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Staples Goes Gold - Link Construction Group builds first LEED Certified Retail Store in Miami
Miami, FL - March 4, 2009-Link Construction Group, a South Florida based General Contracting and Construction Management Company, completed the first LEED Gold Certified retail building in Miami, Staples Office Supply, on Biscayne Boulevard. The Office Supply store was Link's first "green" project and on February 24, 2009 it was officially announced that it received Gold Certification status through The United States Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
LEED is the recognized standard for measuring building sustainability. Buildings achieve LEED certification by minimizing environmental impact and maximizing energy efficiency. Each building is ranked through a point system, and receives points based on six categories: Sustainable Site, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Innovation and Design Process. The points awarded determine what level of certification the structure will receive: certified: 26-32, silver: 33-38, Gold: 39-51, and Platinum: 52-69.
"This fast track USGBC Gold Certified Project was extremely challenging, we were actually building faster than materials could be procured due to the tenant/landlord contractual completion date" said Nick Fuoco, Link Construction Group Project Manager on the Staples project.
The 20,000 square foot Staples Office Supply Store on Biscayne was built in its contractual completion period, with the assistance of LEED Accredited Consultant, Jason Biondi from The Spinnaker Group, who advised the development team and worked on commissioning the building. The project was designed by Miami based Architects, Sol-Arch, with sustainable features in mind, such as a reflective roofing system to reduce energy performance, waterless urinals and low-flow toilets & faucets to reduce the strain on municipal water, low emitting materials to provide superior indoor air quality, rainwater reservoir for plant irrigation, temperature controls that adjust to occupancy to conserve energy, and 100% native drought resistant plants.
Additional project development team members include: EDC Corp, Fineline Engineering, Tain Engineering, and Landscape Architect-Mariano Corral.
The Principals of Link Construction Group, Guillermo Fernandez and Miguel Cerra, are committed to the community and strongly believe that the future of our environment rests in our ability to practice "green". In November of 2008 Link hosted a LEED seminar to prepare company Project Managers and Superintendents for the LEED Professional Accreditation exam. "It is our goal for all of our employees to become LEED Accredited Professionals, it is just the beginning of a growing movement and it is a valuable qualification to have" said Guillermo Fernandez, President of Link Construction Group. Link employees continue to study for the complex exam, and plan on testing before the end of the month, March 2009.
About Link Construction Group
Link Construction Group is a full service, South Florida based, General Contracting and Construction Management Company, specializing in a variety of construction sectors including: Healthcare, Retail, Multifamily/Recreational, Industrial/Commercial, Educational, Parks/Governmental, and Hospitality.
