LEED Silver for Bronx Library Center & Local Law 86 Primer

The New York Public Library’s Bronx Library Center was awarded LEED Silver certification from USGBC last summer, but USGBC President Rick Fedrizzi officially presented the honor in person at a ceremony last Thursday, January 11th up in The Bronx. The Center is the first publicly-funded green building in New York City to receive LEED certification (noteworthy because the City’s Local Law 86, requiring LEED Silver for many public projects, took effect on January 1, 2007). At five stories, 78,000 square feet, and designed by Dattner Architects, the Center is the New York Public Library’s largest capital project in the past twenty years, at a cost of some $50 million. Green features include FSC-certified desk, door, and interior paneling, an insulated glass curtain wall, and separately controlled heating and cooling areas for office and bookshelf spaces.

Local Law 86 establishes a series of mandates for non-residential municipal construction in New York City:

1. All buildings (or building renovation projects impacting either half the structure’s square footage or two major building systems), costing a minimum of $2 million must be designed to achieve a LEED Silver rating. Schools and hospitals need only meet a LEED Certified rating. This requirement also applies to all capital projects to which the City provides at least fifty percent of the funds, or projects where the City contributes more than $10 million.
2. Projects costing more than $12 million must exceed New York State energy efficiency standards by twenty percent.
3. Projects costing more than $30 million must exceed New York State energy efficiency standards by twenty-five percent.
4. Projects with plumbing costs exceeding $500,000 must reduce end water use by thirty percent from New York State code (only twenty percent if an application for waterless urinals is rejected).

• Bronx Public Library Recognized for Sustainable Design Features (The New York Public Library)
• Text of Local Law 86