Atlanta’s Iconic Fox Theatre and Southface Institute Team up to Fortify Sustainability Efforts at the Historic Arts Venue
Staff Report From Metro Atlanta CEO
Tuesday, July 30th, 2019
Southface Institute and Atlanta’s historic Fox Theatre have once again partnered to further strengthen the Atlanta arts venue’s sustainability efforts, save on its operating costs and make the theater an example of resource-efficiency for older buildings. By implementing Southface’s BIT Building program, which guides building managers and operators of any building type (with the exception of single family) through 16 BIT Practices, the Fox Theatre’s operations team will identity and implement changes to make the building even higher performing.
“In addition to the theater’s presence as an artistic hub, we have a robust history of commitment to sustainability and building efficiency in our previous work with Southface,” said Scott Christopher, director of operations for the Fox Theatre. “In 2011, we joined the Atlanta Better Buildings Challenge, in 2012, the Midtown Greenprints program and in 2014, Southface worked for us through Grants to Green. When we heard about BIT Building, we recognized it as an opportunity to further raise the bar.”
BIT Building’s Best Practices include actions like improving water and energy use, improving indoor air quality and reducing waste through data tracking and auditing. As a participant of BIT Building, the Fox Theatre will be supported by a team of experts, and it will join the ranks of other participants who have implemented the practices, such as the Chicago Housing Authority, Google offices in four countries, Atlanta’s own Blue Heron Nature Preserve and Atlanta Community ToolBank.
Making the Fox Theatre Even Better
“BIT Building is a perfect fit for our beloved Fox Theatre,” said Shane Totten, Director of Education and Research at Southface. “The theater’s operations team has facility expertise and is passionate about making progress. BIT Building will give them a sound framework, with tools to holistically improve the building’s performance.”
There is a lot more activity at a theater than what is seen on stage, and BIT will help the Fox function at its most efficient, whether on low-use weekdays or busy weekends. At the initial BIT Building meeting, the team began defining possible solutions to help the building work smarter and healthier, such as tweaking the automatic flush functions in the bathrooms to reduce water usage and ionizing water, rather than chemically treating it.
The Fox Theatre’s past experience with efficiency upgrades, like LED lightbulbs in the iconic 5000-bulb marquee or a replacement chiller in the basement, resulted in a 15% drop in electricity usage and 9% decrease in electric bills between 2009 and 2013.
