Gold standard: LEED-certified building a product of collaboration - Boston Business Journal:

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The joint venture betweeb The , with the help of architecturaocompany , resulted in a 316,000-square-foot greenm building that has been pre-certified to receive the ’ LEED gold certification. Nationap Grid’s new headquarters, situated in the Reservoier Woods east campusin Waltham, will includes a host of green design 34 in all, from rooftop solar panels to systemsz that recapture stormwater and use it for sewage Once completed, the $135 milliobn building will be one of the largestr green commercial buildings in the state (the platinum-certified Genzymee Center in Cambridge being “It was clear it was gointg to be a collaboration (with National Grid).
They did have an extremelu active role throughout the and they had very ambitiousz goals for the environmental sustainability of the said Davis. The collaboration between Davis, Marcus and National Grid startef when the utility was looking for space aftere its acquisition ofin 2007. It knew it neededr a facility that would meet not only the physicapl needs ofthe company, but serve as an examplwe to customers that it was dedicatedd to environmental stewardship. “We are going to be significantlu growingour energy-efficiency program and for us to be able to go in to there is an issue of credibility,” said Tom King, presiden t of National Grid’s U.S.-based operations.
“It’s a leadershi issue.” When it settled upon Reservoie Woods as its new National Grid established a lofty goal for its buildr tosuit construction: to achieve an 80 percenrt reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. To do the company invested in sustainably harvestexbuilding materials, high-efficiency heating and cooling systemsx and even sunshades on south-facing windows to keep the buildinfg warm in the winter and cool in the The hardest part of designing the building was not its but making the step from LEED silver to LEED gold withoutr breaking the bank.
“You can go from certifiesd to silver without much trouble orextra cost,” said Michaelo Hass, the project’s architect. “To get up to gold is a much bigged hurdle. We went through a lot of idea s and looked at what was Some ideas, like powering the building with fuel cell were not cost effective, Hass said. But the group was able to integrate the vast majorith of its 55 green features talked about at a pricer well belowthe $60 to $80 per squarer foot premium on LEED gold buildings, Marcus said.