Aug 6, 2015 -- Achieving community resilience relies on the engagement and action of numerous stakeholders—from commercial and residential building owners to utilities and government leaders—and offering incentives provides a powerful mechanism to encourage tough decision making. At Building Innovation 2016: The National Institute of Building Sciences Fourth Annual Conference & Expo, Achieving a Resilient Future, to be held January 11-15, 2016, in Washington, D.C., participants will examine the multiple incentive packages available to these audiences to advance investment in mitigation and resilience.

During Track 2: Preparation and Performance – Realizing Resilience through Incentives, group discussions and expert panels will promote the coordination of efforts across industry silos, with the goal of shifting paradigms and identifying public policies to improve resilience amidst increasing natural and man-caused threats. Track 2, which consists of two one-day symposia, will culminate in a listening panel of high-level industry leaders and public officials to discuss the path forward for deployment of such incentives.

On Wednesday, January 13, 2016, 9:45 am – 5:30 pm, the Facility Performance and Sustainability Symposium will focus on Realizing Resilience: Incentives for Owners and Operators. Buildings, both residential and commercial, provide a key foundation to the realization of community-wide performance goals. To drive achievement of resilience goals, incentives provide important signals to decision makers within the owner and operator community on the desired actions they should undertake. Such incentives can come from multiple parties, ranging from finance and insurance institutions to federal, state and local governments. During this one-day symposium, speakers will focus on improving resilience within the building stock through the use of incentives.

Presenters will discuss a number of topics, including building incentives, business incentives, facility performance, residential incentives, resilience, sustainability, financing, insurance and building codes.

On Thursday, January 14, 2016, the Security and Disaster Preparedness Symposium will address Realizing Resilience: Incentives for Local Leaders and Lifelines. Coordinating with lifelines, such as utilities, during the government policymaking and planning processes, is essential for realizing high-performance goals within a community. In furtherance of such goals, especially improving community resilience, it is important to assure incentives are in place to facilitate decision making, and to coordinate those sources of incentives in order to achieve the desired results. This one-day symposium will begin with an examination of the various segments of the community that should be included when considering potential incentive pathways and conclude with a high-level panel of experts from across the industry to discuss the path forward in implementing incentives to achieve a resilient future. This symposium will build on the Facility Performance and Sustainability Symposium’s discussion of Incentives for Owners and Operators, to be held on Wednesday, January 13, 2016.

Presenters will discuss a number of topics, including community incentives, disaster preparedness, resilience, security, utility incentives, building codes and community planning.

During Track 2, a number of Institute councils, committees and programs will present their related work, including the Building Enclosure Technology and Environment Council (BETEC); Council on Finance, Insurance and Real Estate (CFIRE); Facility Maintenance and Operations Committee (FMOC); High Performance Building Council (HPBC); Integrated Resilient Design Program; Multihazard Mitigation Council (MMC); National Council of Governments on Building Codes and Standards (NCGBCS); and Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC).

Registration for Building Innovation 2016 will open on September 1, 2015. Attendees may elect to register for the full Conference or a single symposium. To find out more about the full Conference schedule and sign up for updates, visit www.nibs.org/conference2016.

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