The Landscape of Well-Being: an FAQ for healthcare facility managers

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

Hospital landscapes are one of the best ways we know to bring nature into the healing process.

At Eastern Land Management, we are at the forefront of a movement that is promoting healing, reducing stress, and elevating the quality of life.

From our experience as a preferred healthcare partner, green spaces, and the plants and trees that create them, are not just a way to beautify your outdoor space, but a profound practice that offers a multitude of benefits, a deep sense of satisfaction, and a strong sense of rootedness in the world.

With that in mind, we’re pushing the boundaries of what healing landscapes can achieve; embracing new technologies, sustainability practices, and innovations that improve the performance of hospital grounds, and offer both patients and staff the chance to feel happier, healthier and better by stepping outside.

In nearly 50 years of serving facility managers in the healthcare segment, we’ve been asked a lot of questions and find that the more things change, the more the basics matter.  We consolidated our most frequently asked questions around five common themes to help you take the guesswork out of finding the landscape partner that’s right for you.

Q: Facility managers want to make sure landscape teams can keep up with corporate demands. What technologies are being used to shorten the distance between problem and solution, close loops, and save energy and cost?

A: ELM has been in the digital collaboration space for decades and takes a data governance approach to security. We have adopted specialized information integration tools that make us more efficient in our interactions, limit disruptions to healthcare staff. The strategy here is to eliminate all unnecessary “red tape” in order to be more productive, use smart tools and smart people to solve problems faster, and be intentional about meeting our clients in a common zone of opportunity,

Q: Facility managers believe it takes experience to scale efficiently and effectively. Does your landscape team have the correct leadership and skill set, agility, size, scope and talent?

A: ELM’s talent roster includes multiple experts who understand the needs and business models of commercial real estate (CRE) and facilities management, and who have segment experience in healthcare. As a company, we are corporate partners with multiple CRE associations, and have a commitment to grow and scale systematically, all while keeping our eye on the stars and our feet on the ground.

Q: Facility Managers want consistency, quality and service excellence. Can your landscape partner deliver a unified experience?  

A: ELM prioritizes market research, customer feedback, benchmarking and data-based insights. But mostly, it all starts with being a good partner, believing that good relationships matter, and understanding our customers’ needs. Our team is empowered to make decisions in the moment and in the field and go over and above to have a positive impact on the people and properties we serve. To us, problems are unnecessary boomerangs. They’ll come back to us if we don’t nip them in the bud.

Q: ARE YOU nimble enough to Be one step ahead?

A: ELM has rewired its operating model to optimize nimble. We have built agile, cross-functional teams around value creation, have instilled a culture of accountability, and invested in our team’s talent, skills, and professional development with advanced certification and training programs, and CEUs. We’re only as good as our bench—our corporate performance depends on the depth and quality of a new generation with talent ready to step in and do whatever it takes to provide fresh ideas and perspective.

Q: what ARE your landscape teams DOING to COMPLY WITH GREEN BUILDING RATING SYSTEMS AND contribute to healthier landscape environments?

A: ELM is a Sustainability ChangeMaker and winner of an award in Fairfield County for drought and conservation management.  We are a Community Impact Partner, support our local downtowns, our green cities initiatives, and urban renewal projects.  We are advocates for:

  • Our clients, our communities, our employees, and the people we serve.
  • Our partners’ green goals, our net zero/EV/battery-powered noise-reduction (“When Quiet Matters”) program; our tailored agronomic, integrated pest management, and plant health care plans.
  • Training, professional development, certification, and building a culture of learning continuous improvement.
  • Pollinator and beneficial-insects, turf-to meadow conversions, hanging baskets, and dramatic container displays.
  • Using our talents as landscapers to make our world a more beautiful, greener and healthier place to live, work and play.

Eastern Land Management has been serving leaders in Connecticut and Westchester County’s healthcare industry since 1976.

Contact CEO Bruce Moore Jr. at203- 316-5433 to learn more.

Jordan Skiba, ELM Intern, Seeds His Climb to The Top

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

A recent UConn grad with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration is this summer’s intern.

