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After years of assisting clients in achieving LEED certification for their facilities, Balfour Beatty Construction earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications for two of its own office locations on the East Coast.

In Fairfax, Virginia, the company's North Region achieved Gold certification under the LEED for Commercial Interiors (LEED C-I) rating system for its new headquarters facility at the Bridgewater Corporate Center. And in Charlotte, North Carolina, the company's Carolinas Division achieved LEED C-I Silver certification for its new headquarters in Charlotte's historic South End. LEED for Commercial Interiors is the U.S. Green Building Council's rating system applicable to tenant improvements in new or existing office space.

"Our commitment to sustainability goes far beyond helping others achieve environmental design. We work to incorporate this same responsible design into the facilities we occupy and work in," said Tracy Browne, the company's vice president of sustainability.

The North Region headquarters was designed and built using an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) method, which earned the project two LEED Innovation and Design pilot credits. Balfour Beatty worked with design partners Fox Architects and Engineered Systems Alliance to design and build a space that reflects the company's collaborative culture and commitment to sustainability.

In support of Balfour Beatty's global Sustainability Roadmap, the IPD team designed and installed systems to track carbon emissions and electrical use, allowing Balfour Beatty to track actual performance of energy-saving strategies and seek ways to continue reducing energy consumption. Steve Smithgall, division president, emphasized, "The LEED C-I Gold certification of our new headquarters starts us off on the right sustainability path. Now we are striving to continue to find ways to reduce our impact through constant monitoring, aggressive strategies and innovative thinking."

In Charlotte, North Carolina, the new office encompassed 30,000 square feet of converted space, from a former 1920s knitting mill and adjacent office space. The company chose the South End location for many reasons, including the adaptive reuse of a historic site, easy access to Charlotte's center city via the Lynx Light Rail, as well as the wide range of nearby amenities.

Balfour Beatty collaborated with architecture firm Gensler and Charlotte-based Optima Engineering to create a space that preserved the building's historic significance while incorporating innovation characteristic of the modern workplace. The space also earned a City of Charlotte's Commercial Building Retrofit Energy Efficient Grant in October 2011.

"The location in Charlotte fulfills Balfour Beatty's priority to provide additional service and convenience for our corporate, professional services, and public sector clients and enhances our ongoing community engagement focus," said John Woodcock, Carolinas division president.

These two new resource-efficient office spaces and the eco-friendly construction practices that created them are helping Balfour Beatty achieve several environmental sustainability goals under its ambitious Sustainability Roadmap. These goals for 2012 include reducing both greenhouse gas emissions and water use by 10 percent, reducing landfill waste by 50 percent, and maximizing the use of recycled content in building products and materials. The following are some of the sustainable features that helped the new offices achieve their LEED status:

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Balfour Beatty Construction Offices Achieve LEED Certification

(Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune) The ICBM Building is the first commercial building developed at Falcon Hill National Aerospace Research Park, a massive business park being developed on the west side of Hill Air Force Base.

Clearfield Utahs top political leaders, developers, a contractor and Air Force brass snipped the ribbon Monday on a new office building, the first of many planned for the massive Falcon Hill National Aerospace Research Park.

The park, visible along Interstate 15 in Clearfield, is being touted as the largest enhanced-use lease project in the Department of Defenses history.

Through such projects, DoD allows a private developer to lease land on base for commercial development, with the promise that the military share in the profits by way of new buildings for its own employees.

In this case, defense contractor Northrop Grumman and its sub-contractors will fill the new five-story structure, dubbed "building 1575," and the Hill Air Force Base (HAFB) team that works with them on the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program will get a new building next door.

Hill already has a new security forces building and a new West Gate entrance, thanks to revenue from Falcon Hill.

Gov. Gary Herbert on Monday hailed Falcon Hills first commercial building as an example of an "unprecedented partnership" between government and the private sector.

"This is a new model," said Herbert.

Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Rob Bishop, both Republicans involved in persuading the Air Force to give such a project a try, also spoke at the ribbon-cutting.

HAFB will get up to 1.4 million square feet of office space in return for the use of its 550 acres for the park, Hatch said.

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1st commercial building opens in Hill air base aerospace park

North San Diego and Southwest Riverside counties need new office space again, signaling an end of an office-space glut, commercial brokers said.

