Limiting mechanical space will limit city’s growth and resiliency
Published on Sep 27, 2019 by

Together our members build New York City. We build award-winning, highly sophisticated, energy efficient and resilient buildings that set the standards for developers around the world. The construction of residential and commercial buildings is also a tremendous boon to our city’s economy. The New York Building Congress estimates that 2018 saw over $17 billion in residential construction spending, and $23.8 billion went toward commercial development between 2013 and 2017, producing over 73 million new square feet of space, which adds both temporary and permanent jobs to the economy.
For this reason, we are troubled by recent proposals that threaten to stifle the development of tall buildings, which would reduce or eliminate middle-class construction jobs, reduce development, and hurt our overall economy.
The latest effort aims to limit the size of mechanical space in large buildings. Mechanical spaces are an essential feature of modern development as they house the equipment that is required to run a building. With space beneath our streets already occupied by the subways and other essential infrastructure, there is little room to put mechanical equipment other than within the interior of a building.
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Recognizing this reality, current City policy does not artificially limit the amount of mechanical space that can be set aside. However, proposals being considered at both the City and State level would, if enacted, severely restrict the size of mechanical spaces. The proposals grow out of a campaign against building height, and the movement to restrict mechanical space reveals a serious misconception about their need and purpose. Enacting these policies would be a mistake.
Punitive restrictions on mechanical space would make it impossible for buildings to use cutting-edge equipment needed to ensure they run as efficiently as possible. If we are to reach our shared goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it will be critical that buildings be allowed to use the sizeable equipment that will help meet those targets. In fact, as buildings get more efficient, they will need more sophisticated equipment and more mechanical space, not less. The current City policy allows for the flexibility needed to accommodate professional design and engineering of mechanical space, which is vital to improved efficiency and resilience.
Millions of New Yorkers who lived through the devastation of Superstorm Sandy may be unaware that these restrictions would make it more difficult for a building to withstand the next hurricane to hit our city. One of the reasons buildings put mechanical equipment above ground is that it protects the equipment, and the building itself, from flooding. Without the above-ground space in which to put that equipment, however, buildings will be less resilient, leaving us more vulnerable to sea-level rise and future storms.
We know that tall buildings have their detractors. But as the leaders of the organizations whose members build these structures, we also know they are vital to our city and state’s economic success. We hope more policymakers will agree.
Gary LaBarbera is president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. Carlo Scissura is the president and CEO of the New York Building Congress.