LEED Roundup: Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Courtyard by Marriott, Office Depot, Mars

by | Oct 1, 2010

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Here’s the latest roundup of some of the most recent businesses and office buildings that have earned the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. These include Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Courtyard by Marriot, Office Depot, and Mars.

Here are highlights for each LEED certification project.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals has earned two LEED for Commercial Interiors Gold certifications for its global headquarters and research facility in Cheshire, Conn.

The company also has received the 2010 Connecticut Green Building Council (CTGBC) Green Advocate Award for its efforts to promote environmental stewardship and sustainable business practices.

In 2009, Alexion installed a solar photovoltaic (PV) system on the roof of its corporate headquarters and research facility. This system, which was made possible by a grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, satisfies up to 9 percent of the location’s energy consumption.

Through onsite recycling programs in 2009, Alexion has diverted more than 45 tons of waste from landfills, including batteries, paper, equipment, metal and carpeting. Alexion also recently installed a new heat recovery system to reduce heating and cooling loads in the company’s laboratories.

In Pennsylvania, Concord Hospitality opened its first LEED-certified Courtyard by Marriott. The new prototype design, which will be used for all future LEED-compliant Courtyards, is expected to reduce energy use by 24 percent annually and save more than 300,000 gallons of water per year. This improved energy efficiency is expected to produce average annual operating savings of $50,000 at current energy costs.

According to Mark G. Laport, president and CEO of Concord, the LEED-certified prototype adds approximately $500,000 in development cost of a Courtyard but the benefits of the design reduces the cost to about $350,00 and results in a projected payback in about six years.

Many of the component parts of the Courtyard’s original engineering were revised to create the LEED prototype. These include a heat recovery energy system that reclaims building exhaust air to pre-heat the building’s fresh air system, an energy management system, energy-efficient light fixtures, an enhanced building thermal envelop and water-saving showers, lavatories, and toilet fixtures.

Office Depot’s global headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida, has been awarded LEED Gold certification. The global provider of office products and services expects an annual savings of over 1.3 million kilowatt hours of electricity and $150,000 in costs thanks to its environmentally sustainable features.

Office Depot say it is the first office supplies retailer with a headquarters building certified under any of the LEED rating systems. The company’s headquarters is also now the first LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance certified building in Boca Raton, Florida and one of ten in the entire state.

Some of the sustainable measures include an underground water retention system designed to handle storm water run-off, a rain sensor system designed to reduce water use during landscape, low-flow aerators installed in sinks to conserve water, energy-efficient interior lighting, and motion detectors throughout the facility to turnoff lights when spaces are not occupied.

The facility is also carbon neutral thanks to Renewable Energy Credits purchased from NextEra Energy.

Mars Chocolate North America’s corporate headquarters facility located in Hackettstown, New Jersey, claims the first private sector Commercial Interiors project in New Jersey to receive LEED Gold certification.

The renovation of the 100,000-square-foot office facility includes the installation of water-conserving fixtures that reduce water use by more than 30 percent, and a reduction in energy use by 15 percent through the use of a newly upgraded building energy management system.

Other features include variable frequency drives, energy-efficient lighting and controls, and an upgraded roof using a highly reflective roofing material that reduces heat gain to the building. The building retrofit also used more than 20 percent recycled content in materials from carpet to ceiling tiles.

Here’s a link to EL’s previous roundup of LEED buildings.

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