Philadelphia Office Earns City’s First LEED CI Platinum

PHILADELPHIA — Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), a financial and professional services firm, debuted the completion of its Philadelphia office, which is the city’s first LEED Commercial Interiors (CI) Platinum-certified project.

The office’s renovation project, which completed in August, officially began last year when JLL moved to the 10,500-square-foot space on the 25th floor of 1650 Arch Street, a property built in 1974. The building has since undergone green building upgrades to the lobby and mechanical systems.

The new office design was a collaborative effort between JLL’s Project and Development Services team, Commissioning Services and Global Facilities teams, as well as with local experts such as Re:Vision Architecture, InPosse Engineering, LAM Partners, Lutron, Knoll, Herman Miller and Interface.

It was designed using a less-is-more approach, which included a smaller footprint that accommodates 40 full-time employees. The space was designed with the flexibility to accommodate for future growth, and features a mixture of structured and informal meeting spaces that encourage collaboration.

The efficient layout uses an adaptive daylighting control system to optimize energy consumption, which is 55 percent less than the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey’s average for existing office space. The project also focused on improving indoor air quality, which was achieved by carefully selecting building materials during the renovation.

“We wanted to create a space that is efficient, sustainable and also reflects the company values of collaboration and how we view the workplace of the future,” said Michael McCurdy, market director of JLL Philadelphia. “At the same time, we were hoping to create a space that is inviting for our local employees as well as employees and guests who reside elsewhere. Finally, we wanted to capture the feeling of being unique to Philadelphia while maintaining our corporate culture and brand in a fun environment.”

The project is one of only 165 in the U.S. to achieve LEED CI Platinum certification and one of less than 230 in the world. It is the company’s first office to achieve the certification in the Americas after its Hong Kong office achieved the certification in 2011, earning the highest point count — 95 out of 100 — of any LEED project in the world at the time. The company’s Denver office achieved LEED CI Gold certification in January, and its offices in Atlanta; Parsippany, N.J.; and San Diego have received LEED Silver certification.