Just how green is Seattle? Greener than you think, but not as green as it’s going to be. (So don't wear red because it won't go well with how green the city is.) That's why we’re excited to be holding our Sustainability: The Green Building Revolution event at the Four Seasons on Aug. 27.

PAE associate principal Allan Montpellier, one of our panelists, tells us owners are starting to request performance guarantees for the sustainable features built into their properties. That began about five years ago at the GSA, when the agency began requiring, as part of RFPs, follow-ups to make sure the sustainable features do what they’re supposed to do. That’s evolved into performance guarantees in the private sector, in which the design and contracting team are responsible for the building’s performance a year or even three or five years after completion. Typically the focus is energy performance.

Pictured: the Bullitt Center, which PAE worked on. For very high-performance buildings, it’s more critical for tenants to participate in sustainability goals, Allan says, like monitoring and reducing their energy usage. It’s possible to imagine a time when tenants will agree to do so as part of leasing in a very high-performance building. Our event will also feature DLR Group's Jason Dardis and Amarpreet Sethi, Google's Mike Nolan, the GSA's Don Horn, Paladino & Co's Tom Paladino, the City of Seattle's Sandra Mallory, Unico's Brett Phillips, and Vulcan's Brandon Morgan, with the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Mark Huppert and Daniels Real Estate's Kevin Daniels as keynote speakers. Sign up here.