Questions and Answers with Wayne Taub, Global Alliance Director, CB Richard Ellis

Since 2002, The McGraw-Hill Companies has partnered with CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE) to manage the Corporation’s global real estate portfolio, which includes over 300 locations comprising 10.5 million square feet of office space, distribution and data centers.

Wayne Taub, Global Alliance Director, is responsible for the CBRE relationship with The McGraw-Hill Companies, and his focus is on reducing energy, water and waste at all locations. Here are some details about his work, and how the two companies partner on sustainability:

Q. How long has CBRE been working with The McGraw-Hill Companies? How would you characterize the partnership?

A. The partnership started in 2002, and has expanded since to include both domestic and international facilities and real estate transactions. CBRE handles all real estate services, and that includes leases, lease administration, facility management and project management for 10.5 million square feet across 300 some locations. It is an intense partnership, where our staff is housed within The McGraw-Hill Companies, and we make all decisions together. We talk everyday, at all levels. In other words, if there’s a real estate transaction, or if improvements are being made at leased or owned properties of The McGraw- Hill Companies, we’re involved.

Q. How and when did sustainability and “green” facilities management become a part of the conversation?

A. Sustainability is an evolving conversation between us. We’ve always been focused on ways to measure and reduce resource consumption, but initially out of a desire to lower costs. More recently, the topic of environmental sustainability has come to the forefront in internal discussions for both CBRE and The McGraw- Hill Companies. So when the corporate responsibility staff at McGraw-Hill attended their first global real estate conference to talk about these topics, it was serendipitous because I was ready to raise it in a more formal way, too.

Since then, we’ve focused on green building management. And we’ve gone beyond our own facilities, and we’re now asking landlords about sustainability in situations where we are leaseholders.

Q. What are the biggest opportunities for McGraw-Hill facilities to reduce the environmental footprint at their facilities?

A. We have the greatest opportunities at the facilities owned or net leased by The McGraw-Hill Companies. This is about a quarter of the total real estate portfolio. Where we are a tenant, we have less control and rely more on the landlord. So we’ve taken our own facilities first, and focused on some key areas.

We’ve had some good success with lighting retrofitting to reduce the energy demand in large commercial spaces (like distribution centers) and installing motion sensors so that lights go off when spaces are not in use. We’ve also become very adept at using controls technology to manage temperature set points so that the heating/cooling stays at a steady and comfortable level. These steps have capital costs but have yielded energy and water reductions.

Our efforts have also focused on space efficiency and consolidation, so that we aren’t using more space (and thus resources) than we really need. For example, in a recent Massachusetts project, we decreased our space by 10,000 square feet just by consolidating offices and getting rid of wasted space. We’ve worked through the entire portfolio, and are now getting to the point where the bulk of our properties have been renovated and retrofitted with high efficiency products within the last few years.

Q. The McGraw-Hill Companies recently opened its first fully “green” building in Dubuque, IA and is seeking certification from the US Green Building Council’s LEED standard for energy efficient buildings. What’s next with the corporation and the LEED standard?

A. The Corporation is using the LEED standard as a guide as we look at new facilities, and talk to our landlords about their responsibility to manage their properties with a minimal environmental footprint. Our program is tailored to the type of occupancy, the length of time we need a specific space, the location requirements, etc., so we have to look at each facility and make the business case for capital improvements for sustainability.

Q. You are in the midst of a waste stream analysis on all of the facilities you manage for the corporation. What is that and how is it progressing?

A. A waste stream analysis is just what you might imagine. We take an inventory of the entire portfolio, and measure not only the volume of waste and recycled materials leaving the facilities, but also its composition and where it is headed. In the end, we’ll have a comprehensive database to track all waste and we can cross- reference it by facility type. So in other words, we’ll be able to compare office facilities versus distribution centers, and understand what garbage they generate. The point of all of this measurement is to drive reductions. If you know what, and how much you’re throwing away, you can improve your performance and waste less.

Q. What is the Janitorial Green Cleaning program?

A. We are analyzing all of our cleaning vendors to understand their environmental footprint. We’ve been pleasantly surprised that many of these suppliers are already thinking about sustainability. Our main focus has been on cleaning products, to see if they are using environmentally friendly products such as vinegar as opposed to ammonia. We want to make sure they are using HEPA filters (which remove dust and limit emissions of volatile organic compounds). And we’re checking to see if they have Green Seal certification, which gives us assurance that their methods and products are healthy and safe for people and the planet.

Q. What is next for McGraw- Hill facilities? Is sustainability an issue with staying power?

A. We’ve made some solid strides in sustainability, and we’re focused on the right things: driving energy and water use efficiency, consolidating space, and keeping a strict eye on waste and recycling. But there’s always more we can do, and with volatile resource availability and costs, we know sustainability issues will drive our work for the foreseeable future.

The bottom line is that when given the opportunity, we will reconstruct or remodel to the highest environmental standards possible. And when going out to the market to lease property, we will choose buildings based on their environmental performance and energy efficiency. And we’ll build from there.

About CB Richard Ellis
CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), an S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm (in terms of 2007 revenue). With over 29,000 employees, the Company serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 300 offices worldwide (excluding affiliate offices). CB Richard Ellis offers strategic advice and execution for property sales and leasing; corporate services; property, facilities and project management; mortgage banking; appraisal and valuation; development services; investment management; and research and consulting. In 2007, CB Richard Ellis was named one of the 50 “best in class” companies by BusinessWeek, and one of the 100 fastest growing companies by Fortune.