A new bottling plant for Nestle Waters North America in Pennsylvania, the interior of Seventh Generation’s headquarters in Vermont and a historic Atlanta office building have received gold-level green building certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards, while the new corporate offices for the Tower Companies have attained a LEED platinum rating.

The certifications were among the top-ranking ratings recently awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council, based in Washington, D.C.

Nestle Waters Plant

The Nestle Waters Pure Life plant in Upper Macungie Township, a suburb of Allentown, Pa., celebrated its certification in an event on Friday. The facility is the first food manufacturing plant in the state and the first of Nestle’s U.S. facilities to earn a LEED Gold rating.

Energy-saving elements at the 576,530-square-foot plant include high efficiency lighting, HVAC and controls systems and other measures that enable the site to save an estimated 9.9 billion BTUs of energy annually, enough to heat 125 homes for a season, Nestle says.

Water-saving fixtures, reduced irrigation for landscape, management of stormwater runoff and other conservation efforts are expected to save 220,000 gallons of water a year -- 55 percent better than required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Steps taken to reduce waste and use resources efficiently during the building project include the recycling or salvaging of 75 percent of the construction waste, using recycled content in more than 50 percent of the building materials and limiting long-haul transportation of materials so that about 60 percent came from local sources.

Nestle now has six plants, amounting to more than 2.5 million square feet of manufacturing production space, that are LEED certified: Plants in Cabazon, Ca., Madison County, Fla., Red Boiling Springs, Tenn., and Hawkins, Texas, have LEED Silver ratings. A plant in Stanwood., Mich., which received LEED certification in 2003, was the first food and beverage manufacturing site in the U.S. to earn a USGBC green building rating.

Green building and energy and water efficiency were major focal points in the first corporate citizenship report from Nestle Waters North America, which the company issued last October.

Seventh Generation

The first phase of the new 19,000-square-foot interior of Seventh Generation’s headquarters in Burlington, Vt., received LEED Gold certification for its use local wood products from sustainably managed forests, recycled insulation and workstation materials, recycled fiber carpeting that’s free of toxic fumes, paints and sealants that have no volatile organic compounds; energy- and water-efficient fixtures, natural daylighting, integrated composting and recycling services.

Seventh Generation, which announced its certification last week, said employees played a big role in the design process from providing initial input to participating on a team that worked with green design firm Maclay Architects to create the work space.

The Hurt Building

In Georgia, the historic 18-story Hurt Building -- which was built in 1913 and is one of Atlanta’s earliest skyscapers -- attained gold certification under the LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (LEED-EB: O&M) standard. Building performance efficiency and real estate company Servidyne Inc. worked with the Harbor Group Management Co., general manager of the Hurt Building, to achieve the rating.

Environmentally friendly elements in the 436,340-square-foot office building include improved energy and water efficiency and a reduction in the amount of waste sent to landfills. Servidyne, which announced the certification on Monday, also helped develop standards for exterior building management, green cleaning, waste management and sustainable purchasing practices at building.

The Tower Oaks Building

The Tower Companies took the opportunity last week to recap the group’s green building achievements with the announcement that its corporate offices in Rockville, Md., had received a platinum rating under LEED for Commercial Interiors (LEED- CI). The building at 2000 Tower Oaks Boulevard received a platinum rating under the LEED for Core and Shell (LEED-CS) standard in April, when it became the first ground-up office building in the region to receive the highest possible LEED rating.

The 200,000-square-foot building was co-developed by Lerner Enterprises and designed by Kishimoto.Gordon.Dalaya PC. It was built using Vedic principles of orientation, placement and proportion, which are believed to improve the health, enhance job performance and ultimately the success of the building occupants.

Autodesk Gallery

Other recent recipients of LEED Platinum ratings include the Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco. The platinum rating awarded to the design software firm under the LEED-CI standard in May was only the second in the state of California.

The design firms Anderson Anderson Architecture and HOK, general contracting firm DPR Construction and law firm Hanson Bridgett worked with Autodesk to renovate the space that houses the gallery.

University of Florida

The University of Florida brought that state its first LEED Platinum rating in May. The Southwest Stadium Expansion and Renovation Project involved 30,600 gross square footage (GFS) of new construction and 31,800 GSF of renovated space for offices, meeting rooms, a weight room, an interactive exhibition/reception area and support space for the university's football program.

LEED-CI in the Middle East

Earlier in spring, the TECOM Investments’ Management Office in the Dubai Internet Building became the first commercial office space in the Middle East to receive a LEED-CI platinum rating. Green attributes include reuse or retention of 77 percent of the existing structure and 40 percent water reduction on the first floor. In addition, 90 percent of the firm’s equipment is Energy Star-rated.

_{The new bottling plant in Pennsylvania -- Image courtesy of Nestle Waters North America.}