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Name: Bill Black
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A Diverse Background
Black is National Director of Strategic Business Solutions at Haworth in Calgary, Alberta, Canada a leading manufacturer of modular interior solutions for commercial office space.
Bill is a Quantity Surveyor originally hailing from Edinburgh, Scotland. Bill obtained his degree at Napier University, while at the same time serving a six-year apprenticeship with Gibson & Simpson, a prominent well-established firm of Quantity Surveyors.
Bill received his B.Sc. in 1987, and worked with two other similar firms until moving to Calgary, Alberta, Canada in June 1991.
After settling in Canada Bill worked for 2 years with a Cost Consulting firm from Toronto in their Edmonton office until 1993 after which he spent 6 years as a Senior Estimator and Account Manager with a large Calgary commercial sub contractor.
Bill joined Haworth in October 1999 in the Architectural division and cut his teeth on movable walls and raised floors and the entire modular approach to commercial interiors. When this is combined with the broad line of furniture, seating and storage it is known as Adaptable Workspace – a total high performance interiors solution.
Bill’s travel over the last 7 years has taken him all across North America working on projects and business development activities.
Bill’s construction and cost consulting background has enabled him to assist prospective clients, their design teams and contractors evaluate the change in scope and overall cost effect of implementing Haworth Adaptable Workspace approach to building out modular office interiors.
These financial validations cover a holistic breadth of cost in terms of first cost, cost of ownership, tax depreciation and overall value of high performance real estate solutions to each organization.
Bill is an ASID Distinguished Speaker, a LEED Accredited Professional and a featured speaker on the value of design, high performance real estate and modular-interior construction process and costing.
The Language of Value
Decisions regarding real estate have historically been made primarily based on price.
This has generated a focus on low bidding that has commoditized the entire supply chain from rent through professional architectural, design and engineering fees on to the cost of construction, cost of furnishings and all that is required to deliver a finished working environment.
This obsession with first cost has eclipsed the language of value to the point where it is rarely considered in the decision. As a result short term initial cost avoidance decisions are made that pass on long term burdens of cost, social and environmental impact to future generations.
Companies are beginning to realize that rising energy and operating costs, measurable costs of ownership, the growing war for talent and the rising need for agility in the physical real estate that can match what is required by business are all combining to generate an appetite for value and not just price.
“These days Man knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Oscar Wilde
Through use of current trends and statistics, actual project experience and valid concepts learn new ways in which the language of value can be reintroduced to change the perspective and decisions made around corporate real estate with notable results for all stakeholders.
Sustainability is an outcome of good design that has a highly compelling business case. Too often it suffers from similar perceptions to those noted above.
In this conversation it becomes another component of the holistic value proposition and also becomes seen in a new light - the light of value and long term legacy.
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