Plaza Construction's new 35,000 s/f headquarters, comprising the entire seventh floor of 1065 Avenue of the Americas, has been awarded LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Plaza worked with Cosentini Associates, one of the world's leading MEP engineering and sustainable design consultants, throughout the design phase of its new offices, prior to relocation in July of last year. HOK was the architect for Plaza's space and lighting designer OneLux was an important part of the project team. The Blackstone Group is the owner of the 35-story, 681,790 s/f tower located at West 40th St.
"We are delighted to receive this important LEED recognition," said Richard Wood, president of Plaza. "Deeply committed to providing sustainable environments for both its own employees and its clients, Plaza is proud to lead by example, ensuring our own offices meet the highest USGBC standards for sustainability."
Among the sustainable features of Plaza's interior space are:
* Efficient lighting system designed to use 15% less energy , as well as a system of controls to regulate the lighting when daylight is present or when rooms are empty;
* During construction, 93% of waste was diverted from landfill, and was either salvaged or recycled;
* 20% of all materials, including drywall, contained recycled content;
* 75% of all wood products were from environmentally and socially responsible forests, as certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC);
* 46% of all materials were sourced regionally within a 500 mile radius of the space, cutting down on transportation costs and pollution, as well as stimulating local economies;
* All materials used emit low levels of VOC's (volatile organic compounds), ensuring less toxicity;
* A "green" cleaning service is employed to maintain the space using sustainable, non-toxic cleaning products and methods;
* A bicycle storage room is provided for employee use to encourage alternative methods of transportation.
Plaza relocated from 260 Madison Ave. to 1065 Avenue of the Americas last summer, signing a 12-year lease at the building. Newmark Knight Frank's Paul and Michael Ippolito represented Plaza in the negotiations, while Newmark Knight Frank's Lance Korman acted on behalf of the landlord.



About Plaza Construction
Established in 1986, and headquartered in New York City, Plaza Construction www.plazaconstruction.com provides construction management, general contracting, and project consulting services nationally with offices located in Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Washington DC and Newark, NJ. Consistently ranked by Engineering News Record as one of the nation's leading construction management companies, Plaza was ranked by Crain's New York Business as the eighth largest contractor in New York City in 2011. As an industry leader in sustainability, Plaza has executed more than $2.3 billion of LEED rated projects, and in the past five years, the Company's revenues have averaged almost $1 billion annually. Tags: