Leed

LEED - International certification system that awards environmentally friendly buildings.

LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design ) is an international certification system that awards envirmentally friendly buildings. The LEED certificate is granted to projects that function on the basis of strategies aiming to optimise water and energy consumption, reduce CO2 emissions, minimise waste output and introduce responsible resource management. Currently, the LEED programme is open for projects that fall within the scope of one of the following categories:

  • New Construction and Major Renovations
  • Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance
  • Commercial Interiors
  • Core and Shell
  • Schools
  • Retail
  • Healthcare
  • Homes
  • Neighbourhood Development

Each project that applies for certification can obtain up to 100 points. On the basis of the score, the level of the LEED certificate to be granted is assessed:

  • Certified (40 - 49 points)
  • Silver (50 - 59 points)
  • Gold (60 - 79 points)
  • Platinum (80-100 points)

Rondo 1 is the first office building in Poland and Central-Eastern Europe to be granted the Gold LEED certificate in the Existing Buildings category (the third in Europe). It is also the fifth biggest building in the world to apply for a LEED certificate in the Existing Buildings category and the biggest one to participate in the certification process under the new rules (following the changes introduced in 2009). Apart from Rondo 1, there are only 10 buildings in Europe that have been granted the LEED certificate in the existing buildings category*. Six of them hold the “LEED Certified", one – the “LEED Silver" (Symantec Green Park in Reading) and the remaining three the “LEED Gold" certificate.
The latter being an office building in Dublin owned and fully occupied by Symantec, the Sello shopping centre in Espoo, Finland and the headquarters of the International Fund for Agricultural Development in Rome. Therefore Rondo 1 is the only European office building housing more than one tenant to be awarded the “LEED Gold" certificate in the Existing Buildings category. It is also the only European skyscraper that can claim such an achievement. The other seven projects in Poland which hold the LEED certificate** are:

  • The BorgWarner industrial/office premises in Rzeszów (LEED Silver in the “New Constructions and Major Renovations" category)
  • Offices of Skanska Property Poland in the Deloitte House office building in Warsaw (LEED Silver in the “Commercial Interiors" category)
  • Two Deutsche Bank PBC Warsaw Branches (LEED Gold in the “Commercial Interiors" category)
  • Green Towers in Wrocław (LEED Platinum in the “New Construction and Major Renovations" category)
  • Green Corner in Warsaw (LEED Platinum in the “New Construction and Major Renovations" category)
  • "Corius" In Warsaw (LEED Gold in the “New Construction and Major Renovations" category)
  • "Zebra Tower Building" in Warsaw (LEED Gold in the "Core and Shell" category)

The LEED standards were set forth by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC, www.usgbc.org), a non profit organisation based in Washington. The certification process is conducted by the Green Building Certification Institute (www.gbci.org), that emerged from USGBC in 2009.

*Data gathered in September 2010.
**Data from July 2012.