4.2 GBCI Headquarters, Noida, UP

Water Efficiency

Water savings in the USGBC space are the result of both highly efficient appliances in the space and the ongoing occupant engagement to educate staff and visitors how to reduce personal water consumption. It can be challenging to conserve water in highly utilized spaces, like the kitchen, so ongoing education is key to remind occupants of their impact.

Various Strategies implemented are:

• High performing appliances including industrial dishwasher, sensor-driven sinks, hybrid urinals, low-flow showerheads, and dual flush toilets

4.2 GBCI Headquarters

Figure 4.11 : GBC India Corporate Head Office

• Owner: GBCI India • Architects: Anagram Architects • Location: World Trade Tower, Sector 16, Noida, Uttar Pradesh-201301 • Area: 4,265 sq ft • Facilities: Private and open office workspaces, reception area, cafeteria, pantry, two conference rooms, server room • Full Time Employees: 17

About GBCI

Founded in 2008, GBCI is the only credentialing and certification body within the sustainability industry and green business to exclusively administer project credentials and certifications of EDGE, LEED, Parksmart, GRESB, SITES, PEER, WELL, TRUE and ICP. Located in several countries, GBCI currently supports professionals and project teams all over the world.

GBCI & USGBC

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a non-profit establishment. It supports the development of healthy prosperous and resilient communities through the conversion of the built environment. Through its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building program, USGBC is devoted in changing how our communities and buildings are designed, built and maintained, enabling a socially and environmentally responsible, prosperous and healthy environment that improves the quality of lives of people.

GBCI in India

Corporate head office of GBCI India in Noida provides on ground support for customers for regional green building and business project teams in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions. A staff of around 40 people operating in centers from multiple cities across India provides support in technical development, market development, certification, technical and marketing customer solutions.

The need for a Head Office

India ranks third place globally for countries outside the U.S. with the most LEED-certified space, having over 15 million gross square meters of area. Thus it was essential for GBCI to set up an office in India to provide local support to individuals and project teams. USGBC launched version 4 of its LEED rating system in 2016. It became crucial for GBCI India to illustrate though its space the achievability of the credits and the positive effect they have on human health and the environment

Sustainability Features

Location: The first step towards creating this space was to identify a centrally located commercial space in Delhi NCR, well-serviced by public transportation. The project team identified a 25 storey building in Noida next to the Delhi-Noida Direct Flyover and the Noida sector 16 metro station. With a convention center, fitness center, access to multiple modes of transportation, food courts, and an upcoming hotel, the 10th story of this office building became ideal for GBCI India to locate its new corporate head office.

The office stands in a very prime location in Noida sector 16. It is central to many regions of Delhi NCR and is well-serviced by various modes of public transportation. The project leverag-es site design and amenities within the immediate vicinity like a fountain / water feature, artis-tic installations and landscaped elements to further to encourage physical activity.

Density: The project site has a surrounding density of about 35,000 square feet per acre of buildable land and a presence of diverse facilities like banks, post offices, restaurants, fitness centers etc. within a one-quarter mile walking distance from the building. The strategic location of the office thus encourages walkability.

Figure 4.12 : Location of GBC India Corporate Head Office

Parking: A location well-served by transit also helps reduce the office's parking requirement by 81.25%. The office encourages carpooling by dedicating 1/3 of available parking capacity for carpool vehicles.

Lighting & Views

GBCI India’s office space has been designed to optimize both natural and artificial light to ensure energy savings as well as keep occupants’ circadian rhythms in sync.

Daylight: The project site is oriented so that it enjoys a favorable north orientation for daylight. A clear envelope, open office layout and transparent interior partitions (cabins and conference rooms) ensure daylight penetrates deep into the floor plate. Daylight simulations carried out for the space demonstrate that 76.04% of the regularly occupied floor area complies with sDA thresholds of 300 lux for at least 50% of the occupied hours in a year. The occupants in the space also enjoy good quality views.

Glare: The space faces north and enjoys good daylight exposure, however, to prevent any discomfort due to glare, the provision of manually controlled blinds allows occupants to customize the space as per their preference.

Lighting: Through efficient spatial design and appropriate lighting fixture selection, the space commits to providing an indoor environment in sync with circadian rhythm of occupants. LED lighting coupled with occupancy sensors and daylight sensors improve lighting efficiency. While selecting the lighting fixture, the focus has not been on lux levels alone but also on CCT of the fixture to ensure the least disturbance to the human circadian rhythm. Lighting controls are provided for all shared and individual occupied spaces.

Figure 4.13 : views

Views: Quality views to the outdoors including sky, flora, and fauna have been known to reinforce a connection with nature and impact occupant’s mental health in a positive manner. The spatial layout of the GBCI Noida office is such that the project has provided a direct line of sight to vision glazing with at least two kinds of views to 87.6% of the regularly occupied area

Visual Balance: Finishes and furnishings chosen for the space have mostly followed a light color palette and higher light reflectance coupled with accents in green and blue. The lighter color finishes enhance the brightness within the space and maintain a visual balance.

