Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | December 1, 2025 | Worcester Business Journal 7 We Build Our Plans Around Your Plans For over 50 years, Harvard Pilgrim has designed our group health insurance plans around your plans — so you can win the race for talent and help employees improve and maintain their well-being. We offer comprehensive benefits to employers and employees across Massachusetts — backed by a deep commitment to our communities. That's why we proudly support the Worcester Business Journal's Champions of Health Care Awards. Learn more: then flip properties, Neuhauser said. "e market demands maximizing profit, which is minimizing costs," he said. "It's oen turnkey time develop- ment, so it's not held, whereas affordable housing institutions are going to build and hold so they have a vested interest in the long-term performance, liabil- ity, operability, and resilience of the property." Beyond the environment While it was permitted before Worcester's specialized stretch code went into effect, Boston-based Winn- Companies already had sustainability at the top of mind when it embarked on the Residences on Lincoln Square, a $51-million project to convert the former Lincoln Square Boys Club into 80 affordable apartments for seniors. While it wasn't possible in the exist- ing brick building on the site, the new building is being built to passive house standards, which make up part of the specialized stretch codes. "Oen you might start with a passive house design and have to do what we call value engineering, which is cutting costs out of projects," said Christina McPike, vice president of energy & sustainability at WinnCompanies. "Sometimes you see passive house projects become value engineered into a lower-cost, but still good, building. We were able to make the numbers work on this one and commit to passive house for this project." e benefits of living in a building built to passive housing requirements go beyond the environment, McPike said. More insulation and higher building standards lead to a quieter and more peaceful living space, an aspect which is particularly valuable for a project like Lincoln Square, which is near a busy intersection, a highway, and a freight train line. Another o-overlooked benefit is an improvement of building air quality. While the topic of air quality was near the top of the public's mind during the pandemic, it has remained a focus of public health experts. ere's an emerging wave of evi- dence that pollution created by heating and cooking can have negative impacts on health, with the World Health Or- ganization saying indoor air pollution is linked to an estimated 3.2 million premature deaths annually worldwide. "ere's all kinds of other stuff that happens when you burn fuel, gas, or oil, and none of them are good to breathe in," Odell said. "Over time, those cumulative effects can have real health impacts, especially for younger kids or older folks." Compliance without cost Part of what Moriarty does at Sustain- able Comfort is help developers meet their sustainability goals. While new construction gets a lot of attention, his advice to developers is to remember the positive impact that weatherization and technology like heat pumps can have on existing buildings. Preparation and education are key, he said. "It's really hard to apply a passive house design, if you find out about it right before you submit for a permit," he said. Neuhauser said much of the com- plaints about the codes can be labeled as excuses, saying building both better and cheaper is possible with experience. "When we first got involved with projects that were doing passive building certification, we were seeing some incremental cost, maybe on the order of 3%, but it certainly wasn't huge," he said. "Aer a few iterations, the costs can go negative. ere are plenty of things we can do to improve performance and also reduce the cost of building." Odell's advice is for developers to co- ordinate with utility companies from the beginning to ensure a site will have the needed capacity, and to reach out to the City's Inspectional Services Department for guidance before starting. "e devil's in the details, because every project is different," he said. "e risk is that if you sort of just do what you've always done and don't plan for exactly which path you want to go down, you may find yourself partway down the path and realize you have to switch, which can add delays and cost." Worcester's emissions Total emissions in Worcester dropped 9.5% between 2009 and 2023, according to City data, but more progress will need to be made for the City to reach its goal of being emissions-free by 2045. Residential energy % change, 2009-2023 Grid electricity -53.4% Natural gas use -8.0% Propane -62.5% Fuel oil No. 2 -4.4% Commercial energy % change, 2009-2023 Grid electricity -50.9% Natural gas combustion 35.5% Fuel oil No. 2 -20.9% TOTAL* -9.5% * also includes emissions from transportation, solid waste, water and wastewater, and natural gas leaks. Source: City of Worcester's 2024 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory report Christina McPike, VP of energy & sustainability at WinnCompanies W

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