Impact Estimator helps Bank of America Tower obtain the Whole Building LCA Credit, and achieve LEED® V4 Platinum certification.

ID=2918 :: post_name=bank-of-america :: post_title=Bank of America Tower :: post_status=publish :: post_type=page :: post_category=Array

Bank of America Tower, Skanska Commercial Development

Houston, TX
Project completion 2019

“The Athena Impact Estimator exposed the largest contributors of environmental impacts to our building. This allowed us to obtain the Whole Building LCA Credit, and achieve LEED® V4 Platinum certification.”
– Dirk Kestner, PE, NCEES, LEED® AP BD+C
Director of Sustainable Design – Walter P Moore
Athena Impact Estimator Power User

 

Bank of America Tower is one of only three projects in the United States to achieve LEED v4 Core and Shell Platinum Pre-Certification.

In order to attain the Platinum LEED certification, the project needed to maximize the revamped Materials and Resources credits. This included the Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment credit. Bank of America Tower is the only project in the LEED v4 Beta program to attempt this credit. To achieve the credit, which recognizes a building’s reduction in the impacts associated with manufacturing and installing materials, Walter P Moore used the Athena Impact Estimator to help quantify the significant sources of environmental impacts. Based on the studies, the team targeted the concrete mixes for environmental performance optimization, which lead to a projected 19% reduction in Global Warming Potential and a 12% reduction in Acidification.

The LEED Platinum pre-certified tower will use 25% less energy than its counterparts, according to the developer Skanska. The tower will boast a 50,000-gallon rainwater collection system for landscape irrigation and bathrooms; a bike storage room with lockers and showers; a facade that reduces solar heat; and district cooling for chilled water in the facility.

The project team includes Skanska Commercial Development, Gensler, Wylie Consulting Engineers and Walter P Moore.

SUSTAINABILITY FEATURES:

  • The LEED Platinum pre-certified tower will use 25% less energy than its counterparts.
  • Using the Impact Estimator, the design team developed a strategy to optimize the environmental performance, which led to a projected 19% reduction in Global Warming Potential and a 12% reduction in Acidification Potential.
  • The concrete mix used in the mat foundation placement was optimized using the Impact Estimator saving 1 million pounds of CO2.

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Renderings courtesy of Skanska Commercial Development