Format, an office building located in Gdańsk, achieved the highest, platinum level of certification in the LEED system, scoring 83 points. There are ten ‘platinum’ buildings currently situated in the Tricity, with as many as seven of them developed by Torus. Przemysław Olszewski from SuDe Sustainable Design served as the developer’s consultant in the Format certification process.
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a multi-criteria building assessment system, which was introduced in 1998 by U.S. Green Building Council – USGBC. At present, it is an international, world’s most commonly used system (in 168 countries). In Poland, the first LEED certificate was issued in 2010. The Platinum level, the highest score on the 4-grade scale, was achieved by less than seventy buildings in Poland up to this day. Ten of them are located in the Tricity, out of which as many as seven were developed by Torus in Gdańsk – along with the above-mentioned Format, these are four stages of the Alchemia compound, and two buildings of Officyna.
Certificated, meaning what exactly?
Throughout the certification process, multiple aspects of a particular project come under assessment: location of the building, plot of land, applied materials, use of electric energy and water, quality of air inside the building, health-related aspects, project innovativeness, or influence of particular architectural solutions on the natural environment.
In real terms, as for Format (as compared to a reference building), the certification means, among others:
- reduction of electric energy use by 52.5% (maximum number of points was scored in EAc1 credit ‘Optimize Energy Performance’);
- reduction of potable water use for non-consumption purposes by 58.19%;
- reduction of disposed waste use by 55.67%;
- 29% of building materials were produced from recycled materials;
- 3% of building materials were produced and mined within 500 mile (~ 804,5 km) radius from the construction site;
- 75,57% of the area (in regularly occupied premises) has access to daylight;
- 98,5% of the area (in regularly occupied premises) has access to behind-the-window view;
- greenery is watered by collected rainwater.
For many years, Torus has been carefully designing and consistently certifying its buildings, thanks to which, they boast high energy efficiency, which in turn, significantly reduces maintenance costs. Thanks to the advanced technologies, systems, and appliances, each office building is prepared to respond to numerous changes and external factors in a flexible manner. The implemented optimising algorithms, refined over years of operations, enable the adjustment to particular requirements of respective lessees – they maintain comfort and simultaneously minimise the use of utilities.
The construction sector is subject to further regulations as it considerably affects the natural environment. The worldwide building certification systems, including the American system of LEED, laid foundations for the ecological construction – today they are being used by all leading commercial developers in Poland.
