Nature is Just What the Doctor Ordered

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

For more than thirty years, our healthcare facility specialists have been helping hospitals improve patient quality of life with plants and therapeutic landscapes that reduce patient stress, increase well-being, and strengthen the healing environment.

Beyond the human health benefits linked with landscapes, there are financial benefits as well. Trees and landscaping can increase property value,  improve return on investment, and when coupled with a program for sustainability, be part of the strategy for certifications in WELL, LEED and green building.

From meadows to garden views and beautiful outdoor areas, there are ten ways to be more purposeful about hospital landscapes.

  • Focus on low maintenance ornamental grasses and flowering perennials that attract birds, butterflies and wildlife; contribute to biodiversity, engage the senses, and are less susceptible to pests and disease.
  • Create plant-filled, multi-level, interactive courtyards and gathering spaces with accessible walkways to ensure safety for all levels of mobility.
  • Add water features, waterfalls, ponds and contemplative fountains for relaxation.
  • Transform underperforming outdoor areas into low-maintenance meadows, adding trees and natural elements that enhance the patient experience.
  • Integrate patient-centered landscape features to accommodate limited mobility —  handrails, grade-sensitive walkways, accessible ramps, and seating.
  • Bring the outside in. Create atriums, green walls and enclosed all-weather landscape pavilions that provide high-value impact, improved access to natural light, and make nature available year-round.
  • Choose seasonal plant and tree for their vibrant foliage color and texture; plants that are non-toxic and non-thorny; and emphasize high contrast plantings to help patients with low vision; plant shade trees and lush perennial shrub and herb borders to create a sense of serenity.
  • Mitigate environmental risk with organic plant health care applications, integrated pest management and sustainable plant and soil health care practices.
  • Have a winter safety and risk management plan in place for 24/7 emergency snow and ice removal services.
  • Keep grounds clean around the clock. Parking lots need to be meticulously maintained, shrubs, beds and borders should be trimmed with no overgrown plants or weeds, there should be no litter and nothing that gets in the way of making people feel better just by looking at how beautiful it is.

ELM serves the health care network across Connecticut and Westchester County, New York, including specialized and acute and primary care facilities, ambulatory centers, and major teaching hospitals.

To learn more, contact Bruce Moore Jr., president, at 203-316-5433.

Take a look at how ELM is giving a next generation of healthcare, benefit from nature.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IMuxQGIAOM

Photo: Stamford Hospital, Stamford Connecticut

Accomplished Leader Andrew Britell Named ELM Senior Area Manager

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Leaders are often asked about the best place to begin when you want to start your own business. In Andy Britell’s case, it began with a happy ending.

For every 13-year-old kid who can’t find his best four-legged friend, tracking down his lost pooch was only the beginning. What happened next changed the course of Andy Britell’s professional life.

It happens that the dog had wandered into a neighbor’s yard. The grass needed cutting. The neighbor needed help, and a lawn mowing business was born.

Andy scaled up his neighborhood lawn mowing business throughout middle and upper school, and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration & Management from the University of Rhode Island.

Andy says his entrepreneurial passions will always put him outdoors. Water and nature in summer, mountains and skiing in winter, and working with clients to improve the value they get from ELM all year long. “The smile on their faces when our clients see everything come together in their landscapes says it all.”

Andy was born in Danbury. Raised in Westport, attended Fairfield Prep, and has lived in Norwalk, CT, for the past twenty years. Over the course of his career, he’s run a waste management firm, served as Executive Director of the Norwalk Tree Alliance, and was Chief Operating officer of BPS Landscape Design Build before joining ELM Monroe as Area Manager in 2022.

His promotion to Senior Area Manager is well-deserved.  Please join us in congratulating Andy on his entrepreneurial leadership, his love of landscaping, and his ability to empower people and teams.

Your Landscape is More Than Just a Pretty Face

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Stunningly beautiful, incredibly lush–the look and feel and relationship people have with your landscape is part of the interplay between your business and biodiversity, and the economics of investment into one of the most important ways to create and sustain asset value.  The starting point is understanding the business case landscape makes for having more nature outside your front door.

