As an infrastructure firm, our commitment to environmental sustainability enhances the project work we do for our clients and shapes our internal operations.
Building Something Bigger: Sustainability in Client Projects
In nearly every project we touch at Freese and Nichols, we are uniquely positioned to improve resiliency and sustainability for our clients, communities, or the environment. Whether it’s in providing cost-savings for our clients, simple repairs that become community enhancements, or setting paths for future generations to enjoy natural resources, our team has many stories of how our work has made long-term impact on our communities.
The projects below represent recent examples of sustainability efforts synthesized across multiple channels – technical, environmental, social, and economic – that came together as some of our most successful and impactful projects for clients.
Texas State Flood Plan
Texas is leading the way in terms of proactive flood planning, taking on the first-ever statewide flood plan — not only for the State of Texas, but the entire nation. This brand-new process for the State of Texas encompassed a complexity and depth of data gathering, assessment and reporting that has never been navigated.
The Regional Flood Plans developed for the Texas Water Development Board identified that more than 5.8 million Texans are at flood risk. More than $54 billion in recommended studies, projects and strategies will reduce flood risk to Texans, communities and infrastructure.
Sustainable Project Highlights:
- Proposes flood risk reduction actions for a large portion of Texas’ population
- Added a new metric to the regional flood planning process by considering the Social Vulnerabiliy Index – a national measure of a community’s ability to recover from disasters
- Spurred secondary benefits including nature-based solutions, water supply benefits and recreational benefits
- Impacts the engineering industry by sharing best practices with other states looking to take on similar projects
Bois d’Arc Lake
Bois d’Arc Lake, Texas’ first new reservoir in 30 years, is a critical new water source for the 2 million people served by the North Texas Municipal Water District. The program involved four years of intensive ecological restoration to transform 17,000 acres of ranchland into a thriving expanse of wildlife habitat, with restored wetlands, grasslands, streams and forests. The improvements are still ongoing and will be maintained and monitored for the next 20 years until the habitat reaches its goals.
Sustainable Project Highlights:
- Provides long-term water supply for fast-growing communities
- Transformation of more than 17,000 acres of ecological restoration for streams, wetlands, grasslands, forests and wildlife habitat to offset the lake footprint
- Enhances local economy
- Offers community recreation benefits
Coastal Resiliency: Enlisting Oysters for Shoreline Protection
Freese and Nichols is helping our coastal clients combat challenges like erosion, sea level rise, storm surge, and more frequent disasters to protect their residents and assets. One example of this is the Schicke Point Living Breakwater Resiliency and Extension project where our team has integrated multiple levels of shoreline protection, including the development of a living breakwater to protect and restore shorelines.
Living breakwaters are “a different approach to coastal resiliency,” designed to dissipate wave energy and incorporate natural habitat components sealife while providing protection to the coastline.
Sustainable Project Highlights:
- Protects and restores shorelines
- Uses nature-based solutions: oysters and natural processes will strengthen and grow the breakwater structure
- Protects infrastructure but restores ecological structure and function
Expanding Sustainable and Resilient Attributes in Active Projects
Freese and Nichols has been providing sustainable, resilient design solutions for infrastructure since our firm was founded in 1894. Although the terminology has evolved over the years, our LEADS value to “Serve Always” has stayed consistent: We are passionate about finding creative, practical solutions, and we strive to make the world a better place.
Sustainability and Resiliency in Active Projects
Firm-wide, our professional and technical staff make efforts to conserve energy and reduce waste for our client projects. Our project data for 2023 indicates that 44% of our active projects have planned, designed or implemented energy reduction, waste reduction, water conservation or utilization of recycled materials. Additionally, as our clients react to severe weather events or changes in climate, we see that in 60% of our active projects, we have contributed to climate resiliency/adaptation during planning, design or implementation.
Implementing Sustainability Tracking and Communications Systems
In the process of implementing our sustainability tracking for projects, we have also incorporated a sustainability focus in our Quality Assurance reviews. The Sustainability Committee has received positive feedback on this new process indicating it creates strong team coordination between the QA reviewer and project team and has been encouraging for teams to see in a more concrete way their successes related to sustainability. Additionally, our updated process has created common language and consistency in the ways we approach and discuss sustainability with our clients, which helps us go deeper into incorporating sustainability measures into projects.
