Innovating at RMI’s New Innovation Center

This case study describes the construction of the RMI Innovation Center, highlighting the use of Integrative Project Delivery (IPD) to achieve high energy efficiency and cost control. The building serves as a living laboratory to demonstrate mainstream-ready efficiency technologies.

• The RMI Innovation Center is designed for extreme energy efficiency, with an anticipated energy use of 17.2 kBtu/ft2, which is described as the lowest energy use in one of the coldest climate zones in the United States.
• RMI utilized Integrative Project Delivery (IPD), a contracting methodology that uses a multi-party agreement to incentivize collaboration and shared risk and reward. The project used the Hanson Bridgett standard multiparty agreement, and budget overages are funded from a team profit pool known as the incentive compensation layer (ICL).
• The project faced three primary challenges during the IPD process: the need for better onboarding of construction trade partners to ensure communication, the tension between the need for creative innovation and the IPD goal of repetitive optimization to lower costs, and the difficulty of trading costs between the design budget and the PV system, which was funded separately via a power purchase agreement (PPA).
• To maintain collaboration after occupancy, RMI established an operational incentive pool funded by avoided energy costs. A bonus is provided to the architect, MEP, and contractor if the building exceeds its energy use intensity (EUI) target of 19 kBtu/ft2, verified 18 months after occupancy.

APA

RMI (2015). Innovating at RMI’s New Innovation Center. https://rmi.org/resources/innovating-rmis-new-innovation-center/

Chicago

RMI. Innovating at RMI’s New Innovation Center. 2015. https://rmi.org/resources/innovating-rmis-new-innovation-center/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Innovating at RMI’s New Innovation Center |date=18 November 2015 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/innovating-rmis-new-innovation-center/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2015innovating, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Innovating at RMI’s New Innovation Center}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2015}, month = nov, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/innovating-rmis-new-innovation-center/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }