It’s only fitting that a recent $4.6 million fit-out in the building may set the benchmark for what it costs, what it takes, and how much can be saved in the long haul by creating a LEED CI Platinum office in an existing building, much less a landmarked skyscraper. That’s because the 32nd floor is not just home for Skanska USA’s New York office – it’s also meant as a showcase for high-end yet achievable sustainability.

“There are a lot of clients that say, ‘I’d love to build green, but it costs too much,’” says Steve Pressler, executive vice president and area general manager of Skanska New York. “But we have kept meticulous records to show them that we could build it for not much more than a regular class A space, to prove to people that in dollars and cents they will save more in the longer term.”

Skanska决定从美国去年挑选新家的塔楼之前，从美国绿色建筑委员会追求顶级LEEED状态，从麦迪逊大道搬运。建筑公司早早地排队了它的设计团队，通过LEED清单哈希，并明确了任何现有的空间会这样做，压力机说。

但帝国州仍然提供了几个优势。“它的原始设计本质上是绿色的，因为它如何依靠日光和自然通风，”媒体说。它还帮助建筑物的所有者，W＆M属性成为助推器。

The proof is in the finished product – a 24,400-sq-ft space yielding 44 LEED points, more than enough for Platinum on the 57-point scale. Pressler says the construction effort clocked in at $210,000 more than regular Class A office construction, or a “Platinum premium” of 4.7%. But the net present value of savings from 46% lower projected energy costs over the 15-year lease adds up to $556,436. After accounting for the premium and a green projects grant the team won, Skanska gains net savings of $368,380 over the lease term. And that’s using conservative energy savings estimates, Pressler says.

Skanska is already logging energy savings over its prior 15,500-sq-ft space, which housed only two-thirds of the current 80 staffers, he adds.

Pressler says the marketplace still shows “interest but hesitancy” about green construction, in some cases because of completed projects that have come up short in energy savings. He says most cases involve owners not properly using their green building systems.

Hitting high sustainability goals was of utmost importance for Skanska in order to prove the value of sustainability to clients, says Rick Cook, partner at Cook + Fox, an architecture firm whose own offices became the first LEED CI Platinum project in New York several years ago. He says the key is to maximize advantages you have and to stay committed.

“你试图收集原始空间的最佳品质，只能在里面带来健康的材料，并涂抹......