Sustainable Building Monthly!

Sustainable Building Week invites you to monthly in-person networking events with fellow sustainable building enthusiasts. Sustainable Building Week networking is too much fun to keep it once a year. We’ll supply the drinks, light snacks, and a few topics of discussion. Bring your vaccinated self and be reminded of how much inspiration and business occurs when we talk face to face.

All sustainability friends are invited whether you’re in design, construction, academia, government, business, manufacturing, or something else. All are welcome because it will take all of us to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Registration is required.

June’s presentation will introduce you to the Sustainable Buildings for All (SB4A) incentive framework and Oregon DEQ’s newly published SB4A assessment report. SB4A is a collaborative effort developed by a coalition of sustainable building and equity experts and advocates. The framework seeks accelerate the development of building projects that achieve high levels of environmental performance, social equity, and human and environmental health through incentives such as FAR and height bonuses, systems development charge waivers and deferrals, municipal assistance, priority design review and permitting, and zoning code exceptions.

SB4A is intended to provide a model incentive framework that can be customized and adopted by local governments throughout the state to help achieve their climate, equity, and health goals. The presentation will include details about the program, background research, and case studies, all of which will provide insight for government staff and policy makers, community members, developers and owners, and design and construction industry members.

Amanda Ingmire is a connector, convener, and collaborative strategist working to co-create policies, programs, and practices that address the impacts of the built environment at the intersection of climate, health, equity, and racial justice. She is a Licensed Architect and Senior Policy Analyst at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) with 15 years of experience working in the built environment. Amanda’s co-leads DEQ’s Built Environment Program where her work focuses on addressing the full life cycle impacts of the built environment while centering equity, racial justice, and wellbeing. She conducts research, develops projects and programs, consults on state building projects, serves as an advisor and provides expert testimony to numerous boards, commissions, businesses, and government entities, and collaborates with many partners to advance a holistic, systems approach to addressing some of our biggest challenges.

This will be a monthly event held at the same time and same place each month. We welcome sponsors and short presentations, but the event will be primarily unstructured with room for adventure and new ideas! This is a place to meet new friends, reconnect with others, and hold each other accountable to make our projects more sustainable.

Masks are encouraged but not required in the well-ventilated, often open air “decony” where people will be enjoying alcohol. COVID vaccination is required.