Leading In LEED

In Georgia, being good stewards of the environment isn’t just about protecting and conserving the state’s natural resources. Georgia is also leading the way in environmentally-responsible construction and renovation.

Developed and administered by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) program, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a green building certification system that ensures that a building or community was designed, built and will be maintained with strategies for protecting the environment.

LEED has been an important part of Georgia’s growth and there are many examples of how the state is a leader in environmentally-responsible projects:

• The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has more LEED-certified buildings than any other state agency in the nation.
• Abercorn Common shopping center in Savannah was the nation’s first all-retail LEED Core & Shell project, and the shopping center’s McDonald’s® restaurant was the company’s first LEED-certified store in the world.
• The home office of the Arthur M. Blank Foundation was the Southeast’s first LEED Gold-certified office building.
• The first high-rise office building in the world to receive LEED certification is located in the Atlantic Station® redevelopment in downtown Atlanta.
• The USGBC named Chamblee the greenest city in the Southeast in 2008 when the city council voted unanimously to require all private development 20,000 square feet or greater to become LEED certified, in addition to all future municipal buildings regardless of size.

In the past six months alone, Georgia has received much national recognition.

• In April, Atlanta’s Philips Arena, home to the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers, achieved LEED for Existing Building Operations and Maintenance, becoming the first NBA or NHL arena to achieve this certification for an existing facility.

• In June,  the historic 18-story Hurt Building -- built in 1913 and one of Atlanta’s earliest skyscapers -- attained Gold certification under the LEED for Existing Buildings Operations & Maintenance standard.

• In September, Edgewood Offices, the first building in the City of Atlanta to achieve LEED Platinum – the top designation – opened its doors to the public. The building is located on Edgewood Avenue in the historic Martin Luther King, Jr. district and was originally constructed in 1946.

Georgia Power is focused on environmentally-responsible construction, too. When the company’s new 25,000-square-foot daycare facility on its corporate campus in downtown Atlanta received Gold certification in March of this year, it became the first childcare facility in the world to be LEED-certified. The company’s second daycare building, located at its Customer Care Center in McDonough, became the second. To date, the two buildings are the only LEED-certified childcare facilities in existence.

Major LEED construction projects are also underway. Emory University, a national leader in certified green building, is expected to cross the threshold of 2 million square feet of LEED construction during the 2009–10 academic year. Three major campus construction projects include campus housing, research space, faculty offices, the undergraduate admissions function and campus bookstore services.

For people interested in advancing green construction technology, Gwinnett Technical College’s Continuing Education Division offers a workshop and exam prep course for those seeking LEED accreditation, a sought-after credential, as well as courses in energy conservation training. In addition, Therrell High School in Atlanta has opened a Center for Advanced Energy Studies which includes preparation for industry certifications such as LEED.

For more information on LEED-certified buildings in Georgia, contact us at econdevga@southernco.com.