The West Houston Association held their second Envision Credentialing class November 7th, 2019. Members R.G. Miller hosted the class and joined Howard Hughes, and EHRA as sponsors for the lunch, coffee and breakfast. Instructors Michael Bloom, P.E., ENV. SP, CFM, BCEE Sustainability Practice Manager at R.G. Miller, and Liz Parent, P.E., CFM, ENV SP a Principal Engineer at 5engineering, LLC taught the class of 38. Those in attendance ranged from Association members, to City and County Employees and even a few non-member companies. The Envision Credential allows engineers to follow a new guideline that focuses on sustainable practices and will help clarify choices when “planning, designing and delivering” a project. Education on the topic of sustainability has been one of the main goals of the West Houston Association’s Sustainable Infrastructure committee for years. When it was brought to the group that the Harris County Engineering Department will be utilizing Envision to scope and execute projects, particularly in Precinct 2, it felt natural to the Association to ask Michael Bloom, one of the only certified Envision instructors in Texas to help us offer the course to our membership and the community. Harris County Flood Control District is also looking at evaluating design firm qualifications based on the number of Envision Sustainability Professionals they have. WHA will continue to host Envision courses as long as the demand is there, and another credentialing class is tentative for May.
Fundamentally, Envision is about supporting higher performance through more sustainable choices in infrastructure development. The framework provides a flexible system of criteria and performance objectives to aid decision makers and help project teams identify sustainable approaches that will carry forward throughout the project’s operations and maintenance and end-of-life phases.