Twenty Year-Old Office Complex Achieves LEED Platinum

SAN DIEGO – Glenborough, LLC, a private full service real estate investment and management company, recently achieved LEED Platinum certification for Existing Buildings in its Aventine office complex located in La Jolla, Calif.

 

The project was managed by Chelsea Group, Ltd., an Illinois-based consulting, engineering and architectural firm, as part of a long-term plan roadmap for all Glenborough properties.

 

“Aventine has embraced an aggressive sustainability management program, and Chelsea Group has been pleased to contribute to that effort,” said George Benda, CEO of Chelsea Group. “We helped by providing a Sustainability Roadmap to identify opportunities and evaluate sustainability investments at the property. Our facilitation of the LEED Certification process at the property represents the culmination of years of teamwork to make the building more efficient — we are really proud of the outcome.”

 

The complex, constructed in 1990, is a Class A office building in La Jolla, Calif., made up of an 11-story tower and an adjacent six-story building, totaling about 253,000 square feet.

 

“Our partnership with Chelsea Group was a key factor in the Aventine reaching this high level of LEED sustainability,” said Carlos Santamaria, LEED AP, Glenborough’s Director of Engineering. “Thanks to Chelsea’s guidance and professional resources, Glenborough was able to maximize this project’s effectiveness and reach a new level of energy efficiency and sustainability.”

 

To decrease energy use and improve occupant comfort, the company implemented an ongoing indoor air quality management program, including installation of MERV-13 filtration, installation of CO2 sensors, and upgrading of the central HVAC plant with environmentally friendly refrigerant.

 

The company also purchased renewable energy credits that save about 2,640,000 pounds of CO2 a year, leading to an Energy Star rating of 100 out of 100.

 

While the building has always remained at a Class A level, the twenty year-old structure was aging, according to Benda.

 

“We were fortunate in that Glenborough recognized the value of not just doing superficial things but also fundamental (modifications),” he said. “They used sustainability as a way to turn the building around.”

 

The complete renovation of the way chilled water is made to cool the building was the biggest part of the project, Benda said.

 

“The chiller plant normally has a 20 year life,” he said. “At the end of that life, rather than do what a lot of people do, which is just call the chiller guy and say put a new one, they made it more efficient and dramatically reduced the energy used in the chilled water plant.”

 

Through the chiller improvement program, the energy use per on hour of chilled water in went from about 1.7 kilowatts hour per ton down to about 0.6, he said.

 

“They saved an entire kilowatt per ton for performance — that’s very, very dramatic,” Benda said. “They saved roughly two-thirds of the energy to cool the building and in San Diego, that’s a big deal.”

 

Benda said that as part of the push for LEED Platinum certification, the company realized the roof needed to be replaced. Rather than install the cheapest they could find, Glenborough opted to put in a good quality, LEED-qualified energy efficient reflective roof, he said.

 

“It’s something that no one would really see but it made a big difference and helped in getting LEED certification,” he said.

 

Benda said that the company hopes the renovations to the Aventine are the first in a series of projects.

 

Glenborough retained Chelsea Group to work on a sustainability management for a portfolio of about ten projects totaling three to five million square feet.

 

In the comparative analysis Chelsea Group conducted of buildings in the portfolio, the Aventine was a top performing building that could readily achieve platinum with everything already in the works, Benda said.

 

On the lower end of the scale was the company’s 1525 Wilson, located in Virginia.

 

“There was a lot of value to harvest there,” Benda said. “You could improve performance and see a great ROI. There was a lot of energy to be saved, a lot of cost to be saved.”

 

While the Aventine had an Energy Star rating of 100, 1525 Wilson’s was 50.

 

“In (1525 Wilson), they invested in it and followed our roadmap and now it’s up there with top performers,” Benda said, adding that the company was working on achieving LEED certification.

 

“We’re very oriented to the portfolio owners and their needs,” Benda said. “Their number one need is a good return on investment, to make sure whatever they’re doing makes financial sense.”

 

In addition to the major areas of energy, water and solid waste, Chelsea Group also focuses on operational aspects such as cleaning procedure, heating, cooling and lighting and related systems.

 

“Air movement and ventilation are very big issues to us — balancing indoor environmental quality and making sure the quality of the space is good,” he said. 

 

Benda said that creating a space both energy efficient and comfortable for occupants takes balance and investment.

 

“Our company has specialized in this,” he said. “When I started the company in 1990 it was with a joint effort of (energy efficiency and comfort) simultaneously. It’s more a question of being smart about it and being willing to make the investment to make it work.”

 

The Aventine has implemented 13 sustainability projects over the last three years, resulting in an estimated energy consumption savings of over 800,000 kWh annually, and an annual cost savings of over $150,000. The company expects the projects to reduce greenhouse gases by more than 575 MtCO2e per year.

 

The company also recently converted to high-performance plumbing fixtures in an effort to reduce water consumption, and achieved 41 percent water usage savings over the baseline, according to the release.

 

The building uses 100 percent reclaimed water for irrigation, with building management providing waste reduction, recycling, paper shredding, and landscape composting programs for tenants and building staff.

 

“Achievement of Platinum (certification) for a 20 year-old building is a very rare thing,” he said. “Most of the buildings we work with are in that age range and it is really a pleasure to see an owner make the necessary investments and bring the building up to not only contemporary standards but make future improvements.”