The US Green Building Council declared that The Change Initiative's 4,000 sq m Dubai store has achieved the world's highest LEED Platinum score. The building scored 107 out of 110 possible points, breaking the record of 105 set by the Pixel building in Victoria, Australia, ConstructionWeekOnline said. The Change Initiative sells eco-friendly building and household products.
GLL Real Estate Partners' 200 State Street office building in Boston has earned LEED Gold certification for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance. Managers divert 100 percent of the building's electronic solid waste from landfill, and documented a 79 percent reduction in conventional commuting trips.
Pipe and tube manufacturer JMC Steel Group announced it has achieved LEED Silver for Commercial Interiors certification for its Chicago headquarters. The company is a participant in the city's Green Office Challenge.
The North Carolina senate voted 45-1 in favor of a revised lumber bill that allows the use of third-party certification programs such as LEED in public projects, the Charlotte Business Journal reports. The legislation requires any rating system to give credits or preference to, or promote, materials and furnishings from North Carolina. It also says projects built under such standards must cost less and have lower operating costs than conventional buildings. The House approved an earlier version of the bill – which threatened to prohibit the use of LEED for public projects – last month.
Norisco has achieved ISO 14001 environmental management certification. The IT provider is based in London.
Barnes Aerospace has achieved ISO 14001 certification for US divisions in Lansing, Mich., and Ogden, Utah. The company says it achieved the standard by reducing natural gas and electricity consumption, water use, non-hazardous waste and process waste scrap. Both facilities also upgraded their chemical cleaning lines to reduce environmental impact.
New Zealand's Wellington Zoo says it is the first zoo in the world to achieve carboNZero certification. Organizations certified to the standard have measured their operational greenhouse gas output and created a plan for managing and reducing these emissions. Any remaining emissions are then offset.
