Recently, we wrote about the opening of the Bullitt Center in Seattle, which is being called the greenest office building in the world.
It’s not that the 50,000 square foot building has dramatic new green technologies, but it wraps the best of them into a model green building. And one of those technologies is how the building operates once it is built.
That’s why the Bullitt Foundation, which is currently leasing space in the building, is taking further steps through its contracts with tenants.
Those contracts make tenants partners in conservation and are key to meeting the goals of net-zero energy use.
The Seattle Times reports that tenant leases require them to:
- Meet stringent annual "budgets" of energy and water use set by the Bullitt Foundation.
- Not have any new office furniture that contains toxic materials such as formaldehyde.
- Every employee desk must be within 30 feet of one of the center’s huge windows to ensure access to daylight and fresh air.
- Use the stairs rather than the elevator whenever possible
- Encourage staff and visitors to walk, bike or bus to the building
- Open at least part of their space to the public each Earth Day to help educate the public
Right now, the center is hosting visitors six days a week who want to learn about the ultra-green building.
The reward for using little energy could be a zero utility bill and if the building is able to send more energy to the grid than it consumes, tenants will pay less in rent as their share of the profit.
This makes complete sense to the kinds of organizations that want to rent there. The first floor is rented to two tenants: the International Living Future Institute and University of Washington Integrated Design Lab. The fourth floor is leased to Point 32, which developed the building.
We’d be thrilled to be in a building where we could live our values and I’m sure that’s how they feel.
"We see the Bullitt building as a strong reflection of the work we try to do every day," Ian Sands, founder of International Living Future Institute told The Seattle Times, after signing a five year lease.
Indeed, the International Living Future Institute developed the Living Building Challenge so it must be wonderful for them to be located in a building where they can live their ideals.
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