Excess office space in the wake of the Great Recession left building owners straining to find tenants, and businesses scored great deals on top-flight, well-located office space. But those bargains have started to dry up, especially for tenants looking for 50,000 square feet or more.

The market for those tenants has gotten tight enough that landlords have begun building again after a quiet three years, and a few developers are scoping out speculative construction. Overall, the tightening office market hints at a strengthening economic recovery.

"In the last several years, there's been quite a few opportunities, now getting down to a handful, and will continue to dwindle," said Chris Hobson, a senior vice president with Cassidy Turley BRE Commercial in San Diego.

The Great Recession pushed many companies out of business and forced others to lay off workers, dramatically reducing the need for office space. In San Diego County, the vacancy rate peaked in summer 2009 at 18 percent, according to CB Richard Ellis. Riverside County peaked at 30 percent at the end of 2009, according to Coldwell Banker Commercial in Temecula.

Both rates have fallen steadily since their peak, but vacancy rates remain high overall. With landlords desperate to fill space, businesses in older, less-well-located buildings jumped at the opportunity to move.

During the economic boom years, "I did a Class B deal for $2.15 a square foot for 13,000 square feet," said Scot Ginsburg, a managing director with Jones Lang LaSalle in San Diego and a North County specialist. "I just did a Class A deal for similar size, $2.20 a square foot."

But in recent months the local economy has begun to rebound: the unemployment rate in San Diego County in January hit 9.6 percent, down from 10.5 percent 12 months earlier, and the rate in Riverside and San Bernardino counties fell to 12.4 percent, down from 14.2 percent in January 2011, according to the California Employment Development Department.

High tech and education have fueled much of the recent expansion in office space, said Richard Gonor, an executive vice president for Jones Lang LaSalle in San Diego. Companies want to be near telecom giant Qualcomm, making the Sorrento Valley an in-demand site for office space.

Bridgepoint Education, the for-profit online institution of higher education, is looking for more space, said Hobson, the company's broker. The company itself would not comment.

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REAL ESTATE: Office market tightening, more construction on the horizon

To achieveLeadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification which verifies that a building was designed and built using strategies aimed at achieving high performance in key areas of human and environmental health sustainable building practices are credited with points and a project must earn a minimum number of points to be certified. The points are awarded on a 100-point scale and weighted to reflect their potential environmental impacts.

With 95 points, an office building designed by Perkins+Will in Atlanta, Ga., is the highest-scoring LEED-certified new construction project to date under the 2009 version of LEED for New Construction.

The building, originally constructed in 1985, was redesigned and renovated into a high-performance sustainability focused building. Incorporating building re-use and renovation were important ideas in the firms concept of sustainability that led them to the LEED Platinum certification.

Perkins+Will has designed a showpiece building, said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). 1315 Peachtree Street exemplifies the kind of environmentally sustainable measures that can be taken during a building retrofit. It has earned its high LEED score and will continue to pay dividends through energy saving measures for decades to come.

The Perkins+Will building incorporated energy-saving features throughout, including: more energy-efficient exterior glazing and alterations to the front faade; a radiant heating and cooling system; passive sun shading on lower levels and an active, dynamic exterior sunshade on the building terrace level to control afternoon sunlight and heat gain; daylight harvesting and reduced ambient lighting coupled with the use of LED lamps.

A trigeneration system for heating, cooling, and electricity uses microturbines and an absorption chiller on the roof along with natural gas to reduce the buildings carbon footprint by 68%. To save on water, which is an important issue in Atlanta, the building has a 10,000-gallon cistern that catches rainwater for landscape irrigation and low-flow urinals and toilets.

For more information about Perkins+Will and this LEED Platinum building, visit http://www.perkinswill.com.

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New Office Building Earns Highest LEED® Certification

Just outside the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Briana and Tizoc DeAztlan scurried across a plant-filled pavilion in a golf car checking out their handiwork.

Obviously, we want things to look great, but we want people to be safe, Briana, owner of Eventscape International, said Wednesday as fans streamed into the stadium. Yesterday was extremely windy, so safety was priority No. 1.

The husband-wife team eyed a nearly 30-foot-tall Queen Palm fitted with weights hidden inside a large white planter box.

Eventscape's employees must ensure trees brought in to liven up the BNP Paribas Open and other events don't blow over in wind gusts that over the past week reached nearly 50 mph.

For Bermuda Dunes-based Eventscape, it's an engineering task mastered over two decades.

The company uses all kinds of trees, flowers, shrubs and planter boxes to dress up sporting events, concerts, weddings and corporate functions.

Eventscape presents clients with a design layout illustrating what their rented plants will look like during a special event. The company then installs the plants and keeps them healthy throughout the event.

Steven Burt, Briana's father and head of Steven Burt & Associates, started Eventscape more than 20 years ago and eventually turned it over to her. Burt still offers the couple advice and weather alerts for upcoming events.

It's a specialized niche for Eventscape, but not so special that there aren't competitors such as San Diego Interior Foliage. These companies provide foliage under tight deadlines, and they're often asked to make last-minute changes to accommodate vendors and event participants.

Eventscape provided a greenhouse look to the Coachella Valley's top tennis tournament well before its name was changed to the BNP Paribas Open.

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Bermuda Dunes landscaping business, Eventscape, decks out BNP Paribas Open

EMPORIA The tears began to flow shortly after the St. John High School Lady Tigers posed for the Class 1A Division-I second-place trophy picture on the hardwood at White Auditorium Saturday night. Hoxie limited St. John to only 26.7 field-goal shooting for the game and held on for a 55-45 victory over the Lady Tigers, who were making their third state appearance in the last four years. Senior standout Teresa Wade hit 5 of 11 shots, including a 3-pointer, and sank 2 of 3 free throws to finish with a team-high 13 points in the final game of her stellar career. But her St. John teammates were a collective 11 for 50 in the state title game, including shooting only 18.9 percent in the second half (7 for 37). I know my team played as hard as they could, said Wade, a recipient of countless hugs as she wiped away tears. I really appreciate their effort and they gave us a really good season, a really good career for me, and I really appreciate it. Wade drew two early fouls, having to go to bench at the 4:41 mark in the first quarter. We didnt give them a big lead or anything with Teresa out, St. John head coach Danny Smith said. We didnt play that bad, but the bottom line is they took away our best three players and told our other two to step up and shoot shots and we didnt do it. Thats why we had an awful hard time scoring, but Im proud of my girls and they had a good season. With Wade on the bench, Hoxie suddenly became careless with the basketball and committed eight turnovers in the opening five minutes, 39 seconds of the game, falling behind 13-8 at the 1:47 mark after St. Johns Jamie Waters converted two free throws. But Hoxie answered with Carly Heim hitting a 3-pointer and Gabriel Spresser scoring on a layup to knot the score at 13. St. John regained the lead, 14-13, after Waters made 1 of 2 free throws before Heim converted a pair on the other end, giving Hoxie its first lead of the game at 15-14 to end the first quarter. The Lady Tigers (23-3) never had the lead again. Wade, who re-entered at the start of the second quarter, nailed a 3-pointer from the right baseline to tie the game at 17 with 5:51 left before halftime. Thats when a barrage of 3s took place, including back-to-back from Mackenzie Mense, to give the Indians a 24-17 lead at the 4:24 mark. After Waters answered with a 3-ball from the left wing, Mense dropped in another from beyond the arc to build the margin to 27-19. They can shoot the 3 and they have been doing it all tournament, Smith said. Theyre just a real good team all-around. Tara Christies 3-pointer with at the 3:46 mark pulled the Lady Tigers within 27-22 before a three-point play by Carly Heim helped give Hoxie a 32-27 halftime lead. In the third quarter, St. John pulled within 38-33 on Wades three-point play, but the Tribe went on a 9-3 run to take a 47-36 lead after three quarters. Hoxie was able to maintain its lead the rest of the way to secure its first state title since winning the 3A crown in 1993 at the Hutchinson Sports Arena. St. John won the state title in 2009, finished third in 2010 and now has a second-place trophy to its collection. Thats what we talked about, Smith said. A lot of teams dont have an opportunity to play in this game. Were a little disappointed, but were still happy with our season.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL Class 1A Division-I State Tournament

