SCEC PINE CREST LEED PROJECT WINS GALAVERDE AWARD

Pine Crest School's Central Chiller Plant constructed by SCEC has been named a Most Outstanding LEED Certified project by the U.S. Green Building Council South Florida Chapter.

The winners of the nonprofit organization's 2013 LEEDership and Green Awards Program were announced at the fourth annual GalaVerde fundraiser event held at the Hyatt Pier 66 in Fort Lauderdale on September 21.

The Pine Crest Central Chiller Plant is a Gold Certified project at the private school's Fort Lauderdale campus. As Construction Manager, SCEC built the chiller plant to house three new chillers and installed almost 7,000 linear feet of chilled water piping underground throughout the campus in order to substantially improve the school's energy efficiency.

The Chapter recognized the past year's Outstanding Community LEEDer, Green Business, Green Government, Green Elected Official, and 13 Outstanding LEED Certified projects within South Florida. The finalists and winners were selected by a panel of industry experts from around the country. Submissions were sent to the judges without any identification of project or team or LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) achievement to facilitate judging submissions purely on specific criteria and merits.

The project won in the category of LEED New Construction for private projects. The other finalists were: American Maritime Officers Headquarters; City Furniture & Ashley Furniture Home Store - Boca Raton; Hampton Inn & Suites Miami Brickell Downtown; Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience; and the Norwegian Cruise Lines Campus of Camillus House.

The LEED Green Building Rating System, overseen by the U.S. Green Building Council, is a voluntary, consensus-based national rating system for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. LEED emphasizes five areas: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials and resources selection, and indoor environmental quality.

To learn more about GalaVerde and the USGBC South Florida Chapter, visit www.usgbc.org.