BlueCross earns LEED Gold campus certification

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee announced today its certification as a LEED^® Gold campus, established by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). LEED is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.

BlueCross' headquarters, totaling 950,000 square feet of office space, is the largest LEED Gold corporate campus in Tennessee, and the second largest in the nation.

To earn LEED certification, performance measurements must be achieved in five key areas of environmental and human health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

According to Bob Worthington, chief strategy officer for BlueCross, the desire from the beginning was to incorporate certain sustainable design attributes in the new corporate campus.

"Our master planning goals always included sustainability, innovation and wellness," said Worthington. "That translates into not only better controlling cost and increased efficiency, but it also means transforming our work environment to better meet the needs of our employees, members and the health care community."

The Cameron Hill campus:

• Reduces energy costs by more than 20 percent or $265,000 annually than if the project had been built to minimum code standards.
• Saves 20 million gallons of water annually by using ultra low-flow plumbing fixtures, a water-efficient irrigation system and low water-use plants.
• Improves indoor air quality for employees by employing an underfloor air distribution system and specifying ventilation rates that are 30 percent higher than required by code.
• Decreases storm water runoff by 15 percent.
• Reduces global warming impacts and ozone depletion through the use of a more efficient cooling system that doesn't use ozone depleting chemicals.

"BlueCross' LEED certification demonstrates tremendous green building leadership," said Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO and founding chair, U.S. Green Building Council. "The urgency of USGBC's mission has challenged the industry to move faster and reach further than ever before, and BlueCross serves as a prime example of just how much we can accomplish."

Major partners responsible for the BlueCross corporate campus include architectural firms Duda/Paine, headquartered in Durham, N.C.; HKS, headquartered in Dallas, Texas; Artech Design Group, headquartered in Chattanooga, Tenn; tvsdesign in Atlanta, Ga.; Tune Design in Chattanooga, Tenn. and HGOR, a planning and landscaping design firm out of Atlanta, with local partnership from Sawyer Landscaping.

Green Building Services in Portland, Ore. served as the LEED consultant on the project.

Skanska, a world leader in green construction, along with EMJ Corporation and H.J. Russell & Company, served as the construction management team. Jones Lang LaSalle, formerly The Staubach Company, a national real estate consulting firm with significant LEED experience, served as the project manager for the entire building process.

Source: BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee