Celebrating Green Buildings on the Emerald Isle

To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, we’re taking a look at some of the LEED green buildings in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Collectively, the two states have seven LEED-certified projects representing 1.1 million square feet, with another 32 projects representing 2.8 million square feet in the pipeline for certification.

In Belfast, Northern Ireland, Bombardier’s wing manufacturing and assembly facility is LEED Gold, certified in 2013. Designed by USGBC Platinum member URS Corporation, the 600,000-square-foot facility produces carbon fiber composite wings for Bombardier’s CSeries aircraft. Among the project’s sustainable features, it diverted 75 percent of construction waste from the landfill, and it has a 40 percent reduction in baseline indoor water use.

Also in Belfast, Citigroup’s space in the Gateway office at Titanic Quarter is LEED Gold certified under LEED for Commercial Interiors. The 150,000-square-foot project certified in 2008, making it the first LEED-certified facility in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

In the Republic of Ireland, multinational biotech company Genzyme has a LEED Gold office building in Waterford, certified in 2011. The new construction project diverted 95 percent of its waste from the landfill while it was being built, and it also features 35 percent less energy use and 80 percent less water use.

Finally, check out the Medtronic Customer Innovation Centre in Galway. This new construction project certified LEED Gold in 2013, and it features 11.4 percent overall savings in energy costs and a 60 percent reduction in water use. In addition, 30 percent of the materials used in the project contain recycled content, and more than 50 percent of the materials were locally extracted and produced.

Visit the Ireland Green Building Council website to learn more about green building activity taking place there.

*Orginally published by US Green Building Council