Photo: R. Bradley Maule
PHILADELPHIA, PA
Comcast Center
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At Liberty Property Trust, green building and sustainability are a means of meeting customer needs.
"Our development team got started in the LEED program because they felt the ability to provide high performance sustainability would be important for us and for our tenants," says Jeanne Leonard, vice president of investor relations and corporate communications for the company. "We see green building as an extension of Liberty's mission to solve our customers' problems, even problems they did not know they had."
As of May 2008, Liberty has completed or has under construction 5.6 million square feet of LEED-certified office and industrial space, representing a $1.2 billion investment.
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Leonard says that Liberty provides its customers with a workplace that costs less to run and increases productivity, which in turn provides a competitive advantage to Liberty. While energy has been in the forefront of sustainability in recent years, Liberty believes employee productivity is equally important.
"A company's employees represent approximately $200 per square foot of annual cost, almost 10 times the cost of rent," Leonard says. "High performance buildings have been shown to improve productivity by between 3 percent and 25 percent, representing a savings of between $10 per square foot and $50 per square foot annually."
Liberty began developing LEED buildings on a speculative basis, and has actively educated their customers about the value of green building.
As of May 2008, Liberty has completed or has under construction 5.6 million square feet of LEED-certified office and industrial space, representing a $1.2 billion investment. Additionally, Liberty has BREEAM-certified office buildings in the United Kingdom. The company has registered 22 office and industrial properties with 3.7 million square feet for LEED certification. Liberty plans for all their future office buildings to become LEED certified.
"We look for every way we can to make our existing portfolio greener," Leonard says. "For example, we look at the energy efficiency of every building to see what capital improvements can be made to increase sustainability. We practice green management techniques in our properties, including intense recycling programs and green cleaning methods."
Liberty recently opened Philadelphia's tallest building, the Comcast Center, which is also the tallest green office building in the country. The 58-story Comcast headquarters has been designed to achieve LEED Silver certification, with energy-saving features and elements meant to reduce the environmental impact of the development.
The building uses 40 percent less water than a typical office building. Additionally, a glass curtain blocks 60 percent of heat while allowing 70 percent of the sun's visible light, reducing energy used for air conditioning and utilizing natural light to its fullest. Also, Liberty recycled 77 percent of the waste from construction, keeping 20,000 tons of waste out of landfills.
Liberty Property Trust earned the United States Green Building Council's 2006 LEED Corporate Leadership award, followed by The National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP)'s 2007 Green Development Award. Liberty began developing LEED-designed buildings about six years ago and estimates that they have more buildings in the LEED program than any other commercial real estate developer.
— Michele Lerner
