“The magazine of record for architectural glass industry leaders” published an article in the June edition highlighting the huge impact and market potential for building envelope retrofits and effectively making the case for the need for INOVUES’ cost-effective and non-disruptive solution. Inclusion in the article also provides timely national exposure to their glazing contractor readership who need innovative partners such as INOVUES in their pursuit of retrofit opportunities. In addition to providing installation services, glazing companies are also a very viable source for finding high potential projects that are only known at the local level. In effect, they can become an extension of INOVUES’ salesforce increasing the scope and breadth by orders of magnitude across North America and potentially beyond. Key takeaways from the article:
The market is huge: “. . . of an estimated 6.4 million existing non-residential buildings in the U.S., less than a quarter have low-E glazing — and that includes buildings that have already been retrofitted. Additionally, roughly a third of existing nonresidential buildings still have single glazing as their primary glass makeup.” Source: Key Media & Research
Carbon reduction favors retrofit: “The potent messages of embodied carbon, combined with the time-value of carbon, tell us that we should be doing as little building as possible, especially new construction.” Mic Patterson, ambassador of innovation and collaboration with the Facades Tectonics Institute.
Retrofit performance levels need to = new construction: Improving the energy performance of existing buildings can save billions of dollars, creating a more comfortable environment for occupants and reducing the building’s environmental impact . . . . The challenge, however, is getting those existing buildings to the same, or better, performance levels as new construction—and getting the owners to do it.
Forecast for renovation vs. new construction is high: The COVID-19 pandemic has left everyone searching for the new normal. The current state of the world economy, combined with the American Institute of Architects’ historically low Architectural Billings Index score of 29.5 (scores above 50 indicate growth), could be signs that new commercial construction will remain low for some time. However, there are indicators pointing to growth potential in renovation work for the glazing industry, such as stimulus funding for building retrofits and improvements.
No disruption to building operations & occupants is key to success: “The biggest barrier to the opportunity of widespread facade system renovation is not the replacement or retrofit costs. It’s the cost and risk resulting from the disruption to ongoing building operations . . . . Not many building owners can afford to temporarily relocate tenants for the two to three year duration of a facade renovation of a large urban building.” Mic Patterson, ambassador of innovation and collaboration with the Facades Tectonics Institute.
Read the entire article here.