Kidder Mathews Sustainability Practices provided Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) consulting to help a new office achieve LEED Gold certification.
The office, located in the historic Pioneer District within Seattle is home to a large technology company. The 130,000 square foot office encompasses three floors of a newly built LEED certified office building. The company chose to locate in the revitalized Pioneer Square neighborhood to be close to other technology companies and to provide employees with all of the benefits of an urban setting. To help ensure employees will take advantage of the public transport, carpooling, and alternate commuting options, the company has a discounted carpool program and the building provides extensive bike commuter infrastructure.
The construction and design team was comprised of SKB Architects of Seattle, Turner Construction as the general contractor, Holaday Parks handled the mechanical design and build, and Nelson Electric was the electrical contractor. Dave Low, Kidder Mathews’ Director of Sustainability Practice, who led the certification process says, “LEED certification for technology companies is sometimes difficult due to their power consumption demands as well as their very specific space requirements. It’s a testament to the team of designers and contractors that we were able to achieve LEED Gold Certification for this project.”
Like many technology companies, the office utilizes open work plan spaces for much of their three floors. This creates interaction while also reducing resource use. Open floor plans also eliminate the need for traditional lighting allowing the office to reduce lighting power by 35%, a significant reduction in resource use while also giving employees control over much of their own lighting.
Working with the general contractor and designers, Kidder Mathews LEED consultants were able to ensure the construction process minimized toxic adhesives and sealants and that all floor covering and paints were without toxic chemicals. The office is also able to increase air circulation throughout the three floors to keep fresh air circulating at all times. Tight controls on material selection enabled the project to utilize recycled materials for 20% of the project while also ensuring that 10% of the materials were locally produced.
About Kidder Mathews
Kidder Mathews is one of the largest independently owned commercial real estate firms on the West Coast, with over 420 real estate professionals and staff in 9 offices in Washington, Oregon, and California. Kidder Mathews offers a complete range of brokerage, appraisal, property management, consulting, sustainability, and project and construction management services for all property types. The firm performs $2.5 billion in transactions, manages over 25 million square feet of space, and conducts 1,300 appraisals annually. For more information, go to www.kiddermathews.com.
About LEED
LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.
Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED provides building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions. For more information, go to www.usgbc.org/leed.
For inquiries, please contact Karen Benoit at 206.296.9600 or email: kbenoit@kiddermathews.com.
