CityCenter is Sustainability Game Changer
Thursday, 02 Jan, 2010
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The $8.5 billion has yielded six LEED Gold buildings – out of six! A new green benchmark has officially been set.
CityCenter may very well change the way the hotel world looks at sustainability. For the first time in the lodging business at this kind of a scale, a company set out to incorporate wide-ranging green efforts in order to create some of the most environmentally friendly structures that have ever been constructed. Writes Glenn Haussman in Hotel Interactive
Incredibly, six components of the $8.5 billion CityCenter project on the Las Vegas Strip have achieved LEED Gold certification, an accomplishment of Herculean proportions that is a total game changer for any significant hospitality project on a go-forward basis. After all, if MGM MIRAGE and Infinity World Development Corp, a subsidiary of Dubai World, can do it on such a massive scale, so can projects of more earthly proportions.
The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded its LEED Gold certification to ARIA Resort & Casino, Vdara Hotel & Spa, Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas, Veer Towers and Crystals retail and entertainment district. The Harmon Hotel is still under construction and has yet to be certified.
According to Alan Feldman, Senior Vice President Public Affairs with MGM Mirage, the sheer size of this project will create benefits for other lodging companies seeking to incorporate a commitment to sustainability due to advances developed for the CityCenter megaplex.
“We set out on a mission to create a healthier experience for the guest. Here we have six buildings that achieved LEED Gold certification. This has been the world’s largest project to seek LEED certification and has driven economies of scale for green technology,” said Alan Feldman.
S. Richard Fedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council (and creators of the LEED certification process), said the advances CityCenter has brought to the way we look at creating new structures cannot be underestimated. “This is a collection of buildings that will change the way we look at buildings. We honestly believe these buildings will change the world,” he said. “CityCenter was developed with a sense of purpose and quality and will inspire those around the world. They will meet energy, water and materials goals even though it was built in the worst economy [of the modern era].
“We know this team did the right thing. They used the right materials, infused daylight into the design and there is a distinct lack of odor. This is a transformative project,” Fedrizzi continued.
“CityCenter captures the energy and diversity of Las Vegas in one of the world’s largest green developments,” said Jim Murren, chairman and CEO of MGM MIRAGE. “Designing CityCenter with sustainable elements and practices reinforces its permanence and creates a healthier environment for our guests and residents, as well as for the 12,000 people who work at CityCenter.”
Due to its size and purchasing power, CityCenter was able to drive green economies of scale in multiple industry segments, paving the way for other entities to build and operate sustainably. In November, the Forest Stewardship Council-US (FSC-US®) honored CityCenter as the best commercial project of 2009 in the fifth annual Designing & Building with FSC Awards. CityCenter’s dedication to the use of sustainably harvested FSC-certified wood products is unprecedented in scale and resulted in a significant market transformation, including multiple wood suppliers receiving their FSC chain of custody certification to supply wood to the development.
Here are some of the major highlights that were incorporated into the project:
First energy generation on The Strip through its 8.5 megawatt natural gas co-generation plant, providing efficient electricity on site, reducing emissions and using “waste heat” to provide all domestic hot water
Water conservation technology and programs save approximately 40% of water within the buildings and 60% in outdoor landscaping, for an overall savings of approximately 50 million gallons annually
World’s first fleet of stretch limos powered by clean-burning compressed natural gas (CNG)
Development of slot machine bases that serve as displacement ventilation units, efficiently cooling guests from the ground up, rather than wasting energy on empty space by cooling from the ceiling
Energy-efficiency initiatives will provide a savings equivalent to powering 8,800 households annually
Creation of a large-scale recycling operation that enabled the recycling or reuse of more than 260,000 tons of construction waste, more than 80% of the imploded Boardwalk Hotel
Collaborating with the nation’s foremost sustainability and LEED consultants, CityCenter introduced more than 10,000 construction trade and craftsmen to green building techniques that can be implemented at future developments
Picture by Ron Mader of Planeta.com
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