L.L. Bean, which damn near invented the tree, has gone green at the (rainbow trout) gills.
With the help of the 4Elements Group of Stamford, the new L.L. Bean store in South Windsor has become the first retail structure in Connecticut to be LEED registered with the U.S. Green Building Council.
“Bean”™s participation in the certification is essentially a pilot for a new program in the US green building processes making them leaders in the retail industry for LEED,” said Tom Nichols, 4Elements Group”™s certified indoor environmentalist and United States Green Building Council LEED accredited professional. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
The project has applied for the top certification ”“ gold ”“ for the commercial interiors category and is also included in the LEED pilot program for retail construction. The South Windsor store is part of L.L. Bean”™s push to build its four 2007 stores in to LEED standards. The other stores are in Albany, N.Y.; Mansfield, Mass.; and a new wing attached to Bean headquarters in Freeport, Maine.
“Through projects like this, you should hope to see better, more efficient businesses, and a healthy environment, as well as an increase in the rate at which builders and contractors are becoming trained,” said Nichols. “What”™s more, they”™ll find the cost of materials is no more than their costs now.”
More than 90 percent of the store”™s timbers were Forestry Stewardship Council certified. A lot of wood was reclaimed barn-board. The store also features energy management systems and low-flow plumbing fixtures. The low toxicity materials used throughout construction exceeded the LEED recommendations and greater than 80 percent of all the construction waste was diverted from landfills by either donating the materials for reuse or via recycling.
By committing to support and promote sustainable forestry, Bean has in the past earned member status with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leaders program.
The outdoor retail giant says it is committed to LEED certification as a baseline for all new construction and will go beyond that standard wherever possible.
Recognition came from CTGreen10, an AuctorVerno L.L.C. and BuildingCTGreen.com collaborative.
“Bean requested us because they wanted help to ensure that they got the LEED certification,” said Nichols “The larger companies are the ones who are taking the initiative because they have the capital to make the investment. LEED has moved rapidly; there have been three certifications in less than ten years, three different version and four strategies.
Though many companies are realizing how far beyond the LEED benchmark these renewable energy options can go.
“I believe there are state mandates that will soon be in place that public and private building projects in excess of $5 million will be required to get LEED or equivalent code certification for their basic design,” said Nichols. “Though what we see now are a lot of people registering but the actual process of getting certified is completely different.”
“We have a strong commitment to the outdoors and environmental stewardship,” said Laurie Brooks, senior public relations representative for environmental affairs at Bean. “When we started setting up stores outside of Maine we began looking for not-for-profit and environmental partnerships in the area. We like to promote involvement and get families and kids into outdoors.”
Bean donated $20,000 to the Connecticut Audubon Society, which will enable 900 elementary school children from the South Windsor and Manchester school districts to participate in the Connecticut Audubon Society Center at Glastonbury’s nature programs. Bean also donated $10,000 worth of equipment to the YMCA’s Camp Woodstock and the Environmental Learning Center’s nature preserve in nearby Bristol.
L.L. Bean will also be opening a store in the Ridge Hill mixed-use development in Yonkers, N.Y., planned for a late 2009 opening. According to Bean, this store, too, will be built to LEED standards. This year there are also plans to open a store in Rochester, N.Y.
There are currently 12 certified LEED buildings in Connecticut and 57 registered as applicants for certification.
