HOUSTON – July 10, 2012 – The Houston office of Smith Seckman Reid, Inc.(SSR), an engineering design and facility consulting firm, achieved LEED® Platinum for Commercial Interiors, making it only the second space in Houston to achieve this designation, the highest possible certification level from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI).

“We wanted to achieve the highest level of LEED certification because we consistently encourage our clients to choose high performance buildings,” said Leighann Bailie, project manager for the build-out. “As a facilities consultant, we want to lead by example.”

SSR’s office is located in the LEED Gold office development at Westchase Park. To achieve Platinum for its space, the SSR team had to overcome unique challenges resulting from being in a multi-tenant building without control over key features like the HVAC system and indoor air quality. To offset these issues, SSR implemented other features like water conserving and low-flow plumbing fixtures and additional thermal comfort controls.

The project earned an Innovation in Design and Operations credit for its integrated pest management contract, which differs from a conventional pest management plan by using a minimal amount of pesticides only when needed, communicating with occupants when pesticides will be used and only using ecologically safe pesticides in targeted areas.

Additional LEED features in the 32,737-square-foot office space include:

• More than 130 occupancy sensors throughout the office ensure lights turn off when employees aren’t present;
• More than 86 percent of construction waste was recycled and diverted from the landfill;
• To reduce energy use, daylighting controls automatically adjust lighting levels for all regularly occupied spaces within 15 feet of windows; and
• Showers and bike racks allow employees to bike to work.

SSR also implemented an educational website available through a touch-screen kiosk in the office lobby and online at http://smithseckmanreid.greentouchscreen.com. Through this website visitors can access the following information:

• Reporting of office recycling, electricity use, water consumption and CO2 emissions;
• Highlights about the green features utilized in the project; and
• Environmental savings calculators.

Balfour Beatty, formerly SpawMaxwell, was the contractor on the project and Zeigler Cooper served as architect. SSR conducted its own MEP work on the project.

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