US Embassies Take the LEED

This year, the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) celebrated its 30th LEED-certified diplomatic facility in Abuja, Nigeria for which Page is the architect of record. We are proud to announce that the facility is one of three of our U.S. embassy projects, including embassy compounds in Rabat, Morocco and Helsinki, Finland, which have received LEED certifications in 2015. All three projects were delivered as part of a design-build team with B.L. Harbert International, LLC.

With both LEED Gold certified facilities in Morocco and Nigeria, Page now has 11 LEED certified U.S. embassy or consular compounds in Africa. We also expect four more diplomatic facilities in Africa to achieve certification when completed.

The 40,000-square-foot Chancery addition in Helsinki received LEED Silver in March 2015, adding to the OBO’s overseas portfolio of LEED certified facilities. The Helsinki compound includes the Innovation Center, which is the only U.S. diplomatic facility thus far to receive the prestigious LEED Platinum certification.

LEED certification is recognized as an achievement in green building, and certified buildings are designed to lower costs and conserve energy. The facility in Abuja, along with our projects in Dakar, Senegal and Monrovia, Liberia, generate clean power from photovoltaic panels reducing their grid purchased energy demand by an average of 21%, according to a recent article by the U.S. Department of State. Not only did the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia become the first newly constructed U.S. Embassy campus to use photovoltaic panels for clean energy, but it also utilized a rainwater harvesting system. We design diplomatic facilities to include high performance building facades with exterior sun shading systems, occupant user education programs, and comprehensive water balance strategies to reduce impact on lacking local infrastructures that are often in a state of disrepair.

Page has designed and/or served as architect of record on 28 U.S. diplomatic compounds. We are proud that 85% of those projects are LEED-certified or are targeting certification, and we look forward to continuing this record of achievement.

A Department of State video, “U.S Embassies Go Green” features four projects, three of which are Page projects: Helsinki, Dakar and Jakarta.

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