With spring ushering in longer days, and even longer to-do lists, getting your landscape ready to take on summer puts your property in the cross-hairs of opportunity: make progress on EV and net zero goals,  improve water management and plant health, tackle pests and disease, upgrade worn or dated hardscape, green-up infrastructure, and take action on nature and climate-related risks.

Finding the right partner can help.

Our full-service all-season landscape maintenance contract includes a good turf and perennial program, annual flower rotation, spring and fall seasonal issue targeting and clean-up, irrigation maintenance and water conservation, tree and shrub care, aeration and overfeeding, plant health care, and mulch.  We also have a wide range of enhancements that improve green performance and curb appeal, a strong sustainability framework in place that includes snow and ice services in winter, and ways to help you drive progress on net zero and climate-action goals.

It’s not complicated to get started. We’ve made the process easier than ever. Follow these four simple steps.

1.  Send us a RFP – Request for Proposal – with specs and scope of work, and stretch goals we can look at separately. This will give you a quick apples-to-apples number plus learn if your stretch goals are a cost-efficient tuck-in.

2.  Ask us about our employees’ training and certification, and verification; about our memberships in professional organizations, the awards we’ve won, and our leadership in sustainability.

3.  Don’t forget to ask about our reputation for quality and delivery, and experience on projects just like yours. Ask us what we’re doing to improve water conservation, drive progress on green goals, or meet LEED criteria; and be sure to check out social media to see what others have to say about the work we do.

4.  Include deadlines and timelines so we can get you what you need when you need it, with some wiggle room up front so we have time to cover everything.

Better yet, give us a call. We’d love to add you to our list of CRE partners in Fairfield, New Haven and Westchester Counties.

Contact us at ‭(203) 316-5433. We can’t wait to hear from you.‬

 

 

 

Preparing for The Big Chill

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

Late fall begins a hibernation cycle when plants and root systems slow down to conserve their energy. With no new foliage until warmer weather, our attention turns to the action below ground, long before signs of the first frost.

  • Protect and nourish root and soil systems, with a thick layer of nutrient-rich mulch to insulate and regulate soil temperature, hold in moisture, and keep roots from freeze damage.
  • Feed and water appropriately before the first frost. Avoid fertilizing, which will be ineffective during dormancy or cause them to sprout with unnecessary new growth.
  • Use soil moisture sensors and smart technology to measure hydration levels.Moist soil can hold 4 times more heat than dry soil, warming the plant as much as a 2-3 degrees
  • Deal with drainage problems promptly, as wet soils can make young plants more likely to uproot in wind.
  • Prune dead wood, clean up shrubs and trees, cut back perennials, remove debris, cut turf grass shorter, aerate and fertilize prior to first freeze.
  • Protect evergreens by wrapping with breathable burlap to shelter and protects the plant from heavy winds, salt, and heavy snow loads.
  • Get ahead of thaw cycles and know what plants can weather winter.

Contact Client Service Representatives Marc Angarano and Ted Marron at sales@easternland.com to learn more.

Unsure about your landscape contract renewal strategy? Here are four ways you can extract the most value.

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For most property management companies, a wide-range of suppliers, vendors and partners are essential to meet the demands of daily operations, whether for the smooth running of the office or the way landscape and grounds significantly improve asset value.

The need for seamless continuity requires a life cycle of renewal that, despite its transactional nature, is an opportunity to safeguard relationships as well as an opportunity for both parties to achieve maximum value.

For properties pursuing initiatives that reduce energy, water, carbon and advance sustainability goals, ELM landscape contracts can take the process one step further with actionable steps that include specific solutions and provisions that protect and enhance local ecosystems, decrease the amount of chemicals, water and waste, and establish larger frameworks for continuous improvements in planting strategies.

  • Start early

Your landscape needs may have changed since you initially signed the contract.  Start the negotiation process early – prior to the existing season ending – and discuss options well before your contract expires. This gives you the opportunity to talk about pricing, learn more about new features and benefits, and discuss continuous refinements that meet green performance goals. On a practical level, getting your wish list in early gives your landscape contractor enough time to procure materials, and newer products and smart technologies that may have a waiting list. 

  • Get maximum value

Preparation is important if you want to extract maximum value. To achieve the best outcome, don’t cut corners. Give the contract process your full attention. It’s an excellent opportunity for both parties to achieve the best possible outcomes. build stronger relationships and renegotiate terms that are can be more favorable to both.

