Project Management in Practice Taipei 101: Refitted as World's Tallest Sustainable Building The owners of Taiwan's Taipei 101 tower, the tallest building in East Asia, wanted to show the world that it is possible to make an existing building sustainable by winning a LEED (Lead- ership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. When the building was constructed in 1998, advanced ele- ments of sustainability were included, such as low-emissivity windows, energy-efficient HVAC systems, and smart controls on its double-deck elevators. The new $1.8 million effort will extend these green elements to include eco-friendly processes (cleaning, solid-waste management, purchasing), healthy office environments (air-quality testing, environmental inspections), energy consumption (optimizing operating and maintenance programs, automatic turnoff of lighting in unoccupied rest- rooms), water usage (replacing toilet and urinal flush valves, reducing washbasin faucet flow rates), and tenant recycling, waste management, and office fit-outs. However, the engineering aspects of the tower refitting were the easy parts of the project. More difficult was get- ting all 85 organizations occupying the tower, comprising over 10,000 people, on board with the recycling (including purchase of recycled supplies) and other sustainability rou- tines. The project manager notes that changing people's attitudes is by far the greatest challenge for sustainability. Questions 1. Why did the owners pick such a big building for sustainability refitting? 2. What aspect of the tenant's habits and routines relates to sustainability, as opposed to "green?" 3. In what ways does refitting the tower enhance long-term profitability? Source: S. A. Swanson. "The Sky's the Limit," PM Network, 24.