The LEED gold certificaction (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) is a certification system with certain reference standards for the implementation of sustainability strategies during the design, construction and maintenance process which would generate a lower environmental impact and in the long term would develop a new construction culture.
There are certain mandatory categories and a minimum score to obtain certification, the categories are the following:
Integrative design process
Sustainable sites
Efficient use of water
Energy and atmosphere
Indoor environmental quality
Materials and resources
Innovation
Regional priority
Additionally there are four levels of certification according to the score obtained: Platinum, gold, silver and certificate.
Now focusing on the project, it was developed in Bogotá, Carrera 14 #93-68, with an area of 17,790 m2 and 6,463 m2 of parking.
The building has green areas in the front yard, on the deck and on a terrace additionally sanitary fixtures and low consumption faucets were installed, generating a savings of 35%. The building also has a rainwater collection and treatment system that is incorporated into the sanitary system and urinals, creating a total savings of 66%. Other environmental aspects regarding the building was the use of materials with high recycled content in steel and concrete, using paint with low content of volatile organic compounds for an optimum air quality.
During the course of the construction, 1,467,8 tons of waste were diverted to recycling companies in other words 97% of the waste was recycled. There was an implementation of strategies focused on environmental management to minimize the environmental impact during the construction process such as: air quality control, sedimentation, rainwater and wastewater management.