  • Reduce administrative burden

Most landscape contracts are automated with project management software that can make the administrative process fast and as easy as possible. If everything goes smoothly, it can be an opportunity to make the best use of the services and knowledge your landscape contractor offers. Having your contracts in place prior to spring – when the growing season begins – allows everyone to spend time on helping your property reap strategic benefits, such as higher ROI, enhanced oversight, decreased risk and higher performance.

  • Gain a seamless experience

Communicating and planning throughout the year – especially during winter and non-peak growing seasons – is crucial to success. By implementing the contract renewal process early, property managers can save time, extract more value, resolve problems faster, and stay ahead of important milestones and performance goals.

Email us  or call: 203-316-5433 to learn more.

Merritt 7 & ELM Win Another Award of Excellence from National Association of Landscape Contractors

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Merritt 7 Corporate Park, a LEED-Gold certified Class A property owned by Clarion Partners LLC and managed by Marcus Partners CT Management, received a Silver Award of Excellence in Landscaping from the National Association of Landscape Contractors (NALP) on behalf of Eastern Land Management (ELM), M7’s landscape partner since 2013.  M7 and ELM received a Silver Award of Excellence in landscaping in 2018.

“The M7 ideas-driven team deserves all the credit,” said Bruce Moore, Jr., ELM president. “It’s a spectacular site with multiple elevations and revitalized open spaces that interweave nature and art, and reduce critical resources such as energy and water. It’s a smart urban showcase for sustainable performance and we’re proud to be part of its award-winning success.”

Key environmental features include its adjacency to the Norwalk River watershed, the use of digital technologies that control and conserve water use, batter-powered noise reducing equipment, green waste recycling, and landscape maintenance practices that support Merritt 7’s climate action goals.

The NALP Awards of Excellence program celebrated its 50th year in 2019, and recognizes the best projects in commercial and residential design, installation and maintenance across the nation. Winners will be recognized at NALP’s annual meeting in Dallas, Tx, Sept 10-13, 2023.

Gensler served as Merritt 7s revitalization partner in 2022.

Merritt 7, located in Norwalk, Connecticut, at 1.4 million sq. ft., is the largest and most prominent corporate park in Fairfield County. It features 35,000 sq. ft. on-structure landscaping, a green roof plaza, and 2,500 linear feet of water-smart streetscape.

Chris Keogh, ELM area manager, oversees ELM’s M7 crew.

About Eastern Land Management

ELM is a premiere CRE landscape and snow and ice management partner based in Stamford CT, with a green hub and snow training center in Monroe CT, and Westchester County service hub in Armonk, NY.

The firm is an active member of NALP, the Snow & Ice Management Association, a member of BOMA SoCt and BOMA Westchester County, the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, and Westchester County Executives. President Bruce Moore Jr. is a member of the Board of Corporators for First County Bank in Stamford, supports Fairfield County Hospice House, and active in urban renewal efforts and community outreach throughout Connecticut and Westchester County.

ELM received a Fairfield County Sustainability ChangeMaker Award for its work in drought and water management, and since its founding in 1976, has been recognized for its excellence from the industries it serves.

For more information, please contact ELM President, Bruce Moore at (203) 316-5433 or bmoorejr@easternland.com

When it comes to landscape and plant health, prevention is the best cure.

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

Your lawns, trees and shrubs are a growing investment worth protecting.

ELM’s new all-season plant health care program is designed to do that, and more–including scheduled inspections and treatments to keep your soil balanced and nourished, your plants healthy and beautiful, and keep destructive pests at bay, all year long.

