IFMA's World Workplace 2008 to Highlight Dallas' Built Environment
An estimated 5,000 facility professionals from around the world are expected to meet in Dallas Oct. 15-17 to analyze the trends and new products affecting today's built environment as part of the World Workplace 2008 Conference & Expo. The International Facility Management Association's annual three-day educational and networking event will include conferences, a product-showcasing exposition, and tours of Fluor headquarters; the Dallas Morning News; the American Airlines Center; the 115-year-old, newly-restored Old Red Courthouse; and the Dallas Convention Center. Members of each facility's engineering, operations, or facility management team will conduct the tours and be available to answer questions.
IFMA's World Workplace conference annually offers attendees the opportunity to see the facilities that help define the conference's host city. Last year's event in New Orleans featured a tour of the largest rebuilding project in the history of U.S. stadiums--the Louisiana Superdome--and this year's tours will again showcase facilities that highlight the culture and values of those who use them, the association said.
Fluor's new corporate headquarters building has been recognized with coveted LEED(R) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Completed in 2006, the building incorporates multiple sustainability features into its design. The event's two tours of the Dallas Morning News corporate offices, meanwhile, will examine reconfigured areas of the facility that formerly housed the newspaper's production equipment and include the facility's boiler chiller plants, which feature different generations of equipment housed separately but configured to function as one plant. The historic newspaper traces its roots to an unpainted, one-room shack built before the Republic of Texas was admitted to the Union.
The American Airlines Center serves as the backdrop to Dallas' most vibrant urban gathering space--the 72-acre Victory Park development, the largest EPA brownfield restoration project in the U.S. The tour will focus on facility features such as the center's one-of-a-kind retractable seating system and its 150,000-square-foot roof supported only at its corners. Not far away, the Old Red Courthouse opened its doors to the people of Dallas in 1892, and while the building served as the heart of Dallas legal affairs for many years, decades of decline left the building in disrepair--until a $48 million renovation breathed new life into Old Red's walls. Building tour guests will have the opportunity to see the restored 19th century courtroom, grand iron staircase, and original molding and stained glass windows that help bring to life the story of Old Red.
Playing host to this year's conference is the Dallas Convention Center, a 2 million-square-foot facility featuring the largest column-free exhibit hall in the world. The tour will cover the center's utility performance project and its efforts toward LEED Silver certification. The center addresses five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.
World Workplace 2008 facility tours will be held Thursday, Oct. 16, beginning at 9:30 a.m. and will depart from the convention center. For a complete list of conference details, more information about this year's facility tours, or to register, visit www.worldworkplace.org.