(L–R) Mike Griffin, Johnson Controls; Josh Boltinhouse, USGBC; Jason Evins, VP operations for Cooper Realty Investments; and Amy Marthers, property manager, NAI Avant. The LEED rating system provides benchmarks for building owners and operators to measure operations, improvements and maintenance. LEED, which is an acronym for Leadership Energy Environmental Design, “is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third–party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to thier impacts,” according to the U.S. Green Building Council’s website, usgbc.org.

At the lowest certification level for LEED is Certified; above that, Silver; and above Silver is Gold. There is one other classification at the top, Platinum, but Platinum is practically not achievable in an existing building. The Gold designation is rare in existing buildings, but South Carolina does have one Gold LEED Certified existing building. Facility upgrades at Columbia’s Bank of America Plaza on Main Street were identified and implemented enabling the Plaza to earn this U.S. Green Building Council accolade.

Todd Avant Johnson Controls, the global leader in delivering products, services, and solutions that increase energy efficiency in buildings, served as the project’s LEED consultant, working alongside the Plaza’s owners and managers, Cooper Realty and Investments and NAI Avant.

Representing Cooper Realty (based in Rogers, Ark.) August 9 at the ceremony at the Bank of America Plaza was Jason Evans, vice president of operations for Cooper. Todd Avant stood for his eponymous firm, Columbia–based NAI Avant. Ashlie Lancaster spoke for the S.C. Energy Office. And Josh Boltinhouse offered comments and congratulations on behalf of the USGBC. Amy Patterson and Mike Griffin were on hand for Johnson Controls.
Ashlie Lancaster, S.C. Energy Office