LEED status conferred

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is no longer an alien concept in the realm of the United States of America and is being looked at as the platform that can help the country brave the brunt of the ongoing downturn and triumph finally. It is developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) that provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction. Since its inception in 1998, LEED has grown to encompass more than 14,000 projects in the United States and 30 countries covering 1.062 billion square feet (99 km²) of development area.

Hence, it is not an easy task to attain the coveted LEED certification and whoever achieves it, it is esteemed exceedingly. Well, for this month, it is surely the Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant in Gurnee, IL, which earned LEED Platinum under the new LEED for Retail platform. It is basically a freestanding building that was completed last year and includes a 2,500-gallon underground water cistern for rainwater harvesting, LED lighting and Energy Star-rated kitchen equipment.

The next one is The American Institute of Architect’s Center for Architecture that did earn LEED Platinum and the 43-story US Bancorp Tower was certified at the Silver level. Both buildings are in Portland, freshwater port and largest city in Oregon. It was the year 1880 when the 5,000-square-foot Center for Architecture was built and was recently refurbished in order to include a “living” vegetative wall on the south face and an underfloor HVAC distribution system. The 1 million-square-foot US Bancorp Tower was built in 1983 and is owned by LaSalle Investment Management.

Apart from this, another organization in Portland earned the coveted status and it is Melvin Mark Cos. earned the first Four Globes rating for an existing building from Green Globes at its 15-story Columbia Square office tower.

The other organizations that did triumph included Beacon Capital Partners, The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Trammell Crow, Principal Real Estate Investors.