At C.W. Brown Inc., they”™re thinking green ”“ very green.
The husband-and-wife-run, employee-owned construction company plans to close out its 25th-anniversary year with a move from its Thornwood office and warehouse space to a larger building in Armonk after renovations this fall designed to make new C.W. Brown offices a “learning center” for students of green-building technology and materials.
When the work is completed, said CEO Renee M. Brown, the company expects to showcase the first commercial interior in Westchester County to receive platinum certification, the highest rating given by the U.S. Green Building Council in its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.
In Thornwood, the company has sold its 11,000-square-foot building at 30 Claremont Ave., complete with its energy-cost-saving solar roof panels, to its business neighbor, mechanical contractor L.J. Coppola Inc. In January it expects to move into 20,000 square feet of office and warehouse space at 1 Labriola Court in Armonk, a 43,000-square-foot, 37-year-old flex building recently acquired by C.W. Brown from Coining Inc. Charles W. Brown, the construction company”™s president, said Coining will temporarily lease back space in the building before consolidating its New Jersey and Armonk operations at a New Jersey location.
Following the move, C.W. Brown expects to expand its 26-employee office staff to 35 to 40 employees. The contractor has 50 regular construction employees in the field.
The Browns said the Armonk building will be equipped with solar panels that, at least on sunny days, will produce enough electricity to power all office operations and high-efficiency heating, ventilation and air conditioning units. A solar tube will direct sunlight from the roof down a cylindrical shaft into open office space. Three-fourths of construction debris during demolition will be sorted and recycled. Armstrong Ceiling Products, one of the company”™s project partners, will use the C.W. Brown building to test its green ceiling tiles and other ceiling equipment.
Other renewable resources to be used in the company”™s bid for LEED platinum include cork floors, counter tops made from recycled milk cartons, salvaged wood, sunflower seeds and wheat compressed into particle boards and recycled glass from windshields and bottles. The company has hired Crescent Energy, a New York City environmental consulting firm, to monitor and account for construction measures needed to earn the platinum rating.
“Our goal is to make this a learning center,” said Renee Brown, who with her husband started the company in the basement of their home in 1984. “We want people to be able to come in and tour it and understand green construction.”
Her husband said green construction measures are said to add 30 percent to project costs. “Our goal through this process is to drive those numbers down so that people will want to do green building.” Brown said they estimate the cost of their construction project at $2 million.
Brown said their green-building initiative is driven in part by the greater environmental consciousness of their daughter”™s generation. “We”™re bringing in new younger talent,” he said. “That”™s our future and we want them to be as comfortable in their work space as we are.”
“And I still want my corner office with a door.”