Biophilia: The space demonstrates incorporation of biophilic elements like plants, which have been known to influence occupant’s mental health and productivity in a positive manner.

Energy

The energy consumed by buildings during construction and the operational phase results in fossil fuel burning which contributes to the ambient air pollution. LEED provides a structured approach to energy efficiency, which starts with a focus on design that reduces overall energy needs.

Green Power: The space is engaged in a 5-year renewable contract to offset 100% of electricity consumption and CO2 emissions through the purchase of RECs and Green Power. CSG CleanBuild (REC) helps offset an annual electricity consumption of 50,000 kWh/year. Green-e Climate’s certificate indicates that the project invests in green power to the tune of total energy usage of 439,036 kBtu of district cooling energy use for a total of 30 Metric Tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

Efficient System Design: The project realized an energy cost savings of 35.85 % due to efficient lighting and adaptable lighting controls, daylight harvesting, plug load monitoring, smart appliances, efficient mechanical systems, and thermal comfort controls for 100% of occupants. Proper commissioning ensured systems were operating per the basis of design and owner’s project requirements and that no energy was wasted through operational errors.

Sensors: The project space is integrated with daylight sensors and occupancy sensors which regulate the light levels in the space and minimize energy wastage. Energy wastage is further reduced by following demandcontrolled ventilation, wherein the carbon dioxide sensors continuously monitor the CO2 levels in the space and accordingly regulate the treated fresh air.

Materials

90.4% of products by cost are low-emitting materials. This reduces the concentration of chemical contaminants that can damage air quality, human health, productivity, and the environment. 83% of all materials installed in the space were transparent in terms of composition and origin. Twenty (20) materials had Environmental Product Declarations reports and 21 materials demonstrated compliance with BPDO’s Material ingredient credit. Of these, 5 materials had Cradle-to-Cradle certifications, 8 materials had Health Product Declarations

Figure 4.14: Clean Build Carbon Offset Content Label

Figure 4.15: Exhaust Fans

Figure 4.16: Material Display and 8 materials demonstrated compliance with ANSI/BIFMA regulations for material ingredients.

INDOOR AIR QUALITY Flush-out and air testing were performed to ensure exceptional indoor air quality. Formaldehyde, particulates, ozone, TVOC, chemicals from CDPH standard method v1.1 and CO were within LEED limits.

Filters: Despite being located in a place where the ambient air quality can be challenging around the year, the space manages to provide healthy indoor air to occupants through incorporation of MERV 13 filters and carbon filters, which arrest particulate matter and organic gases.

Co2 Sensors: The space has been designed for demand-controlled ventilation. The sensors located in the space constantly monitor the carbon dioxide levels and the set point has currently been kept at 750 ppm. Whenever the CO2 levels exceed the set point, the TFA gets switched on automatically to regulate the air quality.

Air Quality Monitors: A huge display located at the entrance of the space constantly displays the critical air quality parameters like the PM 2.5 , PM 10, CO2 and TVOC levels. This has helped generate greater responsiveness amongst the occupants towards their environment.

Exhaust: All the washroom doors have a self-closing mechanism and are separately exhausted. Placement of printers and cleaning chemicals has been done in a thoughtful manner to avoid contamination of indoor air.

Figure 4.17: CO2 Monitor

Figure 4.18: segregation of wastes

diversion across 11 material streams.

Waste

Segregation waste is the first step towards effective management of waste. All operational waste falling under the categories of “Plastic”, “Food”, “Paper” and “E-Waste” is gathered separately on-site. Additionally, to reduce construction and demolition waste disposed of in landfills, the project demonstrated 83% construction waste

Physical Comfort

The manner in which buildings and the spaces around the buildings are planned and designed can encourage active living and inculcate healthy habits amongst people.

Physical Activity: Throughout its space, GBCI India encourages occupants to follow an active lifestyle by organizing weekly fitness sessions. The sessions organized in the space include varying fitness forms like Zumba, Yoga and Aerobics, led by both internal and external instructors.

Thermal Comfort: Efficient system design ensures the occupants are provided with an indoor atmosphere which is thermally comfortable. An occupant survey is used to monitor the occupant satisfaction levels. Additionally, provision of portable fans and thin blankets/shawls is made so occupants can customize the environment based on their preference.

Acoustical Comfort: With a double-glazed façade on the outside, the layout of spaces is done in a manner to ensure acoustical comfort for the occupants. The space zoning is done in a manner to cater to all kinds of work scenarios like focused work, group discussions or workshops while ensuring speech privacy, minimum reverberation, and minimum intrusion of outdoor noise.

Ergonomic Comfort: Furniture or equipment over time can cause discomfort and strain the body, especially in occupational environments that require repetitive tasks. Accordingly, all furniture installed in the space ensures compliance with HFES 100 standard or BIFMA G1 guidelines.

Figure 4.19 : