Northglenn, a Denver suburb, opens a net zero, all-electric city hall with a mass timber structure

Northglenn, Colo., a Denver suburb, has opened the new Northglenn City Hall—a net zero, fully electric building with a mass timber structure. The 32,600-sf, $33.7 million building houses 60 city staffers. Designed by Anderson Mason Dale Architects, Northglenn City Hall is set to become the first municipal building in Colorado, and one of the first in the country, to achieve the Core certification: a green building rating system overseen by the International Living Future Institute.

Mass Timber

5 lessons in water mitigation for mass timber projects

Sustainability leaders from Skanska, RDH, and Polygon share five tips for successful water mitigation in mass timber construction.

Office Buildings

Fact sheet outlines benefits, challenges of thermal energy storage for commercial buildings

A U.S. Dept. of Energy document discusses the benefits and challenges of thermal energy storage for commercial buildings. The document explains how the various types of thermal energy storage technologies work, where their installation is most beneficial, and some practical considerations around installations.

Industrial Facilities

UK-based tire company plans to build the first carbon-neutral tire factory in the U.S.

ENSO, a U.K.-based company that makes tires for electric vehicles, has announced plans to build the first carbon-neutral tire factory in the U.S. The $500 million ENSO technology campus will be powered entirely by renewable energy. The first-of-its-kind tire factory aims to be carbon neutral without purchased offsets, using carbon-neutral raw materials and building materials.

Apr 19, 2011

BMW dealers driving up sustainable construction in NYC

BMW North America will invest $60 million in two green dealerships in Manhattan. The new stores, which are being designed to cut energy use by 25%, reflect the auto company’s effort to reposition itself as environmentally conscious.

Apr 19, 2011

15 mind-blowing skyscrapers

Our friends at Inhabitat have rounded up 15 incredible buildings—from underground cities to vertical farms to bio-fuel power plants and skyscrapers.

Apr 19, 2011

Help the editors choose the next BD+C White Paper topic

The editors of Building Design+Construction want your input on the topic (or topics) we should tackle for our 2012 green building White Paper. Send us your ideas today.

Apr 14, 2011

USGBC debuts LEED for Healthcare

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) introduces its latest green building rating system, LEED for Healthcare. The rating system guides the design and construction of both new buildings and major renovations of existing buildings, and can be applied to inpatient, outpatient and licensed long-term care facilities, medical offices, assisted living facilities and medical education and research centers.