Behm, Katherine Dewlaney

 Safety Risk Quantification for High Performance Sustainable Building Construction

Katherine S. Dewlaney, Matthew R. Hallowell, and Bernard R. Fortunato III

 Safety Risk Mitigation for High Performance Sustainable Building Construction

Katherine S. Dewlaney and Matthew R. Hallowell

Overview:

The US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

(LEED) program represents the largest program in the United States for the measurement,

verification, and certification of green buildings. A recent study found that LEED certified

buildings have a recordable injury rate that is 9% higher than traditional, non-LEED

buildings. This finding served as the impetus for the present study, which aimed to (1)

identify and evaluate the safety and health risks associated with the design elements and

construction management practices implemented to achieve LEED certification by

conducting eight detailed case studies; (2) quantify the percent increase in base-level

safety risk through 37 interviews with designers and contractors who had completed an

average of four LEED projects and 100 traditional projects in their average of 18 years of

experience in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry; and (3) identify and

describe strategies that reduce the safety risk associated with the design and construction

of high performance sustainable projects by conducting 26 additional interviews with

experienced designers and constructors. The study revealed 12 LEED credits that

increase safety risks on construction projects when compared with traditional, non-LEED

alternatives. The study also revealed that there are feasible prevention through design

techniques, technologies and controls, and management strategies that can be

implemented to mitigate these risks. The results of the study were packaged into a first-generation decision support tool that provides designers and construction managers with

safety suggestions for their LEED projects.

 Workers on LEED construction projects are exposed to work at height, with

electrical current, near unstable soils, and near heavy equipment for a greater

period of time than on traditional projects.

 Workers are exposed to new high risk tasks such as constructing atria, installing

vegetated roofs, and installing photovoltaic (PV) panels that are not present on

traditional projects.

 The most significant impacts are a 36% increase in lacerations, strains and

sprains from recycling construction materials; a 24% increase in falls to lower

level during roof work because of the installation of on-site renewable energy

(e.g., PV panels); a 19% increase in eye strain when installing reflective roof

membranes; and a 14% increase in exposure to harmful substances when

installing innovative wastewater technologies.

 Designers and contractors identified prefabrication, effective site layout, and alternative products as methods to prevent injuries that specifically relate the hazards of each sustainable element.

 Specifying low VOC materials reduces health-related risks for construction workers

who perform work in enclosed environments.

Conclusions:

 This research has revealed the substantial need for a detailed lifecycle analysis of

the safety impacts of high risk and common sustainable building technologies.

Although these technologies may have substantial environmental benefits, many

have been shown to result in greater exposures to known occupational hazards

during the construction process. Further research is needed to evaluate the safety

risks during manufacturing of sustainable materials, shipping, installation, and

maintenance.

For more information, contact the lead author:

Matthew.hallowell@colorado.edu

© Copyright 2011, CPWR – The Center for Construction Research and Training. All rights reserved This research

and report was funded by CPWR – The Center for Construction Research and Training as part of a cooperative

agreement with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH (OH009762). The research is

solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NIOSH. CPWR, the

research and training arm of the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, is uniquely situated to

serve workers, contractors, and the scientific community. For more information, visit www.cpwr.com

So says the National Recourses Defense Council in a recent article posted by our friends at “Living Green Magazine”.  We’d like to share the article with you.  We agree that Modular Construction is at the forefront and leading the Green Revolution in construction. 

Within the past year, Capsys has achieved a LEED Gold certification for our Park Terrace apartment building project in Yonkers, NY and achieved LEED Platinum for our Building 92 project in Brooklyn, NY. Our steel frame, midrise modular construction system, while aimed at a different market segment of construction than the corporate examples named in the article, will continue to contribute Sustainable Construction solutions to our clients.

http://livinggreenmag.com/2012/02/29/home-garden/how-green-are-todays-modular-homes/

Check out the newest pictures of Park Terrace, a multifamily building,  located in Yonkers, NY. This four story building which consist of 114 modules was completed in 2011. Currently most of the 49 one bedroom apartments are occupied.

Public/Private Residence Hall construction is a fast growing trend in the academic world.  Below is a link to a New York Times article about this trend. Our non-combustible modular construction system is the perfect solution for providing precision-built, green and sustainable residence halls while minimizing campus disruption by using our system that reduces construction times by 50%

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/realestate/commercial/public-college-private-dorm.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1328122784-fZniCYPSqLpCQRB6QuMHNA

For more information on our GreenFlex Residence Hall solution along with sample plans, please visit our website also linked below.

http://www.greenflexsystem.com/

Our friends a Building Design+Construction magazine do a great job and we recommend that you keep up with their highly informative website and magazine.  The article linked her is entitled: “Rental Renaissance, The Rebirth of the Apartment Market”.  It details how the Rental Market is finally starting to pick back up since the 2008 collapse of the entire housing market.  It’s definitely recommended reading. 

Please click on the link below:

http://www.bdcnetwork.com/rental-renaissance-rebirth-apartment-market