Skanska chief sustainability officer Beth Heider and business development VP Daniel Maldonado offer this intriguing thought: design with resilience, not just to avoid catastrophe but to improve business performance. Beth says it takes a strong commitment to sustainability and resiliency to achieve a financially successful investment. Examples from Skanska include a planned combined heating and energy plant for the Empire State Building, which will take on energy burdens when parts of the building are shut down for maintenance, and a co-generation plant built for NYU, which allows the campus to remain functional in an emergency while providing operational cost savings and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of about 23%. Beth says that more owners are paying attention to sustainability and resilience since the advent of Hurricane Sandy, which, sadly, made the problem easy to understand. For more info on our Bisnow partner, click here.