Project earns first SITES certification in the State of Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – February 12, 2019 – The Center, The Heritage Group’s catalyst for growth, was awarded certification under the Sustainable SITES Initiative (SITES) for landscape sustainability. Designed by Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf, The Center is the first SITES certified project in Indiana. Owned and administered by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), SITES is the most comprehensive program for designing, developing, and maintaining sustainable landscapes.
The Center was designed to be a place where employees and partners from across The Heritage Group could come together to be engaged and inspired to drive growth. In addition to creating unique meeting spaces and a state-of-the-art laboratory, The Heritage Group worked with Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf to create a sustainable campus that blended seamlessly with the natural environment encouraging outdoor engagement.
The Center’s site was designed with numerous sustainable features including maximized green space and canopy with native vegetation; rain gardens, forebays, and ponds to capture and treat stormwater; landforms and water features to redirect and mitigate noise pollution; and LED lighting to reduce energy use. The Center is also LEED Certified, and its parking pavement was awarded a Quality in Construction Award from the National Asphalt Pavement Association for using sustainable construction practices.
“The Center is not a building with a landscape or a landscape with a building, but rather one integrated design of indoor and outdoor spaces that were designed with all programmatic intentionality,” said Barth Hendrickson, principal and executive vice president of Browning Day.
“The Heritage Group is proud The Center is the first SITES certified project in Indiana,” said Amy Schumacher, President of The Heritage Group. “Developing environmentally-sustainable solutions for our customers and partners is a deeply-held value at The Heritage Group, and we designed The Center as a representation of that value.”
Photo Gallery: The Center
SITES provides best practices and benchmarks projects against performance criteria, enabling the market to quantify and rate the sustainable use and performance of land sites. Used by landscape architects, engineers, architects, developers and policy makers, SITES creates regenerative systems and fosters resiliency; ensures future resource supply and mitigates climate change; transforms the market through design, development and maintenance practices; and enhances human wellbeing and strengthens the community. SITES-certified projects are better able to withstand and recover from floods, droughts, wildfires and other catastrophic events. Projects can help reduce water and energy demand, improve air quality and promote human health and wellbeing.
“The Heritage Group and Browning Day understand that a green environment extends beyond the four walls of a building,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO, U.S. Green Building Council and GBCI. “This certification, the first in Indiana, represents tremendous leadership in sustainable landscape design and development.”
Projects like this are creating ecologically resilient communities, reducing water demand, improving air quality and human health by connecting people to nature. This work is part of the growing movement to holistically approach sustainable development and construct green buildings with accompanying green landscapes in green communities.
To learn more about The Center, please visit www.THG.Center.
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About Green Business Certification Inc.
Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) is the premier organization independently recognizing excellence in green business industry performance and practice globally. Established in 2008, GBCI exclusively administers project certifications and professional credentials and certificates within the framework of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED green building rating systems, as well as the PEER standard for power systems, the WELL building standard, the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES), Parksmart, EDGE and the GRESB benchmark, which is used by institutional investors to improve the sustainability performance of the global property sector. Through rigorous certification and credentialing standards, GBCI drives adoption of green business practices, which fosters global competitiveness and enhances environmental performance and human health benefits.
About Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf
Founded in 1967, Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf is one of the leading architectural, planning, landscape architectural and interior design firms in Indiana. The combined experience of our professionals has enabled us to build a broad practice of projects in 29 states. Our firm has been recognized and honored with more than 250 awards for sports, mixed-use, hotel, commercial, landscape architecture, academic, healthcare, government, corporate, and sustainable design. Browning Day has a strong commitment to excellence with client service, design and planning contract documents. We believe effective design must reflect something true about our clients and the individual users. Our designs are diverse as they are customized for each client. For decades, we have achieved an expertise in new site and building construction, additions/renovations, historic preservation/adaptive reuse and sustainable design. We are a creative class of collaborative professionals who take great care in each step taken toward the final design. Client and public participation are embraced so that the design reflects and expands the project vision.
About The Heritage Group
The Heritage Group is a privately held portfolio of companies focused on creating long-term value by building world-class businesses. Since 1930, it has managed a diverse set of business units involved in construction and materials, environmental services, specialty chemicals, and energy and refining. With operations in North America, Europe and Asia, and a client network that spans the globe, The Heritage Group’s focus is on innovation, quality and service. At the core of this focus is the Heritage Research Group, the world-class research and development facility operating at the cutting edge of new technology to provide new products, processes, and training aimed at improving the way Heritage Group companies serve their clients.
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Media Contact
Will Hummel
The Heritage Group
whummel@thgrp.com
Andrea Hirsch
Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf
ahirsch@bdmd.com