A 30-Year Plan for 1,800 Assets: Renton Named a Zero+ Champion of Sustainability

Managing 62 public facilities and more than 1,800 individual assets requires more than responding when something breaks. For the City of Renton, Washington, it meant taking a long-term view of what its buildings would need over the next three decades and creating a roadmap for getting there.

That effort earned Renton recognition as a 2026 Zero+ Champion of Sustainability, an award presented through a McKinstry partnership with Lumen Field that recognizes organizations making measurable progress in environmental stewardship. McKinstry partnered with the city to assess 62 facilities totaling 870,000 square feet, evaluating each asset based on condition, remaining useful life and operational impact. The result was a 30-year capital plan that gives city staff and elected officials a clear framework for prioritizing investments.

But the value of the plan isn’t just in knowing what needs to happen years from now. McKinstry translated the assessment into visualizations that make the data accessible to everyone from facilities staff to community members, while preventive maintenance plans and task lists were loaded directly into the city’s work order system. That gave staff a way to turn long-term planning into day-to-day action.

The city is already putting that roadmap to work. At the Renton Community Center and two Public Works buildings, McKinstry provided mechanical, electrical and structural engineering services to replace aging HVAC systems at the end of their useful lives. At the Public Works facility, new high-efficiency equipment, variable frequency drives and energy recovery ventilators replaced systems that had become so inefficient, the building was losing heat through open bay doors to compensate for poor performance.

At City Hall, an Energy Savings Performance Contract is delivering additional electrical and mechanical upgrades along with new emergency power infrastructure. Each investment supports Renton’s broader Clean Economy Strategy while addressing the immediate needs of the city’s buildings.

For Renton, sustainability isn’t one project or one technology. It’s a long-term approach to deciding where public dollars can have the greatest impact. That combination of planning, measurable improvements and sustained investment is what makes the city a Zero+ Champion of Sustainability.

City of Renton Mayor Armondo Pavone accepting the Champion of Sustainability Award at Lumen Field on Sept. 9