Jim Hegenwald,
Principal, Newport Business Interiors LEED Accredited Professional

Newport Business Interiors – Leading the Way in
LEED-Certified Furnishings in California

With Gov. Schwarzenegger's press release of July 17, the rules changed for California builders. Beginning in 2011, every new structure built in California – from homes and hospitals to schools and office buildings – will be required to conform to the new California building codes. The green building codes, adopted by the California Building Standards Commission, are designed to improve energy efficiency, reduce water consumption and reduce the carbon footprint of California's built environment. The new codes follow the format of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) guidelines with some variation.

 

Newport Business Interiors has been bringing green product to the marketplace for 25 years. Their sales of upcycled panel system product has kept more than 63 million pounds of material out of landfills. The dealer principal, Jim Hegenwald, was the first LEED Accredited Professional in Furniture Sales in California. As a LEED AP, Jim can take a building project through the LEED process to Certification, or simply design the selection of materials and furnishings in the project to reflect the green goals of his client.

 

Working to change “perceptions”

 

NBI has brought together a group of furniture manufacturers that share the Newport Beach dealer's philosophy: to bring increasingly sustainable, yet affordable, office furniture product to market. As Jim says, “The general perception is that green products cost more. We've made it our goal to change that perception; to instead offer very high quality green furniture product with lifetime warranty, all at affordable prices.”

Furniture selection is an important part of new building codes. Careful choices of furniture will contribute to satisfying the requirements of 10 percent use of recycled materials, use of local materials for 10 percent of materials value, use of materials with enhanced durability and use of low-emitting (indoor air emission of Volatile Organic Compounds) composite wood products. Newport Business Interiors, along with their green furniture partners, has beautiful showrooms within 10 minutes of the airport area displaying product that satisfies these requirements. Currently, NBI is working on several LEED projects, using its array of green furniture vendors to help clients achieve LEED Certification. NBI has also established relationships with green builders and is currently working with the country's pre-eminent green builder to furnish the only LEED Silver Certified high-rise in Orange County.

 

Navigating the “overload”

 

As Jim likes to say, “I look at our role as helping our clients navigate through the often confusing green information overload. We strive to keep it simple in an effort to have our clientele achieve their goals without wasting a lot of time and money.”

Another part of NBI's mission is to show the local business community that green building does save real, bottom-line dollars. “As a business owner, I had to be shown that there would be real, long term savings from building green,” Jim says. He saw this first-hand from his client, the Los Angeles Community College District, which will have entire campuses off the grid generating their own power through solar and wind, by next year.

Newport Business Interiors is conveniently located at 4100 Campus Drive, Suite 150, Newport Beach, directly across from the John Wayne Airport. Their full design staff is at your service and Jim Hegenwald will handle your account personally. Jim can be reached at 949.852.9100.

 

Featured in the: Orange County Business Journal