LEED, Envision and Other Sustainability Ratings
At the time of this report’s publication in 2023, 7.4% of our active projects are utilizing Envision, LEED or other sustainability rating systems. We also have 25 staff members who are Envision Sustainability Professionals, and 9 who are LEED accredited. These can be valuable tools for strengthening our teams and projects with additional expertise and resources.
Envision Rating System, developed by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure, is a tool for evaluating an infrastructure project’s sustainability elements. Our Envision-accredited staff advise our internal teams and clients on best practices for sustainability, and the re-credentialing requirements help us keep our knowledge up to date. We will continue to encourage the expansion of our number of accredited professionals and rated projects where it makes the most impact for our clients.
University Presentations on the Envision Rating System
Freese and Nichols has formed a partnership with Oklahoma State University (OSU) to prepare engineering students with skills for sustainable design. Our Envision Certified staff serve as guest instructors every semester to teach the basics of Envision Rating System to senior design students at OSU’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Instruction provided through our partnership allows students to learn directly from working professionals, and it gets them started on preparing to become credentialed as an Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP).
Project Management and Tracking
Our Sustainability Committee’s role has been expanded to include support for Project Managers in tracking sustainability and resiliency measures within our projects. By helping to provide a framework for defining, recording and reporting on our projects’ sustainable elements, we expect to increase our team’s abilities to share knowledge with one another, provide a more consistent perspective on sustainability from Freese and Nichols, and remain at the forefront of these ever-evolving service offerings for our clients.
Recently, with guidance from our Sustainability Committee, our Project Managers have begun using an updated system for tracking sustainability and resiliency in our projects, and we expect to report further on these elements in the future.
Operational Efficiencies
Our commitment to environmental sustainability shapes the ways we select and operate within our offices. Increasingly, we are finding more energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly ways to do business, and much of those efforts begin with examining our own spaces.
Sustainability in Current Office Spaces
Our Real Estate Services team works to provide office spaces that best meet Freese and Nichols’ needs in a variety of ways, including location, cost, and conveniences for clients and staff. The team works with the Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice Presidents, and Division Managers to develop plans that include new office openings, expansions, moves, and closings. Sustainable decision-making comes into play for all Real Estate Services’ functions, including site selection, design, construction, furnishings, and relocation of staff.
In recent years, Freese and Nichols has prioritized energy efficiency and conservation within the office spaces where we work each day. With more than 30 offices nationally, we track each of our leased spaces’ opportunities for sustainability such as recycling or composting capabilities; LED lighting; access to public transportation; reusable kitchenware; and LEED Certification. Currently, 64% of our leased space is LEED certified, and excluding our co-working spaces, all of Freese and Nichols’ leased space employs at least one of our tracked sustainable measures, and 47% of our offices employ three or more. With newly implemented tracking tools and our Sustainability Committee’s expanded involvement, we continue to take steps toward making our real estate operations more sustainable.
As we grow, we have also expanded our resources for sustainable practices, including our Real Estate Services team joining the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) in 2023. Our involvement in the organization allows Freese and Nichols to learn more about how other facility managers are handling their approaches to sustainability, and what new tools may be available for us to implement.
Some sustainable practices that Freese and Nichols employs in many of its offices include:
- Providing reusable plates, silverware, and drinkware
- Providing biodegradable plates, silverware, and drinkware
- K-Cup recycling
- Providing ergonomic desks or Varidesks for our employees, prioritizing employee well-being
- During office moves, liquidating older furniture to resellers, instead of being sent to landfills.
- Currently reviewing more sustainable finishes for our office build-outs (carpet, tile, counters, etc.)
- In new offices, beginning to install dimmer switches inside private offices, not only for employee satisfaction, but energy reduction.
Sustainability in Selecting New Office Spaces
As our firm continues to grow, the spaces we occupy also become greater factors in how we operate sustainably. We have developed a framework of important sustainable elements that inform our decisions for selecting new office space, and we continue to develop how that framework is implemented.
Our Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice Presidents, and Division Managers develop growth plans that are presented to the Executive Team and Board of Directors. Approved plans are incorporated into the five-year Real Estate Plan, which is used to develop capital and expense budgets that fund office changes.
Some of the factors we take into consideration when selecting a new space include:
- LED lighting
- Recycling
- Composting
- Public transportation access
- Building LEED certification
