SPARK

Discoveries, innovations, and insights that illuminate the future of the built environment

Mission statements

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Pictured at center and at right during McKinstry community service projects, Kevin Lynn is McKinstry’s community relations specialist.

I recently hosted an Airbnb guest who aimed to visit all 59 national parks by the time she turned 25. She knocked off another three during her stay with us, bringing her total to well over half by age 21.

When I asked why, she explained that she felt a deep sense of awe every time she sat in one of our national parks. It was almost a religious experience, she said. Her journey was a pilgrimage.

All missions are deeply personal. Excellence, power, family, the environment—our private Polaris guides us through the tangle of choices we must make each day.

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July 1 will change Washington’s construction industry—our engineers explain why

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From left to right, Kristina Sing, Michael Frank, and Caroline Traube are all McKinstry engineers and energy code experts.

Tomorrow, July 1, will bring a literal and metaphorical breath of fresh air to Washington state’s energy codes.

After years of being optional, Dedicated Outdoor Air Systems (DOAS) will become required when following the prescriptive energy code compliance path for several types of new construction (and retrofits) throughout the state.

While the real-word impact of this code change will be complex, McKinstry’s engineering team is ready to design the best possible solutions for our clients within this new paradigm.

As July 1 nears, we thought it’d be helpful to share some answers to common questions we’ve been asked about the code change:

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Memorial Day 2017: Chris Di Re

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For Memorial Day 2017, McKinstry is featuring Q&As from a few of the many veterans who are part of our McKinstry family. Pictured above in both his military (at far left) and civilian life, Chris Di Re is a U.S. Army veteran, former Camo2Commerce Corporate Fellow, and current Project Engineer on our Mechanical Majors team. Here’s what Chris had to say about his military service, his time as a military fellow at McKinstry, and the personal significance of Memorial Day:

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Memorial Day 2017: Adam Fugent

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For Memorial Day 2017, McKinstry is featuring Q&As from a few of the many veterans who are part of our McKinstry family. Pictured above in both his military and civilian life, Adam Fugent is a U.S. Army Infantry Officer and a current Camo2Commerce Corporate Fellow with our corporate facilities team. Here’s what Adam had to say about his military service, his time as a military fellow at McKinstry, and the personal significance of Memorial Day:

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Saving the planet, one light bulb at a time

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Ash Awad, P.E., is McKinstry’s Chief Market Officer.

Every year on Earth Day, your newsfeed is probably dominated by stories about the grand sweeping changes underway (or not) to save our planet. We’ve seen global-scale environmental promises from Kyoto to Paris, paired with a deep-seated skepticism of man-made climate change.

So, where may we find common ground? The answer could be simple: Speak to everyone’s values without preaching to convert.

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How an inefficient work order management process hurts tenants, operators and owners—and what to do about it

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For 16 years, McKinstry has proudly delivered a work order maintenance management solution and service—InfoCentre—to help property managers, facility engineers, and building owners deliver faster service to their tenants, increase operating income, and reduce facility operating costs.

Ahead of our “InfoCentre 4.0” launch this summer, McKinstry Account Executive Alex Ortiz penned the first of a two-part series for industry website AutomatedBuildings.com.

That story—How an Inefficient Work Order Management Process Hurts Tenants, Operators, and Owners – and What to Do About It (Part I)—was featured in the April 2017 edition of AutomatedBuildings.com and is reproduced in its entirety below:

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Everyday Innovation, Part 3

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Innovation is one of McKinstry’s core values.

Throughout 2016, McKinstry’s Western Washington Region organized an “Everyday Innovation” campaign that set out to share innovations and recognize innovators company-wide. We chose this name for the campaign because even smaller-scale or “everyday” innovations can make a big difference in improving the way we work.

All said, the organizers of the campaign have received more than 60 submissions that highlight an impressive array of creative thinking and have sparked discussions about innovation throughout McKinstry.

While the campaign is ongoing, we’ll be featuring nine of the very best innovation submissions we’ve received thus far in a series of Everyday Innovation posts.

This is the last post in the series. The first can be seen here, and the second is here.

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Everyday Innovation, Part 2

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Innovation is one of McKinstry’s core values.

Throughout 2016, McKinstry’s Western Washington Region organized an “Everyday Innovation” campaign that set out to share innovations and recognize innovators company-wide. We chose this name for the campaign because even smaller-scale or “everyday” innovations can make a big difference in improving the way we work.

All said, the organizers of the campaign have received more than 60 submissions that highlight an impressive array of creative thinking and have sparked discussions about innovation throughout McKinstry.

While the campaign is ongoing, we’ll be featuring nine of the very best innovation submissions we’ve received thus far in a series of Everyday Innovation posts. [Read more…]

2017 WIC Week: Women in the trades

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From L to R: Lena, Nicole, and Allison, pictured on a jobsite in Bellevue, Wash.

For this year’s Women in Construction Week (WIC Week), which runs from March 5-11, we spoke with three women—Nicole Jetson, Allison Camper, and Lena Rowe—who work in the construction trades for McKinstry. Below are excerpts from that interview, covering their careers in construction, their experiences as women in the trades, and their thoughts on how to increase representation of women in their industry.

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