Top 10 Insights from Retiring Director of Sustainability Dave Walsh

Director of Sustainability Dave Walsh recently retired after more than 10 years at Sellen and 30 years in the industry. As a pioneer in the local A/E/C community and a leader at Sellen, Dave played an integral role in advancing important sustainability initiatives in our industry and delivering energy efficient, healthy spaces.

We sat down with Dave before he left to discuss the top 10 lessons he learned from the people he worked with and the projects he worked on during his tenure at Sellen.

10. ?DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH

Diversity in thought, experience and background makes people, projects, and organizations stronger. I joke that as an architect who came to a construction company and stayed for nearly 11 eleven years, I am the exchange student who never returned home. When people of diverse professional and personal backgrounds come together, there is an opportunity to see situations from multiple viewpoints. We can collectively avoid the social and business blind spots which too often emanate from a mono-culture and groupthink. In a time when many of us are taking a necessary look at the value of racial diversity, we are realizing that increased diversity in our professional and personal lives is critical for personal and professional fulfillment.

9.?INGENUITY CAN COME FROM DISAPPOINTMENT

When faced with disappointment, it is important to look for answers in unexpected places. For example, at the Federal Center South project there was not enough existing heavy timber material to complete the structural system. This initial setback ultimately led to an innovative and material efficient composite concrete and wood structural system. This solution had its origin in solving a structural issue, but became a defining architectural feature of the project. The result proved that all members of the team can be the source of unexpected solutions – even ones providing ideas outside their discipline.?Being confined only to one’s lane often inhibits getting to the best overall solution. No one person or one discipline has all the answers, but collectively we might find the best way to approach any given circumstance.

Pictured Above: Federal Center South

8.?CLIMATE CHANGE: IT’S FURTHER ALONG THAN WE THINK

Climate change is further along than we realize. Our awareness of the true scale of the impact and taking action lags far behind the reality of our situation. With each passing summer we break new records for the highest recorded temperature and the most acres burned. It is painfully clear that no corner of our country or planet is now unaffected. Further, it’s sobering to know that each projection of parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere made thus far has been exceeded sooner than the projected timeframe. The defining issue of our time has impacted us more than we even realize.

7.?EMBRACE THE SKEPTIC

Skeptics can be the ones who challenge us to understand more deeply. Initially I found the tepid response to sustainability initiatives somewhat annoying and frustrating – “if only they saw the light," I would grumble. But I was the one not seeing things with clarity. In reverse engineering that seed of skepticism, I could identify weak areas in my arguments and then make my reasoning stronger. I learned that disinterest really might mean, “I’m worried about this specific issue, and if that’s addressed then, yeah, why not.”?I also learned that good intentions are not always enough on their own. The true measure of sustainability does not solely address just the people and planet part of the equation, but is financially sustainable and feasible as well.

6.?TALENT = SUSTAINABILITY

Achieving higher levels of sustainability performance has become an important key to attracting and retaining the best talent. The impetus for achieving sustainability goals range from alignment with mission-driven values to responding to employee expectations. Interest in workplace amenities, like greener commuting options and a rooftop deck that also support habitat and stormwater quality, now extend to topics like indoor air quality, daylighting, and healthy materials and they impact workplace satisfaction. In highly competitive industries, sincere efforts in corporate policy and physical workspace vis a vis sustainability can be a decisive factor in hiring and retaining the best employees.

Pictured Above: The Spheres

5.?WEEKENDS ARE TRANSFORMATIVE

Connecting personal interests and what you do on the weekend with your day job can unlock transformative action. For example, contractors can have a major impact on the environment in how we manage stormwater and maintain water quality. This impacts our coworkers who are avid fly fishers, who understand the direct connection between what we do every day on the jobsite, protecting water quality and controlling pH and turbidity with having healthy salmon runs and a great weekend fly fishing. The best way to explain ‘why should I care’ begins often with what do you like to do on the weekend or after work. In the Pacific Northwest, we are lucky to have a bounty of recreational opportunities in our backyard. But the ability to keep hiking, skiing, kayaking or fishing all depend on doing our day job well, on reducing waste, using lower carbon building materials and constructing energy efficient buildings.

4.?DETAILS MATTER

I’m going to say it. You need to sweat the small stuff. One of the biggest takeaways from my time at Sellen is an appreciation of the distance (read: effort) required to go from construction documents to completion of construction. Often times, at the outset of a project, there’s a lot that is not yet figured out. For better or for worse, it’s often the seemingly tedious stuff – the specs, the identification and coordination of what’s not drawn – that determines if a project makes its goals and is truly great.

3.????NO RISK, NO POWER

If you choose to give away your risk, you will ultimately give away your power. The AEC industry has been morphing for some time now and is questioning what is the purview of the design team, the purview of the contractor and the purview of the manufacturer. The trend of architects increasingly relying on specialty consultants or on delegated design is shrinking the scope of the architect. This trend can be seen as a way to have the experts do what they do best and potentially as a way to mitigate risk, however, there is a direct relationship between avoiding risk and waning influence. Those who find a way to take on risk and responsibility while successfully controlling it are in a better position to influence the project.

Pictured Above: The Spheres

2.???COLLABORATION IS KEY

In Seattle, competitors can be some of the best collaborators. For 31 years I’ve worked just in Seattle (except for a brief cameo in Portland) and have come to realize that our city’s business temperament is somewhat unique in allowing the coexistence of robust competition and collaboration. The depiction of competition a la "The Hunger Games" does not need to happen on our front or back door step. The Microsoft Campus Modernization is good example of how the region’s four largest contractors are coming together to collectively define a new level of best practices for sustainable construction. And in the spirit of providing the owner a best possible solution, each GC has advanced best practices in areas in which they are strongest and has shared those practices.

1. IT STARTS AND ENDS WITH GREAT OWNERS????

The best projects are not the ones in which we hear ‘the sky’s the limit’ or are completely unrestricted, untethered, limitless. The best projects have Owners who have a clear and defined destination on how they want their building to perform. However, they leave the path on how to get there up to the project team. They know their vision and their mission, they set boundaries, and they trust. Our design-build projects, like the Helen Sommers building in Olympia, are a good example of having clear guidelines as to who will chart the course and who will complete those goals.

Pictured Above: Helen Sommers Building