William Fleming, William
Fleming Associates, Inc.

Wow what a year 2016 has been here in New England! Throughout this economic uptick, William Fleming Associates has been fortunate enough to work with many great clients and some of the best commercial developers throughout New England.  As with many professions, landscape architecture is experiencing a resurgence in development projects, because our client’s needs to meet a new goal – a “green” goal. WFA has been a part of this evolving profession for over 30 years, and at no other time has this been seen as so challenging as the upcoming problems we are facing. Consumers are more educated on environmental issues and taking them more seriously and these values will be important as the national merchants are becoming green to match this goal. Our growth over the past decade along with the economic downturn has put tremendous pressure on our landscapes both suburban and rural. In order to develop centers for commerce in these underdeveloped areas, we constructed the infrastructure to service these new locations of human activity. Incrementally our clients have financed many necessary city/town improvements from sewer, water, traffic and addressed neighborhood problems including an increased tax base. Therefore, skills of environmental design professionals will become increasingly valuable for all communities. The building industry professionals are working diligently to achieve a balance of thoughtful and profitable green projects!

As we are approaching 2017, and the resurgence of the economy, we are confronted with the absolute need for innovation. Americans if nothing else are entrepreneurs! Everyone of our clients is an innovator, explorer and to a certain extent are calculated risk takers. The new financial engineering that can best build the new infrastructure is the “x” in the equation. The “x” of financing’s equation, is how to identify the ongoing value of savings to the end using tenants and the community at large on how profitable sustainable design/the LEED process is during the entire life of a project.

Being a landscape architect and a practicing architect that is LEED-NC-AP certified, it always seemed logical to embrace a sustainable design process. We have worked to incorporate LID/rain garden/roof garden systems to increase energy efficiency and environmental quality. The ever increasing educated public wants to be a part of the greening of America by incorporating sustainable design processes.

Quite frankly, all these issues have been kicked down the street for years. Many of these important systems have been accomplished without breaking the bank. WFA suggests further incremental inclusion of a few of these green building ideas so in time our clients can bank the results. The verification of these green building system tests is the cost savings. Design professionals are working diligently to incorporate the sustainable solutions and identify the results.

Our culture has been shocked into a world of conservation. The automobile industry leaders are now obsessed with efficiency, as the electric/hybrid cars are in our shopping center parking lots. Flat roofs will be vegetated, pitched roofs with photovoltaic/solar panels will use sun energy to heat the hot water, run automatic building systems and to re-energize customer’s electric cars! The best innovators and entrepreneurs (our clients) are ready to meet the smart growth, integrated developments and other multi-use prototypes that will yield the “quality of life,” desired by the public.

Our clients will be the innovators of green concepts with the best run on investment.  The green goal is the one that makes our economy compete in a global setting.  WFA has advocated all these issues for over 30 years.  We are confident in our clients’ ability and our design skills to succeed in this marketplace. WFA welcomes change for 2017!

William Fleming is a principal at William Fleming Associates, Inc., Stoneham, Mass.