11 Oct Hayden Building Achieves LEED Platinum
Historic Boston is excited to announce that our recent rehabilitation of H.H. Richardson’s Hayden Building has achieved LEED Platinum certification in the LEED for Homes category. Developed and implemented by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a standard that rates the energy and resource efficiency of a building. Platinum is the highest rating awarded, and very few historic rehabilitations have achieved this honor. The oldest LEED Platinum building in the world is right here in Lowell, Massachusetts ? the 2006 rehabilitation of the 1839 St. Paul?s United Methodist Church, now the United Teen Equality Center.
Many who work in historic preservation make the case that saving old buildings is the most environmentally responsible building practice there is in that it is less wasteful – materials are retained rather than thrown out, and the “embodied energy” that went into original construction is not entirely lost by tearing down and starting anew. But there are times when preservation is thought to be in conflict with modern energy goals. Old windows and walls tend to leak, and insulating effectively can be a real challenge. Such was the case with the Hayden Building, where our original goal was to achieve LEED Silver rating. With the help of our talented design team lead by Cube design + research, our builder, Marc Truant & Associates, and Conservation Services Group, our LEED consultants, we were able to far exceed our expectations (Read a December 2012 blog post by Gabe Baldwin of Conservation Services Group about the LEED process at the Hayden Building). Thank you to all who helped us accomplish this proud achievement. Find out about other LEED certified historic buildings at http://www.usgbc.org/articles/200-years-leed-or-20-historic-buildings-you-probably-didn%E2%80%99t-know-were-green.