“An intern with a path to the future,” says Bruce Moore Jr. who’s pegged Jordan as someone who adds the kind of high-energy talent that easily translates to a long-game role.

Jordan brings a lot of plusses to ELM: he’s Stamford born and raised. He worked in the hospitality industry through college, has had a passion for landscaping since forever, and likes being hands-on. Plus, he’s smart, a nice guy, and loves sports and family.

Jordan currently has his hands full with research projects, learning the lay of the land, and getting to know people and projects.

Jordan says, everyone has been so welcoming and helpful, he can hardly wait to grow his career while doing whatever it takes to support ELM’s success.

Welcome, Jordan. Go Huskies.

 

 

Mark A. Cammisa Joins ELM as CFO

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

Eastern Land Management, a regional leader in commercial landscape and snow services, is pleased to welcome Mark A. Cammisa as Chief Financial Officer.

Mark joins ELM with 40 years’ experience in financial management. In his new role, Mark will oversee the firm’s financial and administrative operations.

“We are delighted to add Mark to our leadership group. He comes with the dynamic mindset we’re looking for and as a growth-oriented leader and mentor, he will be a major asset to our entire team as we accelerate our momentum toward our half-century milestone—and beyond.  We look forward to Mark helping us as we continue to grow across every facet of our business,” said Bruce Moore, Jr., ELM president.

A native of Ardsley, New York, Mark graduated Maga Cum Laude with a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration from Iona College. He is a member of AICPA.

In addition to a proven track record in financial leadership, Mark is a nationally-recognized coach with a life-long involvement in Youth Amateur Wrestling. A former middle school head coach, Mark is a Member of the Junior Olympic Committee for USA Wrestling and was inducted into the CT chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2016. Mark is active in the Danbury community where he and his wife raised three children.

Please join us in welcoming Mark to ELM.

 

Martin Minogue Joins ELM as Area Manager

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

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

Bruce Moore Jr. Joins First County Bank as Corporator

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

First County Bank, headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, has named Bruce Moore Jr., president, Eastern Land Management, to its board of corporators.

The position of corporator is offered to community representatives and thought leaders who bring direct insights into the needs of business.

In this role, Bruce will join a unique group of community leaders with diverse backgrounds who together will play a critical role as centers of influence.

“Doing more together is a key pillar of ELM’s culture and community engagement is where it starts,” said Bruce.  “As landscape professionals, we’re trained to develop a deep understanding of broader needs. I look forward to collaborating with this remarkable group to increase the visibility of our business community, drive social impact and support the bank’s commitment to the needs of its customers.”

Eastern Land Management (ELM) serves the commercial real estate industry throughout Connecticut and Greater New York Metro. The company was founded in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1976 by Bruce Moore Sr. Bruce Moore Jr. became president in 2019. ELM received the ChangeMaker Award from Fairfield County in 2019 for its action on sustainability.

Bruce graduated with a degree in business management from Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts, and is active in the greater business and commercial real estate community.

About First County Bank

First County Bank, headquartered in Stamford, CT for 170 years, is an independent mutual community bank with 16 branches in Stamford, Norwalk, Darien, Greenwich, Fairfield, New Canaan and Westport offering deposit products, mortgages, wealth management, business banking services, and a full array of digital banking products including mobile and online banking. First County Bank has more than 220 employees, assets in excess of $1.9 billion and is a winner of the Hearst Connecticut Top Work Places 2020-2021 award. For additional information, please visit www.firstcountybank.com, or follow us @Firstcountybank on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

 

 

 

 

Nature is Transforming Outdoor Work and Conference Space

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

If Covid-19 accelerated an interest in healthier buildings, then landscaping, and its ability to leverage the health benefits of nature, will be front and center in any master plan that defines how we bring people back to work.

Landscaping opportunities that lead to stronger returns are those that respond to sustainability concerns, including automation, green technology, operational and energy efficiency, climate resiliency, resource conservation, and safety.

