Contract - April 2010 - (Page 14)

industry HOK London in the ‘LEED’ London—HOK yet again made its mark on the green movement. The global architectural firm, which strives to be the first to reach a carbonneutral building, earned its 11th LEED certification for commercial interiors at its new office at the Qube in Central London. Additionally, the HOK London office recently achieved the ISO 14001 International Environmental Management Standard. The office, located in a pre-existing Building Research Establishment Energy Assessment Method (BREEM) ‘Very Good’-rated building, completed in 2007, features an open plan interior with multiple conference and breakout areas for collaboration. Sustainable elements include numerous green materials (such as sheep’s wool insulation and recycled glass), finishes, and energy management solutions. “For the interior we went for recycled content in a lot of the materials that we were looking at—our carpet, all of the furniture. Every time we chose a material we asked a series of questions in terms of its green attributes as well as how far it was traveling,” says Shashi Narayanan, head of sustainable architecture at HOK London. Narayanan mentions that the project was a particular challenge because most companies in the United Kingdom usually aim to achieve BREEAM, which is much more established and predates the formation of LEED by about seven years. “[Gaining LEED certification] is very challenging. It does make you prove every single last point you are trying to achieve by Photo by Hufton + Crow. requesting verification and proof from the actual source/manufacturer,” he says. “All of our company’s offices around the world are going for LEED because it’s more internationally recognized.” HOK aims to create the first carbon-neutral, net-zero building, frequently referring to the goal as the “holy grail.” The firm is even running a firm-wide competition that will offer $25,000 to the team that first reaches net-zero. HOK’s other LEED-certified offices include: HOK Atlanta (Gold), HOK Beijing (Gold), HOK Chicago (Platinum), HOK Hong Kong (Gold), HOK Miami (certified), HOK San Francisco (certified), HOK Shanghai (Silver), HOK Singapore (Silver), HOK St. Louis (certified), and HOK Toronto (Gold). >>Continued at www.contractdesign.com/HOKLondon Select No. 27 at ContractDesign.com/readerservice http://www.contractdesign.com/HOKLondon http://www.cascadecoil.com http://www.cascadecoil.com http://www.ContractDesign.com/readerservice

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract - April 2010

Contract - April 2010
Contents
Editor's Note
Industry
Resources: The Green Scene
Focus: Land of Opportunity
Green: Post-Occupancy Green
Practice: Legal Green
Lean & Green
Environmental Extraordinaire
Above the Legal Limit
Informing the Masses
Luxury in the Raw
Designers Rate: Green Products
Process: Science in the Age of the Invisible
Sources
Ad Index
Perspectives

Contract - April 2010