AKRON—Goodyear's new 639,000-sq.-ft. global headquarters recently earned a Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The LEED green building program ensures buildings conserve energy, water and other resources and are safer and healthier for occupants, Goodyear said, adding that its headquarters is among the largest LEED Gold-certified buildings in Ohio.
The building, which opened in May 2013, was designed to meet LEED requirements and align with the company's shared value to care for the environment and communities, the company said. The building earned LEED bonus points for creative design elements, such as embedding a triple-gas blend within the layers of glass walls to save energy, incorporating wood veneer from 100-year-old logs dredged from the Ohio River and recycling 95 percent of construction waste.
“We are proud of this designation of our new global headquarters as a LEED Gold rated building,” said Richard Kramer, Goodyear chairman and CEO. “This certification represents a further step in our commitment to sustainability and reinforces Goodyear's shared value of caring for our environments and communities.”
Other factors contributing to Goodyear's LEED Gold rating include:
—use of 100-year-old dredged Ohio River logs;
—90 percent of rainfall is captured or treated by storm-water mitigation infrastructure;
—more than 89 percent of wood used came from sustainable sources (exceeded 20 percent requirement);
—53 percent of the project's site area is vegetated, open space;
—low-flow plumbing fixtures enable a water-use reduction of nearly 42 percent;
—the building permits 30-percent outside air with individual air flow controls located in every associate's workspace;
—two types of roof areas—white and vegetated—reduce heat gain in the building;
—use of motion-detect lighting based on building occupancy; and
—100 percent of building's two-year power needs were purchased from renewable sources.
The LEED certification is one of several recognitions Goodyear has received for the building. The tire maker also earned the American Institute of Architects Ohio's award of merit, was a 2014 Work Design NOW finalist and received an honorable mention at 2013 Interior Design's Best of Year Awards.
Goodyear's seven-story global headquarters is home to nearly 2,000 employees and is connected to the company's existing Innovation Center, which has 1,000 employees.