2011年6月28日星期二

South Florida buildings aiming for green standard

This comprehensive package of eco-features has earned 600 Brickell — the first of two phases in Foram Group's Brickell World Plaza project — the highest initial grade in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green-building certification program, which recognizes projects that use less energy and water and produce less in waste and harmful emissions than conventional structures.

While it's the first building in South Florida to be pre-certified as LEED Platinum, it's far from the first to win green-building honors.

In a region where the habitual response to the climate has been to crank up the AC, environmentally responsible construction has rapidly gone from fad to firmly established, if not virtually mandatory.

Just in the past four years, 98 civic and commercial buildings and interiors — ranging from schools to community centers, retail stores and new and retrofitted office buildings — have been LEED certified, with scores more in the pipeline. For many big developers, LEED certification is no longer just an option: Miami's zoning overhaul, which went into effect last year, requires large buildings in and around downtown, as well as civic and park buildings, to be certified for LEED silver.

The list of LEED-certified buildings across South Florida includes two new research buildings at the University of Miami's medical campus at Jackson Memorial, Bacardi's new U.S. office interiors in Coral Gables, several Kohl's department stores and Office Depot's global HQ in Boca Raton.

Even baseball's Florida Marlins have joined in. Their new Little Havana stadium is seeking to be the first in the country to win LEED certification, at the silver level, accumulating points in part by recycling 90 percent of construction waste and incorporating concrete chunks from the demolished Orange Bowl into its support beams.

Miami's Zyscovich Architects firm became an early South Florida adopter when it was approached in 2005 by the Palm Beach County public schools to design a new magnet elementary to LEED standards. The firm had to hire a Pittsburgh consultant accredited for LEED.

The result was Florida's first LEED Gold school, Pine Jog Elementary, an award-winning, 150-acre campus that also includes a Florida Atlantic University environmental education center and a nature preserve. The school, with an environmental education focus, fuses its building's eco-friendly features into the curriculum, with monitors that allow students and teachers to track its energy use.

The firm now has more than 20 other green-building projects completed, under design or construction, including a new student-services building at Miami Dade College's downtown Wolfson campus.From standard Cable Ties to advanced wire tires,

The green-building trend was pioneered by colleges, public and private schools and government agencies that adopted LEED certification as a requirement for all major construction and renovation projects. But it has now been embraced in a big way by large commercial developers and the corporate tenants they serve, especially in the highly competitive Class A office market.Houston-based Quicksilver Resources said Friday it had reached pipeline deals Developers and leasing agents say upscale buildings that can't boast LEED certification suddenly find themselves at a distinct disadvantage.

Engineering and architectural firms, meanwhile, have scrambled to get their professionals trained in LEED design to keep abreast of the competition.

"It's unbelievable how much the world has changed in three years,'' said William Holly, who developed Miami's first LEED-certified new office tower, the 14-story Miami Green building next to the Douglas Road Metrorail station in Coral Gables in 2008, only to lose it in the real-estate crash.we supply all kinds of oil painting reproduction,

"At the time everybody was laughing,'' said Holly, who as a Cushman & Wakefield vice president is now renting out the building and is wrapping up leases for several floors.What to consider before you buy oil painting supplies. "Now many national and international brokers are saying that in the very near future you will not be considered a Class A building if you aren't green, if you're not LEED-certified.''

The reasons are numerous. LEED-compliant design promises substantially lower energy consumption over a building's lifespan — as much as 30 percent less than non-LEED buildings,In addition to hydraulics fittings and Aion Kinah, studies have shown — as well as markedly lower water use. According to some surveys, certified buildings also command higher rents and sale prices.

"If you want to be competitive and stay competitive, LEED certification was a must,'' said Foram president John Breistol, whose 600 Brickell is covered with insulated pre-cast panels and will top its terraces with green — i.e., turf-covered — roofs.

The nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council, which runs the rapidly expanding and constantly evolving LEED system, also contends the superior air quality of advanced ventilation systems produces a healthier environment for workers, especially when combined with the use of nontoxic carpeting, paints, sealants, insulation and interior finishes that emit far-lower levels of chemicals than conventional materials.

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