SIG's Top 10 Projects for 2019 SIG's Top 10 Projects for 2019

1180 Peachtree

1180 Peachtree, also known as the “Symphony Tower”, is a 780,036 square foot, 41-story office tower developed by Hines and completed in February 2006 in Midtown Atlanta, GA. The building was the first high-rise office building in the southeastern United States to receive Gold certification under the LEED BD+C: Core & Shell rating system. The office tower contains several green features. A pedestrian terrace and green roof on the 18^th floor provides access to open space for building occupants in a dense, urban area. The building also has a unique water-management system using captured and stored rainwater and condensate from the building’s mechanical system to provide much of the building’s landscape irrigation water, circumventing the need for city water for irrigation. During the LEED performance period, the property performed an ASHRAE Level II Energy Audit to assess areas where efficiencies could be found and energy could be saved. This has helped to gradually raise the building’s ENERGY STAR score, which is currently a 96 – putting the building in the top 4th percentile in terms of energy efficiency for similar sized office buildings. SIG provided LEED Consulting and Engineering services for 1180 Peachtree’s 2nd recertification (and third overall) LEED EB: O+M application in 2019, recertifying at LEED Platinum in October 2019.

VMware Campus

The 29-acre Promontory campus in Palo Alto is home to VMware’s headquarters. All five buildings achieved LEED Gold in 2019. Promontory buildings A and D earned their certification in June and buildings B, C, and E followed closely afterwards in August. Each of the buildings has dual flush toilets, low flow urinals, metered faucets, and low flow kitchen faucets. These low flow fixtures helped all five Promontory buildings reduce their water consumption by over 35% and earn 5 LEED points. For the transportation surveys, each building earned at least 9 transportation points, with Promontory A earning 11 points. Promontory B and D earned maximum points for Energy Efficiency Performance. Promontory A purchased 5 RECs and Promontory C purchased 6 RECs to offset their building’s energy usage. VMware’s Promontory buildings pursued green purchasing with furniture, electric equipment, and lamp purchases. All five buildings on the Promontory campus also earned a point for the extensive native vegetation on-site.

One Market Plaza – Fitwel

SIG provided Fitwel consulting services at One Market Plaza in San Francisco along the Embarcadero. One Market Plaza is a class A office building managed by Paramount Group, Inc. that we previously certified at LEED Platinum through LEED EBOM volume prototype in 2016. After analyzing the building and its local amenities, One Market Plaza was able to achieve a 2-star rating through the Fitwel Certification. Features that helped earned this certification include being walking distance to a farmer’s market at the Ferry Building, a 7^th floor rooftop courtyard, and a bocce ball court that is open and accessible to all building occupants. Features like the farmer’s market are important to Fitwel because they ensure that building occupants have access to locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables which can improve the diets and overall health of building occupants. Providing a therapeutic landscape amenity, such as the rooftop courtyard at One Market, aids in improving employee mental health, reduces stress levels, and can improve overall productivity.

31 W 52^nd Street

31 West 52^nd Street in New York City, under Paramount Group’s management, was awarded 1 Fitwel star this year after scoring 94 points. 31 West 52^nd Street is set in a highly active location near Central Park giving it a WalkScore of 99. This location has ample transit stops, running and walking trails, and a restorative garden for occupants to utilize throughout their day. In 2019 the building achieved LEED O+M Gold certification which helped the project team achieve compliance with all the Fitwel policies including green purchasing and indoor air quality.

8000 Avalon

8000 Avalon is a 9-story office building located in Alpharetta, Georgia. The property is managed by Hines, and SIG consulted the building on energy efficiency and sustainability practices during their LEED EB O+M Gold certification process in May 2019. The certification was bolstered by an energy star score of 99 in 2018 which placed the building in the top 2% of buildings nationwide for its energy performance.

SIG assisted in identifying methods of conserving energy and maintaining the energy star score by performing an ASHRAE Level I Energy Audit as part of the LEED certification process. In this process, SIG identified the following measures to save energy without negatively impacting tenant comfort and operations:

An LED Retrofit for the lights in the mechanical areas of the building
An automatic reset of the Supply Air Temperature setpoint based on the season
An automatic reset of the Static pressure setpoint based on terminal unit damper positions
The installation of regenerative elevators

These measures could amount to annual energy savings of up to 33,000 kWh, equal to $27,000 reduction in utility costs per year.

