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The first location to gain LEED CI certification will be the company’s newest store in Austin, Texas, set to open this June. Thirteen other sites will then follow, including locations in Texas, North Carolina, Maryland, Colorado, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, and Washington.
SBLM Architects, a New York City-based firm, will head the greening project. The firm previously worked with Office Depot to open the chain’s first LEED Gold-Certified store in April 2008. “We will once again partner with SBLM Architects, a company that was instrumental in helping us build and achieve LEED Gold Certification on our first store in Austin,” says Office Depot’s vice president of construction Ed Costa. “SBLM will again assist with the submission of materials and following the course.”
Some features of these soon-to-be built stores include: skylights that will fill 90 percent of the locations with daylight; preferred parking for low-emitting vehicles and carpoolers; construction materials consisting of at least 10 percent recycled content; and daylight and occupancy sensors that decrease energy usage.
“Office Depot has an environmental strategy to increasingly buy green, be green and sell green,” director of environmental strategy for Office Depot Yalmaz Siddiqui says in a release. “By incorporating a leading green building commitment to this strategy, we will continue to lead our industry, and deliver environmental and economic benefits to our company."
As far as costs are concerned, Costa says, “We are not releasing specific numbers for LEED CI. However, we have found that the construction cost of a LEED-certified building is estimated to be roughly 15 percent greater than traditional building cost, according to the USGBC.”
Costa went on to note that LEED-certified buildings end up saving money on operating costs after completion, due to increased efficiency and decreased energy usage.
