By Kristin Brubaker
Head of Sustainable Construction Services
The green building industry is accelerating, and the conversations happening at green building events right now reflect that urgency. Last night, the USGBC New Jersey chapter hosted its Transformation event at Lord Abbott’s headquarters in Jersey City, one of the most fitting venues imaginable. The office is the first WELL and LEED Platinum interiors project in New Jersey, and the space itself made the point before anyone said a word: when sustainability is built into every design decision, the result is something people genuinely want to be in.
Here is what stood out from an evening full of sharp thinking, honest conversations, and well-earned recognition.
New Jersey’s Environmental Priorities Are Aligned with the Industry
The evening opened with remarks from the chief of staff for New Jersey’s environmental leadership, and the priorities on the state’s agenda mapped almost perfectly to what the green building industry is already working on.
Clean water, PFAS contamination, environmental justice, and flooding were all named as top concerns. So was keeping people and community infrastructure out of harm’s way, making government work more efficiently, and finding ways to save residents and businesses real time and money. These are not abstract policy goals. They are exactly the problems that sustainable construction and smart building design are positioned to help solve.
For anyone working in green building compliance or pursuing LEED certification, this alignment matters. It signals that state-level support for green building practices is not going away. If anything, it is growing.
Local Leadership Awards: Recognizing the People Moving the Needle
One of the highlights of USGBC green building events is the recognition of local champions who are doing the hard, unglamorous work of making projects actually happen. The evening honored three outstanding contributors.
Noresco took home the Organizational Excellence award for their work as a consultant on six LEED projects since 2024. That is a strong track record in a short window and a testament to what focused, knowledgeable support can do for a project team.
Kayla Reddington of Turner Construction received the Individual Excellence award, and I have to say, no one deserves it more. I have had the pleasure of knowing Kayla through our work together on the Green Building United board, and she is exactly the kind of person this industry runs on. She brings real expertise, genuine enthusiasm for the work, and the kind of follow-through that actually gets projects across the finish line. Seeing her recognized on a stage like this was a highlight of the night.
The Project Excellence award went to the Maplewood Memorial Library, which achieved LEED Gold certification. Public libraries are community anchors, and seeing one achieve LEED Gold is a reminder that green building compliance is not just for corporate headquarters or luxury developments. It belongs in every corner of our communities.
Thought Leadership Panel: The Hard Conversations the Industry Needs to Have
The thought leadership panel brought together Nick Bauter of Noresco, Junay Shah of JLL, and Jonce Walker of Beyond at HLW for a direct, no-fluff conversation about where sustainable construction stands today and where it needs to go.
A few themes came up repeatedly.
- The northeast’s aging building stock is a carbon opportunity hiding in plain sight. The panelists were clear that the biggest lever for carbon drawdown in the region is not new construction. It is the millions of square feet of aging buildings that have never been seriously upgraded. Operational carbon reduction in existing buildings is one of the most accessible opportunities the industry has right now.
- Embodied carbon is still the big blind spot. While operational carbon gets plenty of attention, embodied carbon (the emissions locked into building materials during manufacturing and construction) is still widely underestimated or ignored entirely.
- If it is not in the specs, it is not going to happen. This might have been the most practical line of the night. Embodied carbon goals and green building compliance requirements have to be written into the project specifications from the start. The general contractor has to be on board. These conversations have to happen in design and carry all the way through construction. Good intentions that do not make it into the contract documents do not make it into the building.
What the Lord Abbott Project Teaches Us About Doing It Right
The event space itself was the subject of some of the most instructive conversations of the night. Lord Abbott’s headquarters reduced embodied carbon by roughly one-third compared to a conventional build. That is not a minor improvement. And it was achieved because the owner was deeply involved in the design process and brought genuine intention to every decision.
One observation that stuck with me: when a space is this carefully designed, people take care of it. They notice it. They respect it. That is not a soft benefit. It is a reflection of the relationship between design quality, occupant behavior, and long-term building performance.
Green Building Events Like This One Matter
There is a reason people show up to green building events on a Wednesday night in Jersey City. The industry is at an inflection point. The policy environment is supportive. The financial tools are improving. The technical knowledge to do this work right exists. What is needed now is the continued commitment to put it all together on every project, from spec writing to commissioning to operations.
USGBC New Jersey is doing real work to connect the people who can make that happen. Events like Transformation are where those connections get made.