U.S. Bank Stadium

U.S. Bank Stadium, located in downtown Minneapolis, MN and home to the Minnesota Vikings, achieved LEED Gold certification under the BD+C: New Construction rating system in 2017. After successfully administering a Zero Waste Super Bowl in early 2018, facilities operations staff enlisted SIG to guide the stadium through the LEED v4.1 O+M process. In July 2019, U.S. Bank Stadium became the first professional sports stadium to achieve LEED Platinum certification using LEED v4.1 O+M and the Arc Performance Platform, earning 85 points. The stadium boasts excellent alternative transportation rates with multiple bus lines and a light rail stop just steps away, and also continues to show best-in-class recycling and waste diversion rates of over 80%.

100 Park Avenue

100 Park Avenue, owned and managed by SL Green, is an 889,875 square foot, 38-story office tower located near Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan, New York City. Originally built in 1949, the building underwent a $72 million redevelopment completed in 2008 by renowned contemporary architects Moed de Armas and Shannon (MdeAS). The building offers convenience and top-tier amenities, and boasts a stunning metal and glass façade, a soaring two-story-high atrium lobby, and many infrastructure upgrades. 100 Park Avenue was one of the first buildings in Manhattan to achieve LEED EB: O+M Silver certification in 2009. The building recertified at LEED Gold in 2014. SIG provided LEED Consulting and Engineering services for 100 Park Avenue’s 2nd recertification (and third overall) LEED EB: O+M application in 2019, recertifying at LEED Gold in August 2019 with 64 points. Highlights include high-efficiency plumbing fixtures resulting in a 31% water use reduction, earning an ENERGY STAR label with a score of 75, and an alternative transportation rate over 97%.

Georgia Pacific Center

Georgia Pacific hired SIG to perform commissioning on 22 floors that were being built out. The project was broken up into four phases of construction. The project covered 26 Chilled Water Air Handling Units that were fully tested. The project also consisted of spot checking lighting and all the terminal units for the HVAC.

485 Lexington Avenue

485 Lexington Avenue, owned and managed by SL Green, is an 811,048 square foot, 32-story Class A office building in the heart of midtown Manhattan in New York City, encompassing the entire east side of Lexington Avenue between 46^th and 47^th Streets. The building opened in 1957 and was touted for its modern amenities at the time, specifically by being fully air conditioned. SL Green acquired the property in 2004 and repositioned the building with a 21^st Century upgrade and renovation, including a sleek façade of clear, double-paned annealed glass and painted aluminum curtainwall with 4,000 new windows, a new two-story atrium lobby, and LED lighting. In October 2016, 485 Lexington Avenue achieved LEED v4 EB: O+M Silver certification. In late 2018, SL Green elected to recertify the property, and with SIG managing the LEED Consulting and Engineering effort, the building achieved LEED v4 EB: O+M Gold recertification in January 2019. SIG also provided an ASHRAE Level II energy audit and Retro-Commissioning services for Local Law 87 compliance as part of the LEED effort. This resulted in a five (5) point increase of the building’s ENERGY STAR score within the last year. The building was able to earn the 2019 ENERGY STAR label with a score of 84. As of October 2019, there were 77,199 publicized LEED projects in the United States. 485 Lexington Avenue is one of only 195 buildings in the country and one of 29 buildings in New York City to achieve LEED v4 EB: O+M certification. It is currently the only building to pursue multiple LEED certifications (i.e. recertify) under LEED v4 EB: O+M.

131 M Energy Audit

SIG performed an ASHRAE Level II Energy Audit for 131 M street located in Washington DC, managed by JLL. SIG analyzed the utility consumption of the building by assessing the building’s operations through discussions with the building engineer, monitoring equipment runtimes and by collating equipment powers. The building’s energy performance was also compared against other similar buildings and energy conservation measures were then identified to further improve the energy efficiency of the building. These energy conservation measures were then categorized into two categories; “No and low-cost measures” which are easy and cheap improvements and “Capital measures” which require more significant investment. The low-cost measures included:

Fine-tuning of the lighting and exhaust fan operational schedules to save 80,000 kWh/yr
LED lighting retrofits saving 16,000 kWh/yr

The capital measures included:

Automatic setpoint resets for static pressure and supply air temperature based on the climate and current occupancy of the building saving 19,000 kWh/yr
Installing a real-time energy monitoring service to allow immediate adjustments to building operations in order to reduce peak demand and avoid higher demand pricing, cutting peak demand by 26 kW and saving 73,000 kWh/yr
The installation of a Chilled Water bypass line to allow for free cooling during the winter, saving 37,000 kWh/yr
The installation of occupancy sensors in private and open office spaces in the building saving 16,000 kWh/yr

By implementing all the recommended measures, the building stands to save 444,000 kWh a year, equating to utility cost savings of $64,000 a year, with a total payback period of 1 year and 2 months.