Two Key Commitments in NYC’s Green Economy Action Plan

NYCEDC Releases Circular Design & Construction Guidelines, an Operational Guide to Reduce Embodied Carbon in NYC’s Built Environment

Seven Project and Development Teams Selected to Participate in New York City’s First-Ever Mass Timber Studio Program

New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) today announced the advancement of two key commitments featured in New York City’s Green Economy Action Plan that seek to revolutionize a green path forward for cleaner construction and low carbon buildings with the launch of the Clean and Circular: Design and Construction Guidelines and the selection of the first design and development teams of the NYC Mass Timber Studio.

Key to New York City’s decarbonization efforts, the Clean and Circular: Design and Construction Guidelines, offer an operational guide to reduce waste and embodied carbon in New York City’s built environment. Additionally, NYCEDC awarded seven design and development teams to participate in the NYC Mass Timber Studio, a first-of-its-kind program in New York City, announced in September 2023. The technical assistance program is designed to support active mass timber development projects in the early phases of project planning and design. Mass timber is a natural, renewable and sustainable material with a lower carbon footprint than traditional building materials like concrete and steel.

Last week, Mayor Adams, NYCEDC, and the Mayor’s Office of Talent and Workforce Development (NYCTalent) announced the release of the Green Economy Action Plan. The Action Plan lays out a series of commitments and strategies that will bolster economic growth, create thousands of jobs, encourage public-private partnerships, and train and position New Yorkers, particularly those from environmentally disadvantaged communities, to benefit from the nearly 400,000 projected green collar jobs in New York City by 2040.

The newly launched Circular Design & Construction Guidelines will guide project teams through a series of strategies across a project’s life cycle, preconstruction through deconstruction, and deliver on goals aimed at reducing waste and embodied carbon.

NYCEDC is implementing the Circular Design & Construction Guidelines in upcoming requests for proposals (RFP) and work to achieve the following goals:

• Divert 75 percent of construction and demolition (C&D) materials from landfill;
• Reuse and recycle 95 percent of concrete and soil material; and
• Ensure that 25 percent of all building materials are low carbon.

The guidelines address carbon reduction in the built environment through facilitating materials reuse and scaling use of alternative low carbon construction materials such as mass timber. As part of the Green Economy Action Plan, NYCEDC announced that SPARC Kips Bay, a nearly 2-million square foot, first-of-its-kind innovation, jobs, and education center in one of the nation’s premiere life sciences clusters, will be the first large project to implement the Circular Design & Construction Guidelines. By using innovative circular construction methods on public sites within the campus, SPARC Kips Bay will reduce 26,400 metric tons of carbon emissions – equivalent to removing nearly 5,800 cars from the road. This project will serve as an exemplar for other large public and private projects.

The NYC Mass Timber Studio is a climate innovation program operated by NYCEDC and the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice in collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service and the Softwood Lumber Board, with technical assistance provided by Wood Products Council (WoodWorks), and advisory feedback from the New York City Department of Buildings (NYC DOB), and the American Institute of Architects New York (AIANY). In addition to grants of $29,000, the Studio will provide technical assistance from WoodWorks and advisory feedback from NYC DOB.

The full list of NYC Mass Timber Studio awardees include:

• Brooklyn Public Library New Lots Branch – East New York, Brooklyn: Public project to replace the existing New Lots branch with a new library intending to use mass timber construction. The facility will include an educational and communal program to host classes, gatherings, and events. The project team includes Brooklyn Public Library, MASS Design Group, Marble Fairbanks Architects, Envoie Projects, and TYLin | Silman Structural Solutions.
• Hillside Avenue – Jamaica, Queens: A proposed 100 percent mixed-income affordable housing project with approximately 136 apartment unit and ground floor retail, studying the use mass timber and its integration with the development, design, and construction of high-quality affordable housing. The project team includes Curtis + Ginsberg Architects, MURAL Real Estate Partners, Buro Happold, and Rodney D. Gibble Consulting Engineers.
• Hoek Place – Red Hook, Brooklyn: A five-story multi-family, mixed-used building with intended community programming on the ground level that is located in a flood zone that will assess mass timber project delivery conducive to floodproofing requirements. The project team includes Urban Terrains Lab, BLDGWorks, TYLin | Silman Structural Solutions, Element5, and Veneklasen Associates.
• Mass Timber in Harlem – Harlem, Manhattan: Project evaluating the viability of converting an existing design of a six/seven-story residential building from a concrete superstructure to a lower carbon mass timber superstructure. The project team includes atelierjones, Magna & York, Sage and Coombe, Swinerton, Timberlab, and DCI Engineers.
• 1160 Flushing Avenue – Bushwick, Brooklyn: Mixed-use industrial development which will function as a space for companies, entrepreneurs, and artisans to ideate, make, and showcase and to preserve the manufacturing fabric of the local community. The project team includes DenCity Works Architecture and Totem.
• The Grafted Home – Crown Heights, Brooklyn: Redevelopment of a three-story multi-family residential building evaluating adaptive reuse versus ground up development with mass timber. The project team includes Algoma and Neighbor.
• Walter Gladwin Recreation Center – Tremont, Bronx: Public project to construct a new mass timber facility with inclusive and universally accessible fitness amenities and programming for all ages to the Tremont community. The project team includes Marvel, TYLin | Silman Structural Solutions, NYC Department of Design and Construction (NYC DDC), and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation (NYC Parks).

Additionally, the NYC Mass Timber Studio will extend technical assistance and advisory support to the Stapleton Waterfront site located at Canal and Front streets on Staten Island’s North Shore. This site is part of the Staten Island North Shore Action Plan that was released by the Adams Administration in late 2023, delivering on a vibrant, mixed-use community for Staten Island.

The projects cover all five boroughs and include diverse building typologies and scales – from community centers to multi–family residential and industrial adaptive reuse developments. Six of the seven awarded project sites are located within environmental justice communities. The project teams will explore five overarching mass timber focus areas: navigating regulatory frameworks within New York City’s Construction Codes, driving innovative project delivery, assessing technical feasibility, designing for community and equity, and lastly, advancing sustainability and resiliency.

Studio activities have already begun and will run for nine months, during which time design teams will regularly meet for technical assistance and advisory support.

Expanding the use of low carbon materials like mass timber is also a critical component to achieving the City’s carbon reduction targets, including reducing embodied carbon emissions for new buildings, infrastructure, and major retrofits by 50 percent, as mentioned in Mayor Adams’ “PlaNYC: Getting Sustainability Done,” New York City’s Strategic Climate Plan.

Mayor Adams, along with the Trust for Governors Island and Stony Brook University, unveiled the “New York Climate Exchange,” in April 2023, a transformative vision for a first-in-the-nation climate research, education, and jobs hub on Governors Island that will create thousands of permanent jobs and $1 billion in economic impact for the city. The campus will serve as a living laboratory, showcasing innovative approaches to sustainable and resilient design, including New York City’s first commercial buildings utilizing mass timber.

Under Mayor Adams’ leadership, New York City has already become a national leader in sustainability and green infrastructure, with the city committed to 100-percent clean electricity by 2040 and carbon neutrality by 2050.

About NYCEDC
New York City Economic Development Corporation is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization that works for a vibrant, inclusive, and globally competitive economy for all New Yorkers. We take a comprehensive approach, through four main strategies: strengthen confidence in NYC as a great place to do business; grow innovative sectors with a focus on equity, build neighborhoods as places to live, learn, work, and play; and deliver sustainable infrastructure for communities and the city’s future economy. To learn more about what we do, visit us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.