Design Economics for the Built Environment: Impact of Sustainability on Project Evaluation

Chapter 25Case Study: Retrofitting Building Services Designand Sustainability in : Star Island

Victoria Hardy

25.1 Introduction

This chapter presents a case study of how one non-governmental organisation (NGO) is confronting the costs of fossil fuel utilisation in an isolated location with an innovative approach to funding the costs of moving to an alternative energy solution. The case study starts with an overview of the background and location of the project, the key challenges and issues faced by the Board of Directors and leadership of the NGO, which is followed by an in-depth analysis of the problems and the options explored for resolving the problems in terms of various design solutions and their cost implications.

Project background

Star Island is a 40-acre (ca. 16 ha) barrier island 10 miles (6 km) off the New England coast of the US. The island has been occupied with a wide variety of historical uses since the mid-1660s. It has been a fishing camp, a fishing village, a nineteenth century resort, and finally, is currently in use as a retreat and conference center. The current owner of the island is the not-for-profit (NGO) Star Island Corporation (SIC), which has been operating the island for “religious, educational, and kindred” conferences, gatherings, and meetings since 1916.

The twenty-first century has not been kind to the island’s management, with the intrusion of dozens of regulatory agencies and a rapidly aging infrastructure. For example, there have been a number ...