Guardian Service Industries, Inc.

FACT: According to McGraw Hill Construction b y 2015, an estimated 40-48% of new nonresidential construction by value will be green, equating to a $120-145 billion opportunity.  FACT: McGraw Hill Construction data indicates 41% of all nonresidential building starts in 2012 were green, as compared to 2% of all nonresidential building starts in 2005. If you are reading the two facts above and your building is not a green building, why?  Because you haven't reached out to the Guardian Engineering team to help you develop a tailored plan that addresses your specific needs and generates immediate and cumulative cost savings and gets you GREEN! Lets start 2015 off on the green foot, email me for a free consultation and lets get your building  green!

  Back-To-Work Blues The post-holiday glow is beginning to fade. You've just sat at your desk, logged into your computer and your email inbox is at bursting point. In the background you can hear the familiar ring of your phone… the festive holiday seems like a distant memory already. Judi Clements, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation says, "It's not unusual to get a case of back to work blues in the New Year. People are so busy over the festive season that often they don't get a proper chance to recharge their batteries." "Many of us get back to our desks and dive straight into our work without easing ourselves into it. This approach can soon leave us feeling exhausted and stressed." Back to work blues can evolve in many forms, some people feel disorientated and have a go slow attitude. Others have little interest in their work and focus themselves on planning their next holiday. On top of that you may feel irritable, find

The rise of more high-rise luxury condominiums has claimed another fatality, the main showroom for Steinway & Sons pianos, Steinway Hall.  Does New York City have enough high-rise luxury condominiums? Should the city continue to close down iconic landmarks? What do you think?

Private vs. Public Mayor Bill de Blasio announced an ambitious goal: The city, he said, would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. But that goal encapsulates city owned buildings, not the private sector. Getting private owners of buildings to go along may be difficult as well, especially since there are no mandates for the private sector. Instead, the city is dangling a carrot in the form of incentives to lure private building owners and homeowners to cut emissions voluntarily. Mr. de Blasio said in September that if incentives did not work, some sort of requirements would be introduced. What do you think? Should the city force private entities to reduce their emissions? 

The Elevator That Goes Sideways As Well As Up And Down German company ThyssenKrupp is proposing a self-propelled lift that can travel both horizontally and vertically through large buildings and skyscrapers. The system operates without cables and uses magnetic levitation technology similar to that used on some train networks. The proposed system is made up of multiple cabins traveling in a loop at about 5m per second (about 11 mph, 17 km/h), allowing passengers access to a lift cabin every 15 to 30 seconds. Would you try it?

Heritage Equity Partners, a Brooklyn-focused real estate investment and development firm headed by Toby Moskovits, has secured a $70 million loan for the construction of an eight-story boutique office property with floors ranging from 30,000 to 50,000 square feet each. The general thinking behind this investment is, lets target a number of the creative outfits in media and technology that 'may' start flocking to Brooklyn rather than Manhattan.  The deal follows another loan that Heritage last week secured for the nearby Williamsburg Hotel, which it is building on Wythe Avenue. In that transaction, the firm received a $40 million construction loan from G4 Capital Partners to build the 150-room hostelry. What do you think? Is Brooklyn worth the gamble? Is this a trend that is just that...a trend? Time will tell.

LEED stands for green building leadership. LEED is transforming the way we think about how buildings and communities are designed, constructed, maintained and operated across the globe. LEED certified buildings save money and resources and have a positive impact on the health of occupants, while promoting renewable, clean energy. LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, is a green building certification program that recognizes best-in-class building strategies and practices. To receive LEED certification, building projects satisfy prerequisites and earn points to achieve different levels of certification. Prerequisites and credits differ for each rating system, and teams choose the best fit for their project. LEED is flexible enough to apply to all project types. Each rating system groups requirements that address the unique needs of building and proj