SAVANNAH AC HOTEL ACHEIVES LEED PLATINUM CERTIFICATION

It is with great pride and pleasure that GMSHAY announces that our signature AC Hotel on Savannah’s River Street has been certified as LEED Platinum, the highest level possible for new construction. This LEED Platinum Certification was issued by the United States Green Building Council, the most prestigious of all North American organizations devoted to environmental excellence and energy efficiency in the design and construction industry.  In fact, there are only a handful of previously LEED Platinum Certified hotels in North America. This certification involves a rigorous scientific process of quantifying specific design objectives, review of the design documents, quality control during construction, and full commissioning of the building system’s performance. In the end, a LEED Platinum symbol may be applied to the building and its promotions only if the design goals are attained. 

GMSHAY would like to thank all of our design and construction team members, particularly Tommy Linstroth of Trident Sustainability for his help in achieving this goal.  We would also like to thank our client, Northpoint Hospitality, for their patience and perseverance with this challenging process.

This AC Hotel is the second LEED Platinum Certification achieved by our firm.  The first was for a Georgia Power Regional Headquarters on Reynolds Square, one of Savannah’s six original squares dating back to 1733.  GMSHAY has also created two LEED Gold certified projects. Each of these creations conserve natural resources, deploy renewable resources, and conserve energy and water resources, therefore providing significant operational savings to the building owners. Because buildings consume more energy and add more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than any other aspect (including transportation), making better buildings represents one of the most important ways to limit ongoing climate changes that drive violent weather and threaten our communities.

WHY LEED STILL MATTERS

In building a team of designers for a recent proposal, an engineer told me that “no one asks for LEED Certification any more”.  At GMSHAY we design our buildings to meet the goals of a LEED Certification as a matter of best practice. We tell our clients that having the certification adds value to their building’s identity, but that the savings gained from energy efficiency are free, everlasting and untaxable. Additionally, the buildings are also assets in an owner’s portfolio, whether they are a private or public entity. The assets that are more environmentally resilient and economically efficient retain and grow in value. When being evaluated by investors and / or taxpayers in the future, LEED Certified buildings will be valued more, because they were scientifically certified, not just branded.

Here at GMSHAY, environmental stewardship is a way of life, not just a side benefit. For example, we are now getting ready to help oversee the installation of one of Savannah’s first Mass Timber structures overlooking another of our city’s six original squares. Mass Timber is a system of building that uses locally harvested rapidly renewable wood that is pre-engineered into beams, columns and slabs that can be used instead of steel or concrete. Please “stay tuned” to this site, and our social media for more about this example of environmental leadership.  That is what the “L” in LEED stands for!