At Emporia White Auditorium

GIRLS

Championship

Saturday

Hoxie 55, St. John 45 ST. JOHN (23-3) Morgan Osborne 1-9 1-2 3, Jamie Waters 2-8 4-4 8, Teresa Christie 0-10 2-4 2, Alexis Witt 4-6 0-0 8, Teresa Wade 5-11 2-3 13, Tia Smith 0-5 0-0 0, Jessica Hanson 0-3 0-0 0, Haley Falk 2-5 0-0 4, Tara Christie 2-3 1-4 7, Rhian Collins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-60 10-17 45. HOXIE (24-1) Mackenzie Mense 3-6 5-9 15, Shelby Heim 2-6 1-2 6, Kristina Farber 1-3 2-4 4, Carly Heim 6-12 5-6 18, Lexi Schamberger 2-5 2-2 6, Gabriel Spresser 1-2 0-0 2, Sarah Farber 0-1 0-0 0, Danel Stithem 1-2 0-1 2, Natasha Allmer 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 17-37 16-24 55. St. John 14 13 9 9 45 Hoxie 15 17 15 8 55 Three-point goals Hoxie 5-14 (Mense 3-4, S. Heim 1-4, C. Heim 1-4, Spresser 0-1, Stithem 0-1); St. John 3-18 (Ta. Christie 2-2, Wade 1-2, Osborne 0-3, Waters 0-2, Te. Christie 0-1, Smith 0-4, Hanson 0-2, Falk 0-2). Rebounds St. John 40 (Wade 7, Waters 7, Te. Christie 6); Hoxie 32 (C. Heim 7, Mense 5). Assists St. John 8 (Waters 3, Osborne 3); Hoxie 8 (C. Heim 3, Stithem 2). Turnovers Hoxie 19, St. John 14.

EMPORIA The tears began to flow shortly after the St. John High School Lady Tigers posed for the Class 1A Division-I second-place trophy picture on the hardwood at White Auditorium Saturday night. Hoxie limited St. John to only 26.7 field-goal shooting for the game and held on for a 55-45 victory over the Lady Tigers, who were making their third state appearance in the last four years. Senior standout Teresa Wade hit 5 of 11 shots, including a 3-pointer, and sank 2 of 3 free throws to finish with a team-high 13 points in the final game of her stellar career. But her St. John teammates were a collective 11 for 50 in the state title game, including shooting only 18.9 percent in the second half (7 for 37). I know my team played as hard as they could, said Wade, a recipient of countless hugs as she wiped away tears. I really appreciate their effort and they gave us a really good season, a really good career for me, and I really appreciate it. Wade drew two early fouls, having to go to bench at the 4:41 mark in the first quarter. We didnt give them a big lead or anything with Teresa out, St. John head coach Danny Smith said. We didnt play that bad, but the bottom line is they took away our best three players and told our other two to step up and shoot shots and we didnt do it. Thats why we had an awful hard time scoring, but Im proud of my girls and they had a good season. With Wade on the bench, Hoxie suddenly became careless with the basketball and committed eight turnovers in the opening five minutes, 39 seconds of the game, falling behind 13-8 at the 1:47 mark after St. Johns Jamie Waters converted two free throws. But Hoxie answered with Carly Heim hitting a 3-pointer and Gabriel Spresser scoring on a layup to knot the score at 13. St. John regained the lead, 14-13, after Waters made 1 of 2 free throws before Heim converted a pair on the other end, giving Hoxie its first lead of the game at 15-14 to end the first quarter. The Lady Tigers (23-3) never had the lead again. Wade, who re-entered at the start of the second quarter, nailed a 3-pointer from the right baseline to tie the game at 17 with 5:51 left before halftime. Thats when a barrage of 3s took place, including back-to-back from Mackenzie Mense, to give the Indians a 24-17 lead at the 4:24 mark. After Waters answered with a 3-ball from the left wing, Mense dropped in another from beyond the arc to build the margin to 27-19. They can shoot the 3 and they have been doing it all tournament, Smith said. Theyre just a real good team all-around. Tara Christies 3-pointer with at the 3:46 mark pulled the Lady Tigers within 27-22 before a three-point play by Carly Heim helped give Hoxie a 32-27 halftime lead. In the third quarter, St. John pulled within 38-33 on Wades three-point play, but the Tribe went on a 9-3 run to take a 47-36 lead after three quarters. Hoxie was able to maintain its lead the rest of the way to secure its first state title since winning the 3A crown in 1993 at the Hutchinson Sports Arena. St. John won the state title in 2009, finished third in 2010 and now has a second-place trophy to its collection. Thats what we talked about, Smith said. A lot of teams dont have an opportunity to play in this game. Were a little disappointed, but were still happy with our season.

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Hoxie decks St. John, 55-45