Media

As a leading advocate of green buildings and their effects on climate change and the greater economy, James McNeil has lectured on green buildings, leasing and market-related topics to industry stakeholders and regularly consulted and quoted by local and national media on green buildings, real estate and related issues.

 

Selected Speaking Engagements

 

•  Efficiency Nova Scotia-Bright Business Conference, October 2015

  GREEN LEASES: HOW TO TRY TO BENEFIT EVERYONE

•  Green Real Estate Forum, April 2015

  ARE TENANT EXPECTATIONS DRIVING THE GREENING OF NEW AND EXISTING BUILDINGS?

It has been argued in the past few years that the benefits associated with a greener building include enhanced occupant productivity and health. This session will examine tenants’ demands in terms of green space. What is necessary and what is “fluff” in regards to the design and operation of a space? Where a tenant has created a green workplace environment; how do they measure the outcomes to determine the level of savings that can be attributed? How do tenants motivate landlords to move forward in raising the bar on environmental performance of the overall building? This session will delve into retail, office and industrial assets from a tenant’s perspective to provide improved knowledge to owners and operators of these assets.

•  Green Real Estate Forum, March 2014

  Cost Effective Strategies for Greening a thirty, forty or fifty year old building: What is Practical and Viable?

Most new commercial developments today are being designed with high levels of LEED® certification or building performance in mind. However, since new construction represents only 1% of all buildings, what are the available options for the remaining 99% of the stock to enhance their energy and environmental performance? The decision to green an existing building can be challenging: traditional pay-back models may not work; energy or performance modeling may be more difficult; and increased rents may not be guaranteed. The panel examined the practical measures that can be taken for buildings that are thirty to fifty years old or more. What steps can owners of existing buildings take to improve the operational efficiencies of their properties and to ensure that their space remains competitive in the market? What comes after the potential low-hanging fruit, e.g. upgrading lighting and mechanical systems? How do you make the business case if the retrofit has a much longer payback? How can you use modeling to determine the payback of any green initiative? Is it possible to move an older building up market by greening it? What are common challenges for retrofitting an existing building? How do you execute a project while the building is fully occupied with tenants?

 

• Sustainabuild Conference May 2012 – The North American Flight to Sustainability:

  What Does This Trend Mean for Older Buildings in the Ottawa Real Estate Market?

An update on the major trends in the green real estate market starting with a bird’s eye view of North American trends and then focusing on the National Capital Region. This presentation examined the shifting attitudes of the corporate executive suite toward sustainability and how it is shaping tenant expectations and demand for greener space.

• Green Real Estate Forum March 2011 – Green Building Market Trends

A discussion about the impact on employees and the effects on business if they perceive their employer is environmentally responsible. Specifically looking at employee overall satisfaction, their productivity and the impacts of CSR and sustainability on their decisions to stay.

• Americas 2011 Broker Symposium Dallas – Green is the New Gold

An understanding of the market trends and market Drivers for green buildings. Connecting this market transformation to the opportunities for brokers in the green economy.

• Greening the Capital’s Existing Buildings Leadership Forum – The Market Imperative

How Tenant Demands and Owner Leadership are driving the Greening of Existing Buildings

 

Selected media quotes and articles

 

Windmill development group brings unique ownership opportunity to the downtown core

Colliers  International quarterly office market report for Ottawa promising

New downtown Ottawa BIA leaders dealing with-capital-in-flux

Ottawa office market professionals maintain confidence

Councillors to vote on funding downtown EcoDistrict idea – Real Estate – (Ottawa Business Journal)

Double-digit office vacancy predicted for Ottawa / RENX.ca / (Real Estate News EXchange)

Ottawa broker starts new practice to focus on sustainability (Ottawa Business Journal)

Would-be Chaudière developer touts importance of green building (Property Biz Canada)

Agents of change drawn to green careers (Ottawa Citizen)