First LEED v4 Projects Certified

LEED v4 was just launched, but a commercial interiors project and an existing building are already gleaming with Gold and Silver through the beta program.

Just days after the official launch of LEED v4 at Greenbuild 2013, two projects have already achieved certification: the Haworth Organic Showroom in Beijing (certified Gold under LEED for Commercial Interiors, or LEED-CI) and 1800 K Street in Washington, D.C. (certified Silver under LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, or LEED-EBOM).

Housed in the LEED Platinum Parkview Green, the Haworth Beijing showroom features 60% reclaimed materials, according to the furniture manufacturer. LEDs helped the project decrease modeled energy consumption 59%, and onsite graywater treatment helped reduce modeled potable water consumption 53%, compared with code baselines. The project earned 71 out of 110 points.

With an Energy Star rating of 81 (meaning it performs better on energy and water measures than 81% of similar buildings in the U.S.), 1800 K Street is owned by Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management and managed by Transwestern. The building achieved LEED-EBOM Gold under LEED 2009 simultaneously, earning 64 points under the older system and 52 under the newer one. “The new LEED v4 rating system holds buildings to higher standards, and we are excited to see how much building sustainability improves with these new guidelines,” stated Transwestern’s Allan Skodowski in a press release.

To date, three LEED for Core and Shell projects have also received pre-certification under v4. Numerous New Construction (LEED-NC) projects are in the same v4 beta program that allowed such early certification under the new rating system, but these projects take longer to complete.