Jan 6 2011
Aviva USA’s new headquarters has become the largest LEED-gold certified building in Iowa and one of only five its size or larger in America to achieve that designation, according to the U.S. Green Building Council.
LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The U.S. Green Building Council informed Aviva USA that it had been awarded gold certification on the 360,000-square-foot building. Aviva USA is part of Aviva plc – the world’s sixth-largest insurance group and the first global insurance company to become carbon-neutral.
Aviva’s project becomes the 24th LEED gold building in Iowa and only the fourth in metropolitan Des Moines.
“Environmental responsibility and sustainability is a core value of our corporation,” said Chris Littlefield, president and chief executive officer of Aviva USA. “We knew from the start that attaining gold-level LEED certification would be a challenge given we were building from scratch on a new site. We are so proud that our commitment to designing and building an environmentally friendly U.S. operations headquarters has been recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council.”
Aviva USA is a sales leader of indexed life insurance and indexed annuities. The company broke ground in April 2008 on its U.S. operations headquarters located on the southwest corner of Jordan Creek Parkway and Mills Civic Parkway. In August, Aviva completed relocation of its employees and contractors from three leased locations in downtown Des Moines. Aviva held a grand opening ceremony in October for the eight-story building.
LEED is a voluntary program that defines high-performance green buildings. Certification level is determined through the internationally recognized U.S. Green Building Council rating system, providing third-party verification that a building’s design, construction, operations and maintenance are environmentally focused. LEED determination is based on the number of points earned in the following key environmental impact categories: sustainable sites; energy and atmosphere; indoor environmental quality; water efficiency; materials and resources; and innovation in design.
“Building operations are nearly 40 percent of the solution to the global climate change challenge,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair of the U.S. Green Building Council. “While climate change is a global problem, innovative companies like Aviva are addressing it through local solutions. Aviva is an important addition to the growing strength of the green building movement.”
“When we first began planning this project, we were targeting silver certification and decided during the construction process to go for gold,” Littlefield said. “Achieving this milestone is one for which our company, our 1,300 employees and contractors working in the building and the design and construction partners on this project can all be proud. Our workplace embodies the best practices in eco-friendly construction.”
Among the project’s many features that contributed to gold-level certification are:
- motion-sensor and auto-dimming lighting in offices and conference rooms;
- renewable woods;
- high-efficiency ventilation systems, with individual air flow controls for each employee;
- Iowa limestone and other materials quarried or purchased locally;
- a food waste grinding/composting system in the cafeteria;
- a solar-powered trash compactor;
- water-efficient fixtures;
- a pond system that collects and retains rainwater runoff, which is then used for irrigation, limiting water usage;
- an established wetland habitat on the southwest corner of the campus;
- priority parking for low-emitting and fuel-efficient vehicles, as well as for those employees who carpool;
- direct access to natural light for more than 95 percent of employees.
Source: http://www.avivausa.com/