Buildings or developments that are verified and certified as “net zero operational energy and/or carbon.” The building should demonstrate the highest levels of energy efficiency with the use of either renewables generated onsite or renewable energy procured offsite.
Spring @ 8th is the new, LEED Platinum corporate headquarters for NCR, a global leader in consumer transaction technologies. NCR’s software, hardware and portfolio of services account for nearly 550 million transactions. NCR approached Cousins Properties to develop a new class of office building on a site in close proximity to Technology Square in Midtown Atlanta. In 2017, the project became the first LEED Core & Shell Platinum Certified project in Georgia. During early design, Cousins Properties challenged Integral Group with designing building systems supporting LEED Platinum certification that balance water- and energy-efficiency with resilience and cost.
SITE WATER SYSTEMS: The site water table required that foundation dewatering be integrated into the project. In lieu of the typical de-watering approach of harvest and disposal, a reuse approach was proposed and implemented. Site water balance defined an 80% reduction in base building potable water demand through the harvesting, treatment and reuse of contaminated groundwater and rainwater. A cost-benefit analysis determined that a simple payback of 12 months for implementation of a harvesting, treatment and reuse system. Groundwater is being harvested treated and reused. SITE
ENERGY SYSTEMS: The project represents a 35% reduction in utility power consumption relative to an ASHRAE 90.1 Baseline at an Energy Use Intensity of 35 kBTU/SF/year. An on-site, 160kW solar PV array over open-air portion of parking deck predicted to generate 250,000 kWh of renewable power annually. Through collaborative, integrated design, the cost premium on the developer’s initial project budget to deliver the building energy system represented less than 0.5% of the total budget.
In 2017, the project became the first LEED Core & Shell Platinum Certified project in Georgia.
