John Boecker to Guide Green Tour of Italy

John Boecker of 7group/Umbrella Green Network and Alberto Ballardini of Habitech/GBC Italia will be guiding a Green Tour of Italy, along with Lauren Yarmuth of YRG Sustainability. Sponsored by the Umbrella Green Network, the Sustainability in Ancient and Contemporary Italian Architecture tour will visit bastions of ancient and contemporary green building innovation in Italy’s cities and mountains, including stops at Italy’s first LEED-EBOM project, a green building materials research & development lab, local food and wine-tasting and the Milan Design Days. The tour will start in Rome on October 8 and conclude in Milan on October 15.  See complete itinerary.

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Two More 7group Projects Earn LEED Certification

The Berks County Community Foundation and the Lehigh Valley Industrial Park Office Building achieved LEED certification during the second quarter of 2010.

Through the integrative design process, the Berks County Community Foundation’s new office facility in Reading, PA, was developed such that all sustainable features have a payback period of ten years or less. 7group served as the energy and daylighting consultant and the commissioning agent for the project, which was designed by Re:Vision Architecture with Designworks Architects and certified Platinum under LEED-NC v2. Energy efficiency and sustainable features include a vegetated roof, an improved thermal envelope, external shading devices, reduced lighting power density, occupancy sensors, daylighting controls, radiant heating and cooling systems, energy recovery for the dedicated OA system, and efficient boilers. Modeling results project energy savings of over 42% relative to an ASHRAE 90.1-2004 Appendix G baseline. More information is available at http://www.bccf.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=121&Itemid=169 and http://www.revisionarch.com/Projects.php?view=a&id=55.

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Nine 7group Projects Recently Awarded LEED Certification

During the first quarter of 2010, nine of 7group’s projects achieved certification under the USGBC’s suite of LEED rating systems.

One of these projects, the Friends Center located in Philadelphia, PA, was certified Platinum under LEED-NC v2. This renovated 56,000 sf, 3-story office building was funded by a grant from the Kresge Foundation to reflect Quaker principles through green design strategies. More details can be found at http://www.friendscentercorp.org/renovating/renovating.php?Section=Renovating.

7group collaborated with L. Robert Kimball and Associates on the Select Medical Health Education Pavilion at Harrisburg Area Community College, Harrisburg, PA, which earned LEED-NC v2 Gold certification.

Golden Belt, a 155,000 sf, six-building, seven-acre historic mixed use campus developed by Scientific Properties and situated in Durham, NC, has also achieved LEED-NC v2 Gold certification. This multi-functional space was constructed on a brownfield site, and includes live/work loft apartments, art studios, shops, offices and restaurant space. More information is available at http://www.goldenbeltarts.com/index.shtml.

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