Balfour Beatty Construction Offices Achieve LEED Certification

(3BL Media) Dallas, Texas - March 5, 2012 - After years of assisting clients in achieving LEED certification for their facilities, Balfour Beatty Construction earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications for two of its own office locations on the East Coast.

In Fairfax, Virginia, the company’s North Region achieved Gold certification under the LEED for Commercial Interiors (LEED C-I) rating system for its new headquarters facility at the Bridgewater Corporate Center. And in Charlotte, North Carolina, the company’s Carolinas Division achieved LEED C-I Silver certification for its new headquarters in Charlotte’s historic South End. LEED for Commercial Interiors is the U.S. Green Building Council’s rating system applicable to tenant improvements in new or existing office space.

“Our commitment to sustainability goes far beyond helping others achieve environmental design. We work to incorporate this same responsible design into the facilities we occupy and work in,” said Tracy Browne, the company’s vice president of sustainability. 

The North Region headquarters was designed and built using an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) method, which earned the project two LEED Innovation and Design pilot credits. Balfour Beatty worked with design partners Fox Architects and Engineered Systems Alliance to design and build a space that reflects the company’s collaborative culture and commitment to sustainability.

In support of Balfour Beatty’s global Sustainability Roadmap, the IPD team designed and installed systems to track carbon emissions and electrical use, allowing Balfour Beatty to track actual performance of energy-saving strategies and seek ways to continue reducing energy consumption. Steve Smithgall, division president, emphasized, “The LEED C-I Gold certification of our new headquarters starts us off on the right sustainability path. Now we are striving to continue to find ways to reduce our impact through constant monitoring, aggressive strategies and innovative thinking.”

In Charlotte, North Carolina, the new office encompassed 30,000 square feet of converted space, from a former 1920s knitting mill and adjacent office space. The company chose the South End location for many reasons, including the adaptive reuse of a historic site, easy access to Charlotte’s center city via the Lynx Light Rail, as well as the wide range of nearby amenities.

Balfour Beatty collaborated with architecture firm Gensler and Charlotte-based Optima Engineering to create a space that preserved the building’s historic significance while incorporating innovation characteristic of the modern workplace. The space also earned a City of Charlotte’s Commercial Building Retrofit Energy Efficient Grant in October 2011.

“The location in Charlotte fulfills Balfour Beatty’s priority to provide additional service and convenience for our corporate, professional services, and public sector clients and enhances our ongoing community engagement focus,” said John Woodcock, Carolinas division president.

These two new resource-efficient office spaces and the eco-friendly construction practices that created them are helping Balfour Beatty achieve several environmental sustainability goals under its ambitious Sustainability Roadmap. These goals for 2012 include reducing both greenhouse gas emissions and water use by 10 percent, reducing landfill waste by 50 percent, and maximizing the use of recycled content in building products and materials. The following are some of the sustainable features that helped the new offices achieve their LEED status:

• Energy efficient systems and equipment that significantly reduce monthly operating costs
• Occupancy sensors that automatically shut off lights in unused rooms
• Use of high recycled content and local/regionally-sourced and produced materials
• High efficiency plumbing fixtures and fittings for increased water conservation
• Energy Star appliances
• Low volatile organic compound (VOC) paint, which aids in maintaining good indoor air quality by reducing toxins and contaminants
• Use of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood, which is sustainably sourced, and salvaged wood that was reclaimed and repurposed
• 98% of construction waste recycled
• 77% of the furniture was reused from previous office spaces

LEED is an internationally-recognized green building certification system established by the U.S. Green Building Council, which promotes sustainable building and practices. Over the past three years, Balfour Beatty Construction has completed approximately $3.4 billion of LEED or other energy and environmentally certified construction. The company has more than 350 LEED Accredited Professionals and LEED Green Associates.

For more information on Balfour Beatty Construction’s sustainability initiatives, visit www.balfourbeattyus.com/sustainability.