Workplace Design, Database Innovation lauded in Global Innovator's Award

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    ATLANTA, July 11 /PRNewswire/ -- CoreNet Global, the world's leading
 professional association for corporate real estate (CRE) and workplace
 executives, today announced the selection of 10 finalists for the
 prestigious H. Bruce Russell Global Innovator's Award. Now in its 8th year,
 the award recognizes the industry's top practitioners among the some of the
 world's most respected companies.
     The list of recent and past winners reads like a Global 1000 'Who's
 Who:' Capital One; the Royal Bank of Scotland; Toyota; McKesson Corp.;
 CIGNA; Sun Microsystems; Bank of America; Cisco Systems; BP International;
 The Hartford; Johnson Controls; Sprint and Ford Motor Land.
     Ten finalists culled from a field of more than 30 nominations will
 present their innovations before a panel of senior corporate real estate
 professionals and leading academics at Harvard University, 1 - 2 August
 2007. CoreNet Global will announce the winners at the CoreNet Global Summit
 in Atlanta, 28 - 31 October 2007.
     With so many drivers defining corporate real estate and workplace
 practices, the award spotlights "innovation at the intersection," as
 CoreNet Global Special Projects Manager Richard Kadzis, CAE, describes it.
 "The award finalists reflect a rich array of new thinking and leadership in
 real estate, but also in broader ways like asset and risk management,
 outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions, sustainability and energy savings,
 technology-driven workplaces, change management, supporting the decisions
 of the C-Suite and business units, and so much more."
     Winners are multi-dimensional, as supporters of the award observe.
 "Innovation is the most important tool that companies have to gain a
 competitive edge," comments award co-sponsor Joseph Brancato, VP and
 Managing Principal for Gensler, a world-leading architectural and design
 firm. "Innovation is about creating value," adds cosponsor Greg Schementi,
 Senior VP for UGL Equis, an industry leader in corporate services.
 "Creating partnerships is a key element of our innovation agenda,"
 concludes co-sponsor Hans Gant, Senior VP of Economic Development for the
 Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.
     CoreNet Global's 2007 Global Innovator's Award finalists as listed in
 alphabetical order by category are:
     CATEGORY 1:
     Innovations in Corporate Real Estate and Workplace Management
     Including Government Agencies
     City of Melbourne, Australia - Council House 2
     The city of Melbourne's challenge was to create a landmark building
 that applies best practice principles of environmentally sustainable
 design. Council House 2 (CH2) is a visionary new building with the
 potential to change forever the way Australia approaches ecologically
 sustainable design. It is innovative from both a technical perspective and
 a workplace perspective. It was the first building to receive the six star
 (world leader status) design rating from the Green Building Council of
 Australia under the Green Star rating system for environmental performance
 of commercial properties.
     Fidelity Corporate Real Estate - Long Term Portfolio Location Strategy
     Fidelity Real Estate Company (FREC), the corporate real estate division
 of Fidelity, recognized that demographic trends in the Northeast and the US
 as a whole would impact the size and location of the skilled labor force.
 This made it critical for the development of a long-term portfolio location
 strategy based on workforce planning principles. This innovation uses
 demographics to develop location strategy as well as a workforce based
 approach in growing the portfolio. By proactively and deliberately engaging
 HR as a partner, this new strategy ensures that the long-term location
 strategy is developed based on the breadth and depth of labor markets.
     Sprint - The Mosaic Program
     The Mosaic Program is a methodology for developing optimal real estate
 solutions by simultaneously creating strategy at three different stages: 1)
 space, 2) portfolio and 3) market. Mosaic leverages the real estate
 organization's "balcony view" of the enterprise by optimizing and
 leveraging between all asset classes (retail, office, call center, etc.)
 and all business strategies. Made up of many separate pieces that create a
 unified whole, Mosaic extends the capabilities of traditional analytics by
 making spatial analytics the cornerstone of its technological capabilities.
     TVA Megasites Program
     The Tennessee Valley Authority's Megasites Program is a catalog of
 certified Megasites - large properties ready for heavy industrial
 development - in the seven-state TVA service area. The program is designed
 to make it easier for automotive manufacturers or other large industries to
 quickly find an optimal location for a new plant. During three rounds of
