St. John applies for LEED certification
07/24/07 • Posted in: Downtown Jacksonville, Eco, Southbank by Joey Marchy 8 Comments »
The Jacksonville Business Journal reports:
The developer of The St. John, a proposed residential high rise Downtown, has registered for certification in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. Source: Hines goes for green designation for The St. John
Basically LEED is a is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. It promotes sustainable building by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. Here is a link to the LEED page for new construction.
This won’t be the first time Hines, the developer, has received LEED certification so this bodes well for The St. John. The JBJ reports: “Hines has received LEED certification on several projects, including the Gold status for the 1180 Peachtree building in midtown Atlanta, and the One South Dearborn 40-story office tower in downtown Chicago was the first office tower in the state to receive certification.”
Storm water collection and filtration is a hot topic for LEED developers. The St. John should pay close attention to managing storm runoff and all the oil, fertilizer and chemicals it gathers along the way. If they can collect, filter and reuse the storm water some how it, it will never pollute the St. Johns River. For more on LEED certification check out the US Green Building Council.
Just another bit of eco friendly news to report in what seems to be a recurring trend in Jacksonville and around the country. Peyton signs the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement and Gov. Crist signs off on sustainability. Jacksonville also has two sustainability blogs now: Sustainabuild and Sustainable Jax. Thanks to Tony for the tip on Sustainabuild!
Any idea on how their sales are going and when we can expect them to break ground?
This shit means nothing if it never gets built….
The JBJ article says:
Groundbreaking for the 640,000-square-foot, 300-unit tower located just feet from the St. Johns River is scheduled for later this year. … Hines expects to receive certification after the building is complete in 2009.
Energy efficiency from an all glass building? Color me skeptical.
can’t that be done with special tinting on glass, plus new double paned glass. i see infomercials all the time about new windows that will reduce my heating and cooling bills by hundreds!
It can be done.
Thanks for the reference to Sustainabuild. We definitely appreciate it and hope the word gets out about the efforts of LEED constructors in Jacksonville. Speaking of which….
There are a number of LEED-registered project in Northeast Florida, ranging from condos and commercial office spaces to all sorts of institutional projects. (JBJ did a list of some of them in the Building Green Issue). LEED currently has standards and certifications for New Construction, Existing Buildings, Commercial Interiors, and Core and Shell. LEED for Homes and LEED for Neighborhood Development are both in their pilot stage right now. Once those roll out, we should hopefully see master-planned communities embracing sustainable design and the homes and commercial spaces within them… All LEED certified.
How cool. :-)
The North Florida Chapter of the USGBC is actively commiting resources to increasing membership, public advocacy, research and education. All of which will result in great things for Jacksonville environment.
(PS: Regarding the glass… Low emissivity glass controls heat transfer through a window. Dependent upon the regional needs and the direction the windows will face determines the emissivity factor. Basically, if you need to block solar heat transfer from outside coming in, you apply the thin, nearly transparent coating to the outside. If you want to hold the heat in for a colder climate, you apply the coating on the inside. V. awesome stuff and often used in LEED-certified structures.)
Thanks again for the plug. :-)
Yes, thanks for mentioning SustainableJax.org, too.
There’s a one-day Sustainability Conference currently in the works, coming up in November, taking place at UNF. I was asked to help administer the event, so as details unfold I will let you all know more about it.
Otherwise, I’ve not been able to post so much lately. Thank Goodness Flog, Urban Core, Urbanjacksonville, Jax Green, and Metro Jacksonville have been doing such a good job of keeping up with Sustainability news and views. If I forgot anyone, please forgive me.