As we enter another facility expansion era for clubs, it continues to be important to consider the environmental, safety and security aspects of club facilities; those that protect our members, staff and the overall environment. These considerations in facility design are not that difficult or expensive to include in new or renovated facilities, they just have to be incorporated into the initial criteria. This way they are an integral part of an initial design, and not just an afterthought.
These very essential design criteria not only save and protect lives, but also attract and retain members and invite member usage. These intangible facility aspects are important to today’s members as they are major considerations for providing a healthy atmosphere and living environment, including:
- Maintaining a healthy heating and cooling system with sufficient outside air and filtration systems to minimize COVID-type virus concentrations
- Avoiding hazardous materials inside buildings
- Eliminating steps and tripping hazards inside and outside buildings
- Assuring fire safety standards are properly designed and maintained
- Illuminating stairs, ramps and dark areas with proper lighting, both inside a building and outside to assure good visibility on grade changes, steps and changes in direction
- Adding environmentally friendly features to building heating, cooling, electrical and water usage systems—not only to save money, but also to conserve natural resources
- Changing children wading pools to spray pools which don’t hold water
Protecting and enhancing the environment—through water conservation, carbon reduction, green efforts and LEED building certifications—attracts and retains members. Existing and future members are concerned about environmental issues and values, and they are much more supportive of organizations that support these values. One of the top six societal trends today is protecting the environment, so clubs that actively do so—and promote doing so—are highly attractive to new members.
PROMOTING ENERGY CONSERVATION
Clubs that are not actively promoting energy conservation in their facilities and operations are missing an important way to appeal to new members and to save operating costs. While it costs a little more to provide a better, safer and more economical operating system, overall, the operating savings over a 20-year-life of a system saves significant operating dollars.
ENERGY CONSERVING SYSTEMS
There are many options for energy conserving systems. Here are a few worth the investment:
Solar panels. This electricity-generating method is a common place today, from placing panels on car ports over parking lots in Arizona, Texas or Florida to building fields of solar panels for remote energy self-sufficiency in the Bahamas Islands. Many times, local utility companies in the United States will provide subsides for installation.
Geothermal Underground Heating and Cooling Systems. These energy-conserving systems are used to contribute heating and cooling of swimming pool water in places like Florida. In addition, a major northeast club uses the system as part of its central HVAC system.
Adding Electric Car Charging Stations. While the electric car is in its infancy with only 2% of the cars made today, it is time to start installing the stations to be ready for progressive members.
Water Conservation. This conservation aspect directly affects clubs with golf courses. It can—and often does—require the use of recycled wastewater. Course designers and superintendents are also reducing grass areas or changing to turf that require less water and irrigation systems or by having good watering controls.
Retrofitting and Replacing Electrical, Heating, Cooling and Ventilating Systems with Energy Management Systems. This is one of the most impactful environmental improvement options available to clubs as all buildings, including club facilities, consume 39% of the nation’s total energy consumption. To improve energy efficiency and conservation in clubs, the clubhouse and all other campus buildings are the best place to start. Meaningful energy conservation, operating cost reductions and energy consumption management involves understanding, monitoring and counting it.
For clubs to provide a comfortable, safe building environment, and do so in ways that work within the required usage of buildings, clubs must also find ways that use technology to control energy usage wisely. This is the key to energy conservation. The two essential aspects of managing energy consumption are to know how much and what type of energy is being consumed and then to be able to compare the club’s total energy consumption to like kinds of club buildings in similar geographic regions to understand the club’s energy efficiency. Then clubs can determine if investments in energy conserving systems are worthwhile from both a financial and/or conservancy position.
The rest of the world of office buildings, businesses, factories, hospitals, schools/universities, etc., are ahead of the club world in investing heavily in energy conservation. Many clubs today have some of the most outdated HVAC/ plumbing/electrical systems, kitchens and architectural components. Many club buildings are museums of systems invented a hundred or more years ago and it is time to update clubhouse infrastructures to be healthier, more efficient and less costly to operate. When updating buildings, clubs should not only be concerned with initial capital cost to build something, but also with operating cost over the next 20+ years to operate and maintain them.
Fortunately, Talisen Technologies, Inc. is developing an energy management system just for private clubs that uses the latest computer monitoring systems. Clubs will be able to use this system to learn about their actual energy usage and monitor the efficiency of their existing systems. Users can then compare their data to operating benchmarks for primary geographic regions. This use of comparative energy data from many clubs will help individual clubs identify their potential for cost effective upgrades. The goal is to use the collective experience across the entire building spectrum to improve club buildings. With club facility improvement opportunities now growing, it is the perfect time for many clubs, as they plan these improvements, to begin improving existing HVAC, plumbing, electric and other specialty control systems. Also, energy improvement projects are self-funding. So, while improving mechanical and electrical systems may not be as sexy as grill rooms, bars and golf simulators in attracting members, they have real member attraction benefits. They reduce operating costs, which reduces dues, and if properly explained to members, add value philosophically as well as economically.
CLUB SECURITY
This is a subject that needs to be highlighted. While some larger clubs with thousands of members have good security controls, this is the exception and not the rule. Parents want to know the children are safe at the club. This doesn’t just mean having lifeguards at the swimming pool, but that security systems exist, surveillance cameras exist and are monitored, parking lots are monitored, and guardhouses control vehicular entrances.
Most of this security emphasis can be as much visual as actual to deter intruders. But in today’s world, precaution should be followed. See the summer 2017 issue of Club Trends to learn how clubs protect members and staff and keep clubs safe.
THE CLUBHOUSE: THE MOST IMPORTANT FACILITY FOR SOCIAL INTERACTION
As we continue to improve club facilities, it is still the clubhouse that has the most vital role to play in club success when it comes to bringing members together. The clubhouse includes the outdoor rooms of covered terraces, patios, dining areas and socializing spaces around firepits. While the interior décor surely makes clubhouse use enjoyable, the ability to have safe and secure buildings that operate efficiently are the behind-the-scenes characteristics that are important too.