/ " title=""WE'VE HAD a lot of successful projects in and around Rhode Island for many years, but we see [this new office] as a very viable and important part of our strategy," said Daniel Paquette, Woodmeister Master Builders director of development and chief sustainability officer. /"/>/
At the beginning of this year, Dan Paquette, a board member of the U.S. Green Building Council Rhode Island Chapter and chairman of the Rhode Island Builders Green Building Committee, joined Woodmeister Master Builders.
Paquette serves as the company’s director of development and chief sustainability officer and has been integral in opening the builder’s Newport office.
PBN: What do you do in your role as director of development?
PAQUETTE: As director of development, I’m overseeing a real estate development project in Portsmouth. We’re doing a high-end, environmentally responsible 23-lot project. It’s called Peloquin Point and it’s very exciting.
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PBN: How about as chief sustainability officer?
PAQUETTE: As the chief sustainability officer I have a number of roles, but the first is helping direct and control the internal sustainability efforts within the corporation. Those are focused primarily on our own corporate environmental actions, which includes reducing our fossil fuel dependence in our vehicles and our buildings, instituting strategies that help us expose our clients to the benefits of environmentally responsible design and building. That’s through a program we call “Rational Sustainability”
We’re trying to really bring a common sense and cost-effective approach to building environmentally responsible buildings so we take away some of the mystery and confusion that seems to surround the topic these days.
PBN: And Woodmeister has just opened a Newport office, right?
PAQUETTE: Yes, we’ve just last week raised the blinds on a new office at 232 Bellevue Ave. in Newport. That will be where I work out of and head up the Rhode Island and southeastern coast operations.
PBN: Why is it important to have that physical location?
PAQUETTE: We’ve had a lot of successful projects in and around Rhode Island for many years, but we see [this new office] as a very viable and important part of our strategy. We have an office out in Pawtucket and a major presence in Boston. The next logical location was Newport and the Rhode Island coast. We believe there’s a lot of opportunity in the future and potential utilization of Woodmeister services.
PBN: Why is Woodmeister opening an office during a recession?
PAQUETTE: In reality, we find that this time – though we do know it’s economically demanding – is a great time to look into expansion. We found a marvelous office on Bellevue Avenue that wouldn’t have been available to us in other times. There are opportunities and challenges that we think are unique and we want to position ourselves so that when the economy straightens out we’re in the right locations. We really took advantage of this time in real terms.