Landscapes, like all living things, benefit from good health and if your lawn, plants and trees could use a boost, here’s what we recommend:

  • Early Spring – Apply horticultural oil to control scale and over wintering stages of many insects.
  • Early spring – Inject a balanced fertilizer into the root zone to boost the overall health of the plant and create new top growth. This will provide the plants with the needed nutrients to last the entire season.
  • Spring- Use foliar spray (a practice that involves applying spray directly to a plant’s leaves) to combat insects such as scale, mites, leaf miners, leaf beetles, and webworms just to name a few.
  • Spring- Apply optional fungicide spray as needed and do an overall health assessment and recommendation.
  • Summer- Apply second round of foliar spray to strengthen and protect plants from insects.
  • Summer – Schedule a summer inspection for any signs of fungus or disease and make recommendations for any further applications of fungicide.
  • Early fall – Apply a third and final foliar application of insect control to combat any late season insect damage and to help in the prevention of egg laying on the plants.
  • Fall – Inject a balanced fertilizer into the root area to enhance root growth, improve winter nutrient storage, and a healthier and faster green-up and growth in the spring.
  • Late fall – Apply anti-desiccant for winter burn protection and conserve plant moisture during the cold and windy winter months.

Deer ticks in the northeast are benefitting from warming winters, raising health risks and the potential diseases that they may carry. ELM offers deer repellents, deterrent services, and tick control and prevention—in addition to strategic landscape maintenance practices that reduce tick habitats.

Contact ELM’s plant health care expert Martin Minogue at mminoque@easternland.com, for a complimentary evaluation. And learn why prevention is not only the best cure, but the most cost-effective way to avoid fewer problems with insects, disease and environmental stress in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

The ABCs of RFPs: what CREs need to know about finding a landscape partner

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

If you’re a commercial property or facility professional, RFPs – Request for Proposals – will sooner or later fall within your task bucket.

As a procurement tool, RFPs can be a great leveler. But they also don’t tell the whole story; they can feel like tedious wheel reinvention for both parties, and when they’re ‘kitchen sink’ approaches – or ask for everything but, there is no room for differentiation.

We think there’s a better way.

With spring start-up season just around the corner, here’s our advice for tailoring your landscape services RFP to give you the best partner for the job.

Why RFPs can be a race to the bottom

Service companies that respond to RFPs essentially engage in a bidding way, ending up in a pool of contractors who compete on price. When landscape companies compete on price, it’s because they often look for cheaper options to deliver on apples-to-apples specs. The bad news for property and facility professionals who contract landscaping services through RFPs is that you get what you pay for – a hamster wheel of RFP-won contractors who cut corners on innovation to offer price instead of value.

We believe that value is a competitive advantage. When you eliminate value, you lose the upside value brings. In the ever-increasing, ever-complex world of collaborative service partnerships, an ill-conceived RFP can yield more problems than solutions.

How to make RFPs a win-win   

For both landscape services contracts and complex landscaping projects—those with upgrades, renovations, and performance and environmental improvements—a well-written RFP can be effective at filtering out weak players. To create a consistently good RFP and RFP process, think about shaping your RFP as an RFV – or Request for Value.

In addition to describing what you and your commercial property or facility needs and your expectations for delivery, include specs for your sustainability goals and context for what the landscaping itself will meet, such as: key site performance indicators for carbon neutral or LEED.  Include the ‘need to haves’ and the ‘nice to haves’, criteria for curb appeal and improved asset value, and communicate actual timelines with a realistic deadline for the contractor to respond.

Avoid generalities, proof-read for typos, edit for clarity, and eliminate redundant questions and contradictory requirements. If your RFP-issuing team is not clear on specs, risk mitigation, and expected outcomes, go back to the drawing board to make it better and tighter.

A cautionary note about AI-enabled technology:  When the RFP response process is automated, do the math.  While automation offers efficiencies and fills out things at a much quicker pace, the scope piece – when compared to non-automated bids – may not add up. Always double check to make sure you’re not getting apples-to-oranges.

If you’re looking to save cost, remember: low-bid doesn’t tell the whole story. The best return on investment will always be calculated by actual and perceived value, and the long-term value that comes from a strong relationship.

We do our best work when we work with people—face to face, building connections, friendships, and opportunities to gain trust.  Our advice? Use your RFP as a solid starting point. A way to open the door and start a conversation, and a way to make sure you’re getting more than a team of qualified vendors, but a strategic partnership where value is created and delivered every step of the way.

Spring is the time of renewal in nature and in the procurement office. If you’re renewing your contracts, seeking to find a new landscape partner, or interested in keeping the conversation going, give us a call.

We’re listening.

Contact President Bruce Moore Jr. (203) 316-5433.

Bruce Moore Jr. is a second-generation landscape industry leader and President of Eastern Land Management, a full-service commercial landscaping business serving the property and facility market in Fairfield County Connecticut and Westchester County New York.

