LEED Certification Commitments

With 254 spacious guest rooms featuring views of the historic campus, and 25,000 square feet of meticulously planned and highly versatile meeting space, the UCLA Meyer & Renee Luskin Conference Center is designed to be a place of education and inspiration. The building is also designed to leave a minimal impact on the environment by optimizing the use of material resources and achieving Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Certification – a goal it shares with all new UCLA structures. The Luskin Conference Center will be one of over 25 LEED-certified buildings on UCLA’s campus. Also, the Luskin Center has set an ambitious goal that it shares with the entire university — to be carbon neutral by 2025.

Sustainability and natural resource conservation were important goals of the Luskin Conference Center design process. Architects and designers strove to achieve a LEED Gold Certification, utilizing the latest design and construction practices and technologies to conserve water and energy, and to maximize the use of recycled and renewable materials. These goals were accomplished by implementing water-efficient landscape irrigation and plumbing fixtures that yield 30% savings over baseline code requirements. The project’s energy use is targeted to achieve a 20% reduction over baseline code energy requirements incorporating elements such as high-efficiency mechanical systems, lighting controls, and LED lighting. All materials used in the interior of the building are low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC). Ten percent of the new building materials are comprised of recycled materials and 10% are procured from within 500 miles. Fifty percent of the wood used on the project is FSC certified from sustainably managed forests. The construction team is diverting approximately 90% of construction waste from landfill through the use of advanced recycling techniques.

WHAT IS LEED?

The LEED plaque on a building is a mark of quality and achievement in green building. Leaders across the globe have made LEED the most widely used green building rating system in the world. LEED certification provides independent verification of a building or neighborhood’s sustainable features, allowing for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of resource-efficient, high-performing, healthy, cost-effective buildings. LEED is the triple bottom line in action, benefiting people, planet and profit.

WHY LEED?

LEED certification means healthier, more productive places, reduced stress on the environment by encouraging energy and resource-efficient buildings, and savings from increased building value, higher lease rates and decreased utility costs. In fact, 88 of the Fortune 100 companies are already LEED certified. LEED projects are responsible for diverting over 80 million tons of waste from landfills. Compared to the average commercial building, LEED Gold buildings in the General Services Administration’s portfolio consume a quarter less energy and generate 34% lower greenhouse gas emissions. LEED is pushing the green building industry to go further. Developed in a transparent, consensus-based process that continues to include several rounds of public comments and approval from USGBC members, LEED ensures that leaders can demand more from our buildings, creating healthy experiences, conserving precious resources and benefitting the business bottom line.

HOW IT WORKS

LEED projects earn points across nine categories that address key aspects of green buildings.

1. 1. Integrative process
2. 2. Location and transportation
3. 3. Sustainable sites
4. 4. Water efficiency
5. 5. Energy and atmosphere
6. 6. Materials and resources
7. 7. Indoor environmental quality
8. 8. Innovation
9. 9. Regional priority

Based on the number of points achieved, a project earns one of four LEED rating levels:

THE LEED RATING SYSTEMS

LEED works for all buildings at all phases of development, from new construction to existing buildings, as well as all building sectors, from homes to hospitals to corporate headquarters.

1. 1. LEED for Building Design+Construction
2. 2. LEED for Interior Design+Construction
3. 3. LEED for Building Operations+Maintenance
4. 4. LEED for Neighborhood Development

LEED IS GLOBAL:

More than 72,000 projects are participating in LEED across 150+ countries and territories, comprising over 13.8 billion square feet. You’ve seen a LEED plaque before — USGBC estimates that nearly 5 million people experience a LEED building every day. Many of the world’s most well-known buildings have earned LEED certification. LEED works with top building professionals around the world to deliver a system that is applicable at the global, regional and local levels. That means that LEED works no matter where you live — from Seattle, Washington to Taipei, Taiwan.

LEED information source: U.S. Green Building Council, http://leed.usgbc.org

About the UCLA Meyer & Renee Luskin Conference Center

The UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center, currently under construction in the heart of UCLA’s vibrant campus, offers an inspirational learning environment in a thoughtfully designed space that fosters excellence, engagement, inspiration and breakthroughs. Scheduled to open in August 2016, the UCLA Luskin Conference Center is set amid iconic and historic campus buildings and the exhilarating backdrop of daily student life. The Luskin Conference Center is a place where the best academic minds, medical innovators, researchers, political leaders, and societal visionaries will meet to exchange ideas that will help shape the world.

Upon opening, the UCLA Luskin Conference Center will feature 254 beautifully-appointed guest rooms, many with sweeping views of the stunning campus architecture and beautifully landscaped grounds. With more than 25,000 square feet of versatile and thoughtfully-planned event space, the Luskin Conference Center will offer some of the most technologically advanced facilities available within the United States and globally. The gracious guest experience at the Luskin Conference Center will be further enhanced by a full-service restaurant and lounge, room service for breakfast, lunch and dinner, on-site professional catering services, well-equipped fitness center, concierge service, business center, valet parking and complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the property. The conference center project is self-sustaining and does not utilize state funding or revenues from student tuition. For more information, please visit https://luskinconferencecenter.ucla.edu/.

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