The Top 100 Green Design Firms Search For The Next Green Thing

By Gary J. Tulacz

"In San Francisco grants have been available for some time, and recently the city passed an ordinance requiring any new building greater than 250,000 square feet (within the purple pipe zone) to include water recycling to supply non-potable water to address toilet/urinal flushing and irrigation demand," says Karl Wakelin, project director at Thornton Tomasetti.

The biggest hurdle is being able to assess the success of a sustainable design element against real-world performance.

"Once we fought the disappointment that a single tool, the 'killer app,' never emerged to answer all of our form and technology questions related to energy use," says Perry. He says there now are many tools that are excellent in certain, but not all, circumstances.

But Perry is optimistic that the number of digital "Jedis" grow daily in their capacity to manage this uncertainty and find (or adapt) the right tool for proving green design effectiveness.

Gary J. Tulacz had been, since 1993, senior editor in charge of ENR's Top Lists, which bring structure to the huge global construction industry through annual surveys and market analysis of its key segments and major players. The array of surveys rank companies, based both in the U.S. and outside, which perform general contracting, specialty contracting, engineering, architecture and environmental services, among other specialties.

The rankings, based on annual revenue from work at home and abroad, are further divided into specific market categories. Click here for descriptions and schedules of ENR Top List surveys and access to information on current and past listed firms.

Gary also created the ENR Top 100 Green Contractors and Design Firms rankings and the ENR quarterly Construction Industry Confidence Index that measures firm executives' market outlook.

This survey data is used by industry firms and other businesses, government agencies and academics also to gauge the health of the global construction market.

A graduate of Fordham College in New York City and the Fordham University School of Law, Gary previously wrote extensively on employee relations in such areas as labor and immigration law and employee drug testing.

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