 site reviews from 2004 through 2007, nine sites met the exacting
 requirements for the program, and by April 2007, two Megasites had already
 been sold. The size of these projects and their local and regional impact
 demonstrate the Megasites Program's capacity to alter the economic
 landscape of the Tennessee Valley.
     Category 2:
     Innovations by Service Providers
     CB Richard Ellis - Optimizing CRE through Workforce Longevity Analysis
     CBRE's Labor Analytics Group developed a risk evolution tool, The
 Workforce Longevity Model can identify which of its client's operations may
 be in markets that would maximize their success, and which may be at risk
 today, or in the near future. It analyzes several competitive, market, and
 client factors in order to determine the longevity of each labor market. It
 is an analytical tool built to assist clients in estimating the likely
 durability of a labor market based on specific operational parameters.
     DIRTT Agile Architectural Solutions - ICEberg
     Since the inception of modular walls, a war has raged between general
 contractors and manufacturers of wall systems over the true cost per lineal
 foot of wall. ICEberg is a massive database, designed to compare every foot
 of material and hour of labor costs over 1000 jurisdictions across North
 America. The database takes the end-user's exact design and puts every
 wall, door and condition through an apples-to-apples comparison. It
 calculates the price and possible tax implications of the two methods of
 construction on the same project.
     Jones Lang LaSalle - Multi-Project Accountant
     The Multi-Project Accountant was developed to meet the growing
 accounting needs of Jones Lang LaSalle clients with a high volume of
 facility and project work. It is an internet-based application that serves
 as a centralized resource for project financials on multi-site real estate
 programs. The system allows all users to have direct access to accurate
 financial information and unites all service providers across a standard
 chart of accounts.
     Category 3:
     Collaboration between Service Providers and Corporate/Government Clients,
     or Economic Developers and Corporate/Government Clients
     DTZ - Metropolitan Police Services "Intelligent FM Service" Model
     The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is the UK's largest emergency
 service organization, creating one of the most challenging environments
 within which to run an effective Facilities Management (FM) operation. In
 2005 it became apparent that a new FM model was needed. DTZ worked with MPS
 to transform its FM operations, designing and implementing a new model that
 is truly innovative through the alignment of FM services with core business
 strategic and operational priorities.
     GSA National 3D-4D-BIM Program
     In 2003, the GSA Public Buildings Service established the National
 3D-4D-BIM Program to address the challenges of: errors and omissions;
 as-built documentation; tenant phasing; space measurement; and energy
 performance. It promotes value-adding digital visualization, simulation,
 and optimization techniques to improve building design and construction
 quality, efficiency, and customer satisfaction at all stages of project
 planning, delivery, and lifecycle. The program has proactively and
 successfully improved the delivery of capital projects. Through its use,
 GSA has been able to reduce costs while improving quality, accuracy and
 efficiency on GSA projects.
     US General Services Administration - Workplace Matters
     GSA created an environment that encouraged competing consulting firms
 to share their techniques, tools, ideas and critical acumen with each
 other. None of the firms had ever participated in this novel arrangement to
 share their intellectual property. GSA's role was one of protector of
 intellectual property, and set the context for generating collective
 intelligence. Each of the firms, over time, has recognized the value of
 collaboration is a two way street: they learn as much, if not more, than
 they share. As the consultant group has become more comfortable in this new
 relationship, they have jointly created several new tools and methods that
 can be used by all.
     About CoreNet Global
     CoreNet Global members manage US $1.2 trillion in worldwide corporate
 real estate and workplace assets consisting of owned and leased office,
 industrial and other space. With 7,000 members representing large
 corporations around the world, CoreNet Global (www.corenetglobal.org)
 operates in five global regions: Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and
 North America.
      CONTACT:
      Richard Kadzis, CoreNet Global
      +1 404.589.3200
      rkadzis@corenetglobal.org
 
      Aaron Cohen, Imre Communications
      +1 202.547.0500
      aaronc@imrecommunications.com
 
 

SOURCE CoreNet Global

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