New Balance HQ earns LEED Platinum v2009 Core and Shell

By Ritchie Lafaille, Office Fellow

Massachusetts continues to excel in the green building industry!

The New Balance World Headquarters building has earned LEED Platinum certification under the U.S. GreenBuilding Council’s (USGBC) v2009 Core and Shell rating system. Located at 100 Guest St. in the Allston-Brighton neighborhood of the city, the 250,000 s/f facility is the first in the U.S. to achieve all possible credits in the Indoor Environmental Quality category under this rating system. There are only two other buildings in the world that have achieved this – one each in Italy and Thailand.

“NB Development Group is proud, in conjunction with our project team partners, Elkus Manfredi Architects, Transwestern, and John Moriarty Associates to have delivered to New Balance Athletics, Inc. a world-class headquarters facility that has garnered this LEED Platinum Designation,” said Jim Halliday, managing director of NB Development.  “This designation is in keeping with not only the mission of New Balance, but also as the initial flagship project of Boston Landing, it highlights the spirit and energy we envision for this newly emerging district and ongoing commitment to our neighborhood.”

New Balance’s building secured LEED Platinum certification because it has not one but two green activities that achieved outcomes of energy efficient design, water use reduction, sustainable site selection and development, responsible materials selection and waste management, and enhanced indoor environmental quality.

Additional project achievements include:

• 26% annual energy cost savings when compared to a code-compliant building 
• 35% reduction in water consumption of plumbing fixtures when compared to a code-compliant building 
• 76% waste diversion during construction 
• 86% reduction in site runoff post-development when compared to pre-development
• 28% of material used in construction derived from recycled content
• 74% of material used in construction derived from a regional source
• 100% of wood used in construction was Forest Stewardship Council certified
• 30% higher ventilation rate when compared to a code-compliant building
• All Regional Priority credits achieved
• All Innovation credits achieved.

“Prioritizing the benefits of exceptional indoor environmental quality is exactly the kind of responsible leadership you’d expect from a company dedicated to health and performance,” said Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair, USGBC. “Improved comfort and well-being, enhanced productivity, decreased absenteeism, and improved valuation of the building are all aspects of green building that are on par with energy efficiency, water conservation and waste reduction.  Congratulations to New Balance for this significant achievement and for helping us move one step closer to sustainable buildings for everyone within this generation.”

“This certification exemplifies our strong commitment of responsible leadership to our company’s associates and consumers, our local community and the environment,” said Rob DeMartini, New Balance president & CEO. “We are extremely pleased to be able to call our new world headquarters a truly global leader in sustainability.”

The New Balance world headquarters facility broke ground in August 2013 and was completed in September 2015.  It was designed by our sponsoring partner Elkus Manfredi Architects of Boston, built by John Moriarty Associates of Winchester, Mass., and managed by Transwestern through their Boston office.

NB Development Group is a commercial real estate company based in Boston. The group’s professionals bring Boston-based experience in the fields of development, permitting, construction management, asset management, leasing, and marketing.  NBDG is currently managing the development of Boston Landing, a mixed-use project located along the Massachusetts Turnpike in Brighton.  Through expert entitlement and permitting strategies, Boston Landing is transforming a vacant industrial area into a vibrant, transit-oriented district. Boston Landing encompasses more than 15 acres of land and will include uses such as office, retail, hotel, recreation, parking, commuter rail, and residential with a total build-out of more than 2.5 million s/f. 

New Balance, headquartered in Boston, MA has the following mission: Demonstrating responsible leadership, we build global brands that athletes are proud to wear, associates are proud to create and communities are proud to host. New Balance is the only major company to make or assemble more than 4 million pairs of athletic footwear per year in the USA, which represents a limited portion of our US sales. Where the domestic value is at least 70%, we label our shoes Made in the USA. New Balance owns five factories in New England and one in Flimby, U.K. New Balance employs more than 5,000 associates around the globe, and in 2015 reported worldwide sales of $3.72 billion.