Texas 2010 rank: No 19
Green rank: No. 9
The Beck Group’s experience building green dates to the late 1990s. The company completed some of the first LEED buildings in Texas and two platinum projects—the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas and the Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center in Orange, says Betsy del Monte, director of sustainability at Beck of Dallas. Now, green building has become an integral part of its business model.
“Every project we do, whether it is achieving LEED certification or not, can have a basic level of sustainable thinking,” says del Monte, indicating Beck recycles construction waste on jobsites to save money as well as the environment. “It just becomes the way we do business.”
Sometimes, as was the case with the $11-million Baylor University Jay and Jenny Allison Indoor Football Practice Facility in Waco, the Beck team will suggest pursuing LEED certification. Baylor agreed and the football facility earned LEED-silver certification in March.
“It’s important to us to set a good example and demonstrate that being environmentally sustainable is part of being a sustainable corporation,” del Monte adds. “Our foremost goal is to stay in business. Part of being a sustainable company is being smart about the resources you need. When you look at trying to be smart about resource use, it permeates every decision you make as a corporation and becomes a way of thinking you can share with clients. It becomes something of value to them.”
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