MINDSHIFT WINS CORENET AWARD

HOLLAND, MI – October 13, 2009 – Mindshift, a corporate real estate industry consortium, was awarded CoreNet’s 2009 Global Innovator's Award.  Award results were announced during the CoreNet Global Summit in Las Vegas on October 12th.

The buildingSMART alliance at The National Institute for Building Sciences estimates that more than 50 percent of the cost of a building is waste.  Mindshift is a consortium of progressively-minded corporate real estate (CRE) interests studying that waste and how buildlings are currently designed and built.  Specifically, the group is examining the existing complicated, opaque and fragmented process to explore methods that do a better job for customers, the environment, the broader economy and CRE companies.  By proactively addressing the full life cycle of a project, mindshift seeks business cases for sustainability that result in lower costs, better ROI and higher-quality working environments for clients. 

The organizations who have committed resources in support of mindshift are: Haworth, Gensler, Turner Construction, KPMG, AIA, GSA, Metropolis Magazine, Solidus, Luccehesi & Galati, and Kyle V. Day Associates, Walter P Moore, Aardex, and Transwestern.  Key individuals include consultant Rex Miller; Dean Strombom of Gensler; Mark Iammarino of Turner Construction; and Dick Haworth and Bill Black of Haworth.

Mindshift began in March of 2007 during an informal dialogue between members of organizations connected by the delivery of commercial real estate. The outcome of that gathering was that the current delivery model no longer serves the best interests of a global market place. The current model produces too many projects that exceed cost and schedule targets.  The projects too often have compromised quality that results in high levels of waste and inefficient buildings.

The informal dialogue grew into a roundtable of industry experts and connected the dots between industry players who were already attempting new ways of doing business. The group’s expertise ranges from architecture to quantity surveying, construction management to finance and all are committed to leaving a better legacy for future generations.  Formally named “mindshift,” the group committed to creating new value propositions and delivery models for construction projects based on reform of current relationships, practices and metrics.  The adopted mission is:

• To deliver high quality, sustainable buildings that are made to adapt to future change quickly, with minimum effort and expense and well-suited to the human beings who occupy them
• To create a tipping point for change in the minds and convictions of leaders within the building community, business leaders and policy makers

Mindshift is not a club nor does it offer exclusive memberships. It’s a belief that things can and must be better in our interconnected industries and organic world.

Recently, some of mindshift's partners collaborated on The Commercial Real Estate Revolution: Nine Transforming Keys to Lowering Costs, Cutting Waste and Driving Change in a Broken Industry.  The book was published in July 2009 and authored by Rex Miller, Dean Strombom, Mark Iammarino and Bill Black.

CoreNet Global's most prestigious award is formally named the H. Bruce Russell Global Innovator's Award and recognizes innovation at the highest level.  Launched in 2000, award nominees have spanned a wide geography, crossed multiple private and public sectors, touched on a diverse range of disciplines and brought an incredible array of precedent-setting case studies.  The Global Innovator’s Award winner is chosen by peers with considerable real estate, workplace, service provider and academic experience.

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Haworth, Inc. is a global leader in the design and manufacture of office furniture and organic workspaces, including raised access floors, moveable walls, systems furniture, seating, storage and wood casegoods.  Family-owned and privately held, Haworth is headquartered in Holland, Michigan, and serves markets in more than 120 countries through a global network of 600 dealers. The company had net sales of US $1.65 billion in 2008.  www.haworth.com & www.organicworkspaces.com