Green Building Community
Chicago's Willis Tower Goes LEED Platinum
Posted by: Allison Friedman // Rate It Green Admin
Chicago’s Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower, is now the largest US building to achieve the USGBC’s LEED Platinum rating. At 1451 feet tall, the building was the world’s tallest skyscraper from i’s opening in 1973 and 1996 and remained the tables US skyscraper until 2014.
The Tower achieved a LEED Gold rating in 2018, and is currently undergoing a $500 million expansion to approximately 4.5 million square feet, including 3.5 million square feet of offices and 300,000 square feet of retail space.
Significant sustainable improvements include:
- Revamping the heating and cooling (HVAC) system through the installation of state-of-the-art technologies, expected to reduce energy consumption by up to 20 percent
- Reducing heating water energy consumption
- Upgrading the building’s lighting and lighting control systems
- Installing low-flow high-efficiency plumbing fixtures, expected to cut approximately 30 percent of the building’s water consumption
Willis Tower is owned by EQ Office (EQ), a U.S. office portfolio company wholly owned by Blackstone’s real estate funds. According to David Moore, Senior Vice President and Portfolio Director, EQ Office, “Our tenants and their employees are passionate about working in offices where sustainability is a priority, and we’re proud that our commitment to sustainability, which extends throughout our portfolio, has earned Willis Tower the prestigious LEED Platinum certification.” Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO, USGBC, stated: “Transforming our buildings and communities to be more sustainable happens one project at a time, and Willis Tower has been a leader in showing how green design, construction and operations are not only good for the environment, but for tenants as well.”
To read more:
https://www.willistower.com/media/news/willis-tower-leed-platinum
Photo: Chicago Tribune
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