Armstrong Headquarters Earns LEED Platinum
LANCASTER, Pa. — Armstrong World Industries’ corporate headquarters building is the first building in Pennsylvania to achieve recertification at the highest level possible under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED-EBOM (Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance) program, the company recently confirmed.
Only 17 buildings globally have achieved recertification under LEED-EBOM. Armstrong is also the first in the country to earn a recertification credit for its acoustic environment.
To attain its Platinum recertification, Armstrong corporate headquarters, also known as Building 701, adhered to strict standards in five categories, including sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality. Two additional categories, innovation in operations and regional priority credits, provided opportunities to earn extra points.
“Recertification allows us to celebrate the things that we have done well from an efficiency standpoint,” said Anita Snader, environmental sustainability manager for Armstrong’s commercial ceilings group.
Several factors contributed to Armstrong’s Platinum recertification. They include offsite, renewable wind energy, which supplies 100 percent of the building’s electrical power; Energy Star certification each year for six consecutive years; reduced energy use at night with a system called Daylight Housekeeping; reduced water usage by 45 percent; and recycling of 63 percent of the building’s waste. Additionally, the building is cleaned with Green Seal-certified cleaning products and 50 percent of occupants commute to work via alternative transportation.
Armstrong’s headquarters building was originally certified LEED Platinum in 2007. Since then, the company has made additional efforts toward sustainability.
“Some of the new things we did as a part of recertification is we budgeted for a new roof for the building. The new roof included a solar reflex index of 78,” said Jim Baker, facilities management director for Armstrong. “We also added LED lamps in the lobby of the building and added some electrical sub-meters to get a better understanding of our lighting operation in the building.”
One area of achievement that stands out for Armstrong is acoustics. When it was originally LEED Platinum certified, Building 701 became the first commercial building in the country to earn an innovation credit for its acoustic design. In 2013, Armstrong made improvements to raise the level of acoustic comfort in the open plan areas and was able to further reduce noise and improve speech privacy, resulting in a 29 percent increase in employee satisfaction.
In awarding the Platinum recertification, the LEED review team found that Building 701 has an acoustic environment that is “measurably superior to that commonly found in conventional buildings to reduce occupant stress and improve comfort and productivity,” making it the first Platinum recertified building to earn an Innovation in Operations Credit for acoustics.
“Employees were happy about the ability to have less noise and more privacy in their workplace,” Snader said.
One of the challenges of going through the recertification process was to make sure the company was keeping in line with the efficiency goals it set out originally when it was first LEED certified, according to Baker.
“From the facilities standpoint, one takeaway was just how important it is to have qualified people that understand the building operation on staff. So many times if you don’t hear from your building occupants complaining or calling you assume that everything is fine, you’re hitting your metrics or you’re building is operating as designed but that’s not always the case. You really need to have your metrics and review those on a monthly basis and understand if you’re meeting those operational metrics so you know you’re saving energy,” Baker said.