Platinum-inspired High-Rise an Environmentally Conscious Development
So far, only a handful of platinum-certified buildings have been built, or even planned, so advocates of "green" building were thrilled when the Durst Organization and the Bank of America broke ground earlier this month on One Bryant Park, in New York, a 52-story skyscraper that aims to be the first high-rise office building to achieve such a rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.
So far, only a handful of platinum-certified buildings have been built, or even planned, so advocates of "green" building were thrilled when the Durst Organization and the Bank of America broke ground earlier this month on One Bryant Park, in New York, a 52-story skyscraper that aims to be the first high-rise office building to achieve such a rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The bank's new headquarters will open in 2008 and will showcase how clever design and technology can reduce pollution and operating costs while enhancing the health and productivity of occupants. And the project is already focusing more attention on the rapidly expanding influence of a group of green building standards known as LEED, for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
The Green Building Council, which was founded in 1993, received early financial support from the Department of Energy. Since the standards were published in 2000, a small but growing number of federal agencies, states and local governments have been incorporating them in laws and regulations governing the construction of new public buildings. Some have also given financial incentives or fast-track permits to private developers who use LEED.
Unlike traditional industrial standards, which specify things like which radio frequency a wireless communications product can use or how large electrical outlets should be, LEED is like a Chinese restaurant menu of environmentally friendly goals. Its standards are divided into categories including energy efficiency, water conservation, and use of recycled and recyclable materials.
Credits can also be accumulated for using paints and carpets that reduce chemical emissions and for designs that maximize the amount of natural light and outdoor views available to workers. Especially innovative designs, construction practices and maintenance plans can qualify for extra credits.
LEED certification, including the level a building achieves, is based on an independent review by an auditor accredited by the Green Building Council.
Even the most enthusiastic supporters concede that platinum-rated LEED structures are more expensive than a typical commercial or institutional building of the same size. One Bryant Park, for instance, is a $1 billion project that included several unusual expenses like an electricity generating station, which is to meet most normal electrical needs. In addition, heat generated by the $10 million, 4.6-megawatt power plant will be used to make ice at night to help air-condition the building. The building will also capture and reuse all rainwater and wastewater and will be built largely from recycled and recyclable materials. It will make extensive use of lighting and dimming systems that reduce electrical light levels when daylight is available. Another energy-saving and air-quality feature is a system that ventilates the building by delivering air from an under-floor system instead of using overhead ducts.
The additional investment to achieve platinum status averages from 6 percent to 7 percent of total building costs, according to estimates from the Green Building Council. But the same research is showing that less-ambitious LEED-certified buildings can be completed at no additional cost or, in some cases, at lower cost than standard construction once designers and construction firms gain experience with the green building materials and construction processes.
S. Richard Fedrizzi, president and chief executive of the Green Building Council, which is based in Washington, maintains that green investments pay for themselves over time, often in energy savings alone, and produce such large health and productivity benefits that building any other way is embarrassing.
The latest evidence, according to Fedrizzi and others, comes from a study that the State of California commissioned last year to evaluate 33 LEED-certified buildings. It concluded that they cost an average of $4 more a square foot, but that over a 20-year period they would generate savings of $48.87 a square foot (in current dollars) for standard- and silver-certified buildings, and $67.31 for gold- and platinum-certified buildings.
More than 75 percent of the projected benefits were attributed to reduced absenteeism, higher productivity, lower turnover and other human factors, said Gregory H. Kats, the principal author of the study. Mr. Kats, a former Department of Energy official, runs Capital E, a consulting firm in Washington.
The report based such conclusions on the results of unrelated studies of the impact of features like natural lighting and local temperature controls on students and office workers rather than on any preliminary data from the new California buildings.
The biggest hurdle has been that the initial LEED standards are tailored to buildings occupied by their owners or occupied primarily by a single major tenant — the Bank of America, for instance, will be the main occupant at One Bryant Park. That situation makes it easier to integrate design and construction, and means that owners are more likely to take a longer-term perspective on their investment.
Last fall, the Green Building Council sought to make LEED methods more appealing for commercial buildings by publishing two sets of proposed standards. Under the first, called LEED Core and Shell, speculative developers could seek LEED certification for the basic interior and exterior structural elements of their buildings. The second, LEED Commercial Interior, would apply to work done to finish such buildings once tenants were attracted. The pilot version of the core and shell standard is guiding construction of the 52-story building going up on the site of what used to be 7 World Trade Center, which is scheduled to open at the end of 2005.
Seven World Trade Center may have to share bragging rights with the Hearst Building at Eighth Avenue and 56th Street, which would become the first LEED-certified skyscraper under the whole-building standards, if it is completed as planned in June 2006.
Related Topics:
