Scott Ward trains a group of Forsyth school system and county staff in sustainability. Bob Pepalis. (click for larger version)

November 16, 2009
Cumming – Travis Pruitt & Associates used to be the typical civil engineering firm, complete with surveyors, landscape architects and environmentalists. But staff members like Scott Ward got very good at sustainability, and the business grew in an unexpected direction with prodding from their customers.

"We got very good at sustainability as a firm, so good that not only did we train all our engineers to become LEED accredited professionals, we trained a lot of our clients," Ward said. Having successfully passed LEED accreditation exams with help from the Norcross firm, some of their clients talked Travis Pruitt & Associates into doing training professionally.

Now the firm has grown a new business venture out of a piece of business they used to do as part of their trade, just by getting good at it. "And now I do events all across the country. I will have events advertised in every city in the United States," Ward said.

He attended the National Convention for Sustainability and Green Building in Phoenix recently. "Our GreenPoint story will be featured in a national publication," he said. The Civil Engineering Newsletter tells this story of the unusual growth of a civil engineering firm into this line of business.Today, 9 out of 10 phone calls he gets are from someone wanting to talk about sustainability.

Ward brought his training skills to Forsyth County's administration building for a two-day training session at no charge to the county. He said the firm considers it part of their community involvement. The Nov. 6 course in Leadership Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) came about when a local educator attended a paid training course, telling the firm afterward that it would be worthwhile for many school system employees, but there was no budget for all of them to attend. Ward said the company decided to host this training session at no cost, leaving all the organization up to the county. The firm presented the session and provided materials with its GreenPoint U.S. business.

"We understand right now that governments, schools, institutions of higher education, are hurting budget wise. It isn't that they don't have a desire to train, they don't have the budget," Ward said. "It's my goal to help all of these folks," Ward said about the county staff. "I asked how many want to be accredited. Just about all raised their hands."

With his company's track record, that's a pretty sure thing, as around 90 percent of those they train pass their certification testing. This wasn't the first time the company presented free training like this, he said.LEED is a green building program that is increasingly used to affect the design, construction and operation of both government and private sector buildings. Green building (not just LEED) is starting to become more prominent in county initiated projects and through projects the county reviews and inspects from the private sector.
View images.