Carol Woods is an accredited Continuing Care Retirement Community in Chapel Hill, N.C., which, as the first such community in the area, has prided itself on setting the industry standard for innovation and excellence. Recently, thanks to a new environmental assessment tool, the facility was able to extend this approach to the improvement of the campus’ existing buildings—by evaluating their performance, identifying problems and integrating features that have since made them more sustainable.

Carol Woods was conceived in the 1970s by a group of University of North Carolina professors and others concerned that there were no retirement communities within 75 miles of their beloved Chapel Hill. These pioneers laid the foundation for a retirement community close to the town that allowed older adults to take advantage of the area’s unique educational, cultural and medical resources.

In 1979, after several years of pursuing the necessary feasibility studies, land, money and certification to begin development, they succeeded in creating a community that attracts active, independent residents who enjoy a community with distinct character, an active lifestyle, beautiful campus and a dedication to the best possible quality of life. Remarkably, more than 28 years later, some of these residents still live at Carol Woods and the grassroots sensibility that characterized the original initiative is still a hallmark of the community.

Evaluating for Sustainability

Carol Woods covers 120 forested acres with 69 buildings and more than 512,000 square feet of floor space. It has been built in phases since work began in 1977; construction of the original facility was completed in 1979 and the site has undergone subsequent expansion and/or renovation in 1995, 1998 and 2002.

Today, the Carol Woods facility consists of 131 central apartments in three main buildings and 152 cottage apartments. There are 54 assisted living apartments in addition to a 60-bed health center, with 30 of those beds Medicare certified. There is also a dining hall, social/assembly hall, aquatic center, crafts building, grounds building, library and a child daycare center, which can accommodate up to 64 children.

Recently, Carol Woods decided that a campus-wide master plan was required to respond to the needs of a growing population and staff. To guide in that mission, the facility retained the services of DTW Architects & Planners in Durham, N.C., and JSR Associates, Inc., of Baltimore. The community also began looking for a tool that allowed for improvement of the existing building functions—e.g., energy efficiency—while also enhancing resident and staff environments within measurable parameters.

JSR Associates’ Jane Rohde, whose firm provides services primarily for the senior housing and healthcare marketplace, suggested a new tool from the Green Building Initiative: Green Globes for Continual Improvement of Existing Buildings (Green Globes-CIEB). Introduced as a complement to Green Globes for New Construction, Green Globes-CIEB is a user-friendly, Web-based system for assessing, benchmarking and improving building performance. It can be used to verify that design objectives have been met once new buildings are fully operational, or, as a green management tool for one or more existing buildings within a portfolio.

While the primary focus was on building evaluation, the development team found Green Globes-CIEB to be much more comprehensive. Following the completion of an online questionnaire, the tool evaluated each building against key elements related to sustainability—such as energy, water, resources, indoor environment, environmental management, emissions, effluents and other impacts. It also allowed for consideration of such things as transportation, waste removal and recycling. And, in addition to providing benchmarking information that can be used to track progress going forward, the report identified specific opportunities for improvement.

The Carol Woods team surveyed 10 major buildings of various types, including the health center, a three-story, 60,000-plus square-foot building occupied by senior adult healthcare patients and administrative personnel; the 5,600-plus square-foot aquatic center; and several apartment facilities. The community found the evaluation process to be wide-ranging and easy to use, and the structure and content led to more critical and analytical concern about how to administer and maintain the Carol Woods buildings.

Management and Enhancement of Existing Facilities

Facility managers today have a unique responsibility, having been charged with improving resident service, conserving energy, sustaining the environment, improving operational efficiencies and, of course, saving money. The Green Globes-CIEB tool helped the management at Carol Woods do all those things, and more. It revealed negatives that hadn’t been considered, such as missed opportunities for eco-purchasing to reduce waste, reduce material costs and enhance recycling, and lack of stated goals for energy conservation. In addition, it led to far broader consideration about how the buildings function and interact with the environment.

After using the CIEB module, Carol Woods will replace existing exit fixtures with LEDS, accelerate replacement of older public area thermostats with programmable models, and, thanks to a comprehensive lighting survey, improve lighting levels and reduce unnecessary usage across the board. The tool was also a catalyst for changes to the master plan, such as the addition of solar water-heating for the future fitness center, the reassessment of lighting needs and the inclusion of an overall energy consumption analysis.

All told, the only negative expressed by the team was that although Green Globes-CIEB is a comprehensive system that met and exceeded expectations, it is not tailored to senior living communities and their unique environments. The good news is that this concern is now being addressed. In collaboration with JSR Associates, Carol Woods is developing a list of proposed additions to the Green Globes-CIEB tool that will more closely reflect issues related to senior living environments. In addition to the established framework of the module, this proposed tool would look at aspects such as building functions, types and usage common to this demographic, resident transportation opportunities, number and type of functions contracted out rather than performed in-house, and the frequency, cost and type of apartment renovations and refurbishment.

Obviously, not all communities are the same in their physical and operational environments, but most share common elements. Structuring a tool to address the unique needs of senior living facilities would greatly benefit their residents and managers, and the green building movement as a whole.

For more information on Green Globes for Continual Improvement of Existing Buildings, visit www.thegbi.org.