Seattle Building First for LEED Dynamic Plaque Re-Certification

August 5, 2015 2482 Views Banks County, Hourigan Construction, Kastle Solar, Kimball Office, Northwest Wisconsin Cancer Center, remote

SEATTLE — A commercial office building in downtown Seattle is the first building in the country to receive a LEED Dynamic Plaque re-certification.

The 336,000-square-foot building — Dexter Horton — is owned by Gerding Edlen, a property manager and developer based in Portland, Ore. Gerding Edlen partnered with the USGBC on the re-certification, which measures the real time performance of existing LEED-certified buildings for energy, water and waste conservation as well as the building’s tenant experience and use of alternative transportations.

Dexter Horton earned a LEED Gold certification with a total of 70 points. The building earned 29 out of the maximum 33 points in the energy efficiency category and 6 out of 8 points in the waste category, which emphasizes the building management’s strong recycling and composting programs.

Additionally, more than 65 percent of the occupants surveyed currently commute via alternative transportation, including biking to work using the building’s recently renovated bike room.
The plaque itself is featured in the lobby of the building so guests and tenants can see and measure the building’s performance in real-time.
LEED Dynamic Plaque is a new re-certification pathway for existing LEED-certified buildings. Currently in the pilot phase, the LEED Dynamic Plaque provides a near real-time building performance score based on data spanning energy, water, waste, transportation and human experience.
One unique aspect of the Dynamic Plaque certification is the focus on tenant engagement. Tenant feedback via surveys allows tenants to engage with building management in a new way. Through this process, tenants see the degree to which their actions matter. Choices to recycle and compost, conserve energy and water usage or how to commute are all factored into the certification.
The Dexter Horton building was originally built in 1924 and is located in Seattle’s Central Business District. It has a diverse mix of tenants in the creative and technology industries. The 15-story office building was renovated in 2002, with additional upgrades in 2013, and was awarded LEED Gold certification through USGBC’s new LEED Dynamic Plaque certification in June of 2015.