Late last month, Skanska USA, the U.S. division of Swedish construction firm Skanska AB, formally earned LEED for Commercial Interiors Platinum for its 24,000-square-foot offices on the 32nd floor of the Empire State Building. The project earned 44 points under the LEED-CI Version 2.2 rating system (which requires 42 points for a Platinum rating) and, after eight months of occupancy, the space is on track to achieve an expected 46 percent savings in energy costs. A priority for the design team was boosting indoor air quality, and the offices feature an underfloor air system with operable diffusers that allow each individual workstation to control temperature. Skanska, which actually served as its own construction manager, recycled 80 percent of construction debris and was able to preserve 40 percent of the space's non-structural interior components.
