In The News
'Green' office building welcomes first tenants
The province's first privately owned LEED standard building will become home to its first tenant Monday. Coast Tire began moving in Friday to the two-storey structure.
Located on Wellesley Avenue at Somerset Street and developed by Commercial Properties, the 25,000-square-foot complex is on a former brownfield site that was once home to a restaurant and a gas station.
The design of the building decreases water usage by 30 per cent and is 20 per cent more energy efficient. Recycled materials were also used in the construction of the building.
Ron Outerbridge, president and CEO of Coast Tire, said the move into the new building will consolidate all the company's head office employees into one building.
"It just really has a lot of good qualities and we're all just trying to do our best," said Outerbridge about being as green as possible. "It's an environmentally friendly building."
"Certain lighting outside and the hand dryers run off solar power," he said of some of the environmental details that set the building apart from traditional types.
The building has been engineered to meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard. In North America, LEED certification is the gold standard for sustainable construction.
"I think everyone is looking at what can they do to be more environmentally conscious," said Outerbridge.
Brian Wiggins of Jacques Whitford, the building's other tenant, said they'll be moving to the new environmentally conscious digs by the end of October. It will allow the firm to consolidate its operations and have a geotechnical lab on site.
Having such a building in Saint John, said Wiggins, will prove to people that being green isn't painful.
"I think it will just continue to grow," he said of such environmental buildings.