LEEDS Certification

Burt Bee's New Distribution Center

DC Velocity, October 2008
Overview of Burt's Bees new DC in Morrisville, NC. A good approach for sustainability. There has been a lot of press about new distribution centers that have been build-to-suite that have received LEED certifications. This would include JohnsonDiversy/Liberty Property Trust DC near Racine, WI that received LEED Gold (http://www.johnsondiversey.com/NR/rdonlyres/11FE5469-A223-482E-8D18-7666D6C9AD87/0/distributioncenterawardweb.pdf) Also, Patagonia's Reno DC (www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr9WU4-NAc4)

I think the Burt's Bees Warehouse is a much better example of true sustainability since they are re-using an existing property. The building of new buildings and developing new land has the biggest environmental impact over the life of a building than any of the nifty technologies that can be put into a new building. I believe that brownfield redevelopment is under valued in sustainable evaluations.

Another interesting trend is companies not utilizing LEED certification. The cost of certification which can be $30-50K in consulting fees is not always worth the investment. Many users seem to be resigned to the fact that they need to use LEED for marketing (i.e. Prologis and other developers), but their maybe a need to look for a better approach. Their was a recent article that a Orange Julius owner used Green Globes as it was a web-based assessment.