Construction giant Suffolk announced the creation of its Suffolk Sustainability Group and hiring of Steven as senior director of sustainability for Suffolk and Michael Swenson will assume the role of director of sustainability for Suffolk Design, the contractor’s design-assist business unit.
“Sustainable building is critical for the environment, for our clients and for the future,” said John Fish, chairman and CEO of Suffolk. “Launching our Sustainability Team and hiring experienced leaders in the sustainability space demonstrate our strong commitment to strengthening our leadership position in the green building space and delivering the most sophisticated green buildings that will raise the bar for contractors throughout America.”
The Sustainability Group, overseen by Suffolk Executive Vice President Nick Dhimitri, will strengthen Suffolk’s in-house expertise and ability to assist clients and partners envision, design and execute a wider range of green building solutions, the firm said. Suffolk’s sustainability planning processes, design support, technologies and leveraging of data will also allow Suffolk teams to provide expanded technical services and identify the most cost-effective sustainable solutions for clients. Suffolk’s unique approach to sustainable building will lead to additional value-add for clients and long-term economic, environmental and social benefits.
Burke previously led the sustainability strategy for a multibillion-dollar contractor and guided sustainability processes for projects totaling 30 million square feet in sectors including education, residential, office and retail. He co-founded the Sustainable Construction Leaders network, a collection of sustainability professionals in construction, and helped create the Contractor’s Commitment, a roadmap for construction companies to operate more sustainably with more than 20 signatories representing $30 billion in market revenue.
Prior to his role at Suffolk Design, Swenson led interdisciplinary teams focused on sustainability and commissioning projects at BR+A Consulting Engineers, where he offered technical services spanning decarbonization master planning for large campuses to providing detailed analyses of large data sets to correct building performance in alignment with energy and carbon goals. Swenson has also led Harvard University Green Building Services, where he integrated campus sustainability policy with capital projects to meet fossil fuel free and healthier material goals.
