Idaho hatches coalition for efficient work spaces 

At best, any given space in any given office building is only being used for an average of 40 percent of a work day.

The other 60 percent of the day, it sits vacant while office users run around to conferences, meetings and events. Meanwhile it still takes energy and money to keep that space ready for its user when he or she needs it.

“The current model of dedicating real estate to individual workers is horribly inefficient,” said Mark Gilbreath, a founder of Meridian-based VengaWorks Venture Centers, which develops and manages flexible-use office space.

He said when you add onto that the fact that commercial buildings are responsible for huge amounts of the earth’s electricity usage and carbon footprint, “it’s a huge problem.”

Turns out Gilbreath is not the only one concerned about that inefficiency. There’s a gaggle of groups and individuals out there who want to change the way businesses operate, and they’ve banded together locally to form a Smart Business Ecosystem initiative.

So far the players include VengaWorks, Cisco Systems, Modus and Erstad Architects, Idaho Tech Connect, Boise State University and the city of Meridian.

The SBE shares the ideals of promoting business efficiency, productivity and sustainability through technology and space design. The members have a lot of big dreams and a few concrete ideas about how they’ll realize those ideals.

One part of the plan involves giving out money.

When the city of Meridian built its energy-efficient, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified city hall, Idaho Power awarded the city $100,000.

The city will take $50,000 of that money and apply it to a Green Grant program, doling out $1,000 each to businesses and individuals who create a green job in Meridian, introduce green features to an existing workspace or choose to work in a LEED-certified space.

“You know, it’s not a big award, but I think it sends a message that we felt was sent to us through the presentation of that check from Idaho Power, and that is that these things are important to the long-term health and sustainability of our community and our quality of life here in Idaho,” Meridian Mayor Tammy de Weerd said.

VengaWorks will match Meridian’s grant for companies who choose to work in a VengaWorks space. Gilbreath is focused on bringing more of his venture centers to Idaho and beyond, convinced they can bring more efficiency to business plans.

In addition to the existing Meridian center, a space will open in Boise hopefully in the next six months. It will use an existing building, which fits in with Gilbreath’s desire to take better advantage of the built environment that has the potential to keep sprawling with underutilized work space.

And he said he hopes other Idaho developers will replicate those efforts.

Another part of the initiative will involve a graduate level class at Boise State University centered around the theory and application of an SBE. Members of the group will be invited to share thoughts with the class.

The class will likely be offered beginning in the upcoming spring or summer semester. The course’s professor, Kent Neupert, said the goal reaches beyond environmental advocacy.

“[The goal is] to prepare them to be functioning in a cutting-edge environment,” he said. “This sort of system [of smart workplaces] is used in a lot of different places around the world – in Europe and the Middle East and parts of the U.S. It will help develop a skill set to compete on an international basis.”

Architect Bruce Poe of Modus Architecture said the SBE initiative just puts a name to a sensibility that is growing. He’s part of a separate informal group that gathers over breakfast once a month to discuss how everything from food to energy issues to building is interrelated.

“That’s the type of thing that’s going on right now,” he said. “People are thinking, and people are actually changing their behavior and the way they’re doing things because of what’s going on in the world today. And it’s happening at a grassroots level, and that’s what’s exciting about it.”

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