At ELM, we’re not only on top of these trends, we’re driving them. Here are our top 7:

• Bring nature to work. Incorporate outdoor conference space, green terraces, green roofs and walls, indoor atriums, water features, container plantings, natural light, texture and foliage, for improved air quality and ventilation.

• Create wow factors. Add seasonal color, flowering perennials, foliage texture for curb appeal, and native and adaptive plants to save water and maintenance.

• Dress it up. Prepare beds with fresh mulch, prune trees and shrubs, cull diseased and infested plants, power wash outdoor surfaces, eliminate weeds and unwanted plants.

• Invest in smart technologies. Upgrade irrigation infrastructure to offset water as the fastest growing utility expense. Invest in smart water technology to support and encourage conservation, and improved groundwater and stormwater filtration and management systems to support water quality.

• Renovate hardscape, pathways, paved surfaces, terraces, decks, and outdoor built elements to repair winter wear and tear, improve safety and manage risk.

• Add tenant amenities such as outdoor Wi-Fi, green roofs, LED lighting, outdoor television, dining areas, bocce ball, putting greens or jogging and bike paths.

• Replace underperforming turf with drought tolerant native plants and meadow-style perennials to improve aesthetics; invest in tree cover, rain gardens and bioswales, and permeable surfaces to improve environmental health and water and air quality.

Commercial properties with well-engineered landscapes and green site systems reap savings, financial incentives (tax credits, rebates and stormwater/irrigation credits where applicable), reduced life-cycle and maintenance costs, reduced flood damage, and reduced water bills, while also creating measurable value for property owners and tenants both.

If you’re looking to innovate, meet sustainability and LEED credits, or transform your building’s underperforming outdoor areas into functional conference space, contact Bruce Moore, Jr., president, at ‭(203) 316-5433‬.

It’s Budgeting Season. Three Landscape Trends Re-shaping CRE Outdoor Space

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

In early 2006, if we were to tell you that your lawn would be mowed by a robot, that the cloud was not a delivery system for rain, and that your sprinklers would be controlled by your iPhone, you would have said, ‘what’s an iPhone?’ 

Because in 2006, the device used by more people in the world than any other, did not exist.

Thirteen years ago, when Apple introduced its smartphone, even the most progressively imaginative among us failed to imagine that a pocket-sized digital tool would have the power to change the nature of our lives and create a boundary-less generation of professionals that could work from anywhere.

Big data, the internet of things, automation, video conferencing, smart technologies and collaborative platforms are, today, all part of landscaper’s tool kit.  

Here are three ways we’re using those tools to partner with commercial real estate professionals to drive continuous improvement.

Making outdoor space the new value-add.

Park-like settings, green spaces, shade tree allées and trails – the functionality of a facilities’ exterior landscaped footprint – are being re-configured to accommodate socialization, benefit health and safety, and create a new way of working and learning outside.

As schools move classrooms outdoors, restaurants expand patios, and health care promotes the therapeutic value of healing gardens, property and facility managers are also looking for opportunities to use outside space as an amenity that can contribute to the wellbeing of their workforce, as well as drive tenant retention.

Our landscape upgrade strategies deliver long term benefits in quality and flexibility, both in use and configuration, with smart technologies to enhance connectivity, and the revitalization of plant material to promote biodiversity and drought tolerance.

Optimizing pedestrian flow as the new outdoor amenity.

Pathways, border areas and buffer zones, plazas, walking corridors, sidewalks, bridge crossing, corners, lighting – landscaping is one of the best ways to control pedestrian flow and safety.  

From proper grading and drainage to hazard management, flow is more than social distancing. Having sufficiently wide, clear pedestrian paths that minimize risk and public space that’s risk free is a security priority. Especially in winter.

Prioritizing green tech as the new way forward.

Being ‘green’ gives property/facility owners and managers a number of ways to save on landscape costs due to tax breaks, incentives or others credits provided by utility companies or federal or state governments. 

And because landscaping is more about the environment than ever, building green tech into landscape’s infrastructure not only qualifies for LEED and green credits, but offer solutions that contribute significant savings to bottoms lines.

