SUNNYVALE, CA-LEED Gold certification has been awarded for one of the Yahoo! properties. Jones Lang LaSalle managed the LEED certification process for the company’s Sunnyvale headquarters, a 1- million-square-foot collection of seven office buildings located at 701 First Ave.

The 11-year-old buildings earned LEED certification from the USGBC under the Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance standard.

Jones Lang LaSalle and Yahoo! worked with the USGBC on the initiative to apply the EBOM certification path to an existing campus consisting of separate but similar buildings. The initiative required demonstrating to the USGBC that each of the seven buildings meet LEED minimum program requirements, according to a prepared statement. “The two-year process set precedents for certifying large campuses in alignment with the USGBC’s forthcoming LEED Application Guide for Multiple Buildings and On-Campus Building Projects.”

According to a release, this is one of the largest corporate campuses to include LEED Gold certified buildings to date, and is the first corporate campus to gain certification as a multi-building property. Several additional sites in Yahoo!’s global portfolio are currently pursuing certification.

“Gaining LEED Gold certification at our entire corporate headquarters campus demonstrates our commitment to providing a workplace that promotes environmental sustainability, energy efficiency and the health and well-being of all occupants,” says George Kreitem, director of real estate and workplace at Yahoo!. “Yahoo!’s achievement is really an investment in our future.”

According to Ari Hoffman, project leader at JLL, “Given the complexity of the project and the evolving nature of the guidelines involved, it was key that the Yahoo! and Jones Lang LaSalle teams made a serious commitment to understanding and following the intent of LEED. Various LEED credits required an extended network of teams to re-evaluate their practices, and everybody was prepared to make modifications to make the campus more sustainable. Fortunately, there were many LEED compliant practices already in place.”

The entire LEED certification program developed and implemented by Yahoo! and Jones Lang LaSalle resulted in significant annual operational savings, effectively repaying the entire cost of certification, including internal staff time spent on the project, in about 18 months, says the release. The program also raised the buildings’ average ENERGY STAR score to 88, meaning that the campus overall is more energy efficient than 88% of comparable buildings.

Instant Insights /

1M-SF Yahoo! Headquarters Gets LEED Gold

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