Bruce is an active member of BOMA Westchester County and BOMA Southern Connecticut. He currently serves on BOMASoCt board of directors.

www.easternland.com

 

 

Landscaping is Changing the Conversation Around Green Real Estate. Top 10 things property people need to know.

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

January is Quality of Life month and with sustainability playing an increasingly more important role in how commercial real estate companies invest in green performance, the benefits of landscaping has emerged as an actionable priority.

From site design and infrastructure to LEED considerations to amenities and workplace wellness, new research suggests that nature will have the largest and most easily quantifiable impact on quality of life.

Here’s how:

  1. Health & wellness

The Covid pandemic flipped perceptions of workplace norms, leading to a rethink of the role air quality, natural light and quality outdoor space influences health and well-being. This has led to reconfiguring landscaped areas for outdoor conferencing and working, creating walking trails and bike paths for fitness, building out green roofs and terraces for encourage social interaction, and increasing the number of trees.

  1. Sustainability

As a philosophy and a practice, sustainability has influenced the built environment for years. But with concerns around extreme weather events, climate action planning and the need for increased environmental resilience, landscaping has become an essential key performance indicator for driving occupancy, higher rents, higher tenant retention and higher property value – all while reducing energy use, waste, and environmental impacts.

Getting up to speed. What’s next?

Nature, by way of landscaping and its ability to refresh and revitalize, is an unparalleled remedy to urban stress. When implemented in a way that also protects environmental health, the benefits to human health increase exponentially.  Ten things ELM can help you do now:

  1. Implement a water conservation and irrigation management plan, combined with low-water use landscape strategies and comprehensive guidelines for erosion control and storm water management.
  2. Reduce landfill waste through recycling and composting.
  3. Increase biodiversity, habitat health and plant life through best practices.
  4. Reduce chemical use.
  5. Improve soil health through mulching and microorganisms.
  6. Improve plant and pest management with biological controls, and beneficial insects.
  7. Create a long-range strategic landscape plan that includes ongoing landscape performance improvements.
  8. Transform underutilized areas into perennial meadows.
  9. Use advanced technologies for energy-efficiency and improved resource management.
  10. Create and maintain healthy and high-performing outdoor amenity spaces for people to spend more time in nature.

To learn more about how Eastern Land Management can improve quality of life through landscaping, contact company president Bruce Moore Jr. at (203) 316-5433.

Photo: Stamford Towers, Stamford Connecticut. A commercial landscape sustainably maintained by ELM for CBRE.

 

Martin Minogue Joins ELM as Area Manager

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Eastern Land Management is pleased to welcome Martin Minogue as Area Manager.  He will be based in Stamford, Connecticut, and will lead the landscape service needs of ELM’s commercial real estate clients throughout Fairfield County.

Martin is a veteran landscape professional with a reputation for property quality and commitment to turf and plant health care industries. When he isn’t advocating for improvements in green performance, he’s working to advance ELM’s mission to drive excellence in sustainability.

Born and raised in Darien, CT, Martin grew up in the green industry. He began his impressive career at his father’s side when he was 8 years old and “never looked back”. From those early years mowing lawns to academic courses at UConn, and eventually running his own landscape company, Martin’s knowledge and technical skill, and commitment to detail, is an advantage for property owners and managers keen on increasing profitability while meeting environmental and energy-efficiency goals.

“Taking a property from what it is to where it can be is my passion. Keeping up with industry trends, working to find cost effective and productive methods to create smarter approaches and manage risk—I can’t even think of anything else I’d like to do,” he says.

“ELM serves the heart of the greater NY Metro commercial real estate market, and having Martin on our team accelerates our ability to be flexible and adapt, and take the long view,” said company president, Bruce Moore, Jr. “How and why people use different types of properties are key issues playing out across our region. How we respond and position our firm to look beyond cyclical headwinds is turning out to be our competitive advantage.”

Martin holds a CT DEEP Supervisor license, and Turf & Nursery Management degrees from Ratcliff Hicks School of Agriculture and the University of Connecticut.

To learn more about ELM’s expertise and CRE service areas, contact Bruce Moore Jr at: (203) 316-5433