From corporate Class A to outdoor classrooms, increasingly sophisticated landscape technologies, biodegradable sanitation and smart sensors are changing the way properties become eco-friendly, energy-efficient and sustainable. These include, innovations in stormwater management, green roofs, water conservation programs, rain gardens and bioswales. 

ELM is not only leading improvements in commercial outdoor space, but building a better platform for service through enhanced communication, accelerated response and delivery, and aerial mapping for site improvements.

To learn more, contact ELM President, Bruce Moore Jr @ 203-316-5433.

Meet our Super Duty® F-350 4x4s

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

From utility to performance and durability, we’re all-in on the rugged reliability of our new fuel-efficient Ford 350s.

Landscapers can’t live without a heavy-duty delivery system and for us, this next generation model promises to out-haul and out-perform any truck we’ve had before. 

Our quest for fuel economy, technological advancements, and smarter ways of working never ends and the impressive mileage data on this model will make our fleet upgrade more cost effective overall.

We customized our crew cabs with Covid-compliant acrylic safety dividers, and added high-capacity cargo containers that will generate less drag, deliver greater engine efficiency, and offer our all-season team greater endurance.

We know there’s no end in sight for ways to shrink our environmental footprint. From streamlining trailers, to burning less fuel, to making major improvements in energy savings, our team is stepping up to power smarter growth. 

To learn more about how landscape efficiencies benefit long-term requirements for doing more with less, contact Bruce Moore Jr, @ 203-316-5433.

Let’s Get Re-Building. Tips to make your post-Covid landscape a healthier space to live, work and play.

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

Making our environment healthier for everyone is likely to be an upside of post-pandemic recovery.

From oxygen-producing street trees to broader walkways and wider spaces, here are ten ways commercial property owners and managers can rehabilitate commercial sites to be more resilient and safer spaces for all.

  1. Widen pedestrian plazas to enable people to spread out.
  2. Construct and protect bicycle paths.
  3. Renovate public gather places, dining terraces, common areas.
  4. Transform underutilized hardscape into landscaped spaces.
  5. Reclaim underperforming landscape areas into broad corridors.
  6. Introduce wide walking trails and sidewalks with lighting, shade trees, and habitat and vector-control buffer zones.
  7. Eliminate redundant landscape infrastructure systems, such as old irrigation grids, and introduce automation and advanced technology to improve cost, eliminate waste and improve resource management.
  8. Optimize amenities as flexible public spaces.
  9. Integrate natural systems, riverbeds, estuaries, habitats, transit areas, medians, and parks at all scales to create a sense of community.
  10. Activate a multi-functional landscape plan that adheres to healthy living/working guidelines and new interaction and safety norms.

Our high-performing teams have been respected members of the integrated landscape design-build and landscape maintenance community for more than 40 years.

Working with general contractors and builders, and directly with building and facility owners and managers to improve project delivery and cost, our full-service framework offers a multitude of ways to get started.

Contact Bruce Moore Jr. at 203-316-5433 or email at bmoorejr@easternland.com.

ELM is licensed and bonded in the States of Connecticut and New York. 

Environmental Planning & Design Professional Bobby Papotto Joins ELM

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

We are pleased to announce that Bobby Papotto, former owner of New Jersey-based landscape firm, Over The Fence Landscaping, joins our Landscape Enhancement Group as project manager. 

In this role, Bobby will partner with commercial real estate organizations to increase and sustain healthy asset value across property segments, and be a resource for improvements that ensure the continued vibrancy of the real estate landscape.

“ELM has a strong team in place, a growing set of enduring relationships and is committed to support our clients’ short and long-term growth objectives,” said Bruce Moore Jr. 

“I’ve always had a tremendous respect for ELM and appreciate what makes them different. I look forward to deepening ELM’s engagement with CRE sector organizations throughout Fairfield and New Haven Counties, and doing what I can to contribute to positive change and a more sustainable future,” said Bobby. 

Bobby earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Planning and Design from Rutgers University. He’s a die-hard lover of all things outdoors, pet- and eco-friendly, and when he’s not solving client problems, you’ll find him in the Connecticut countryside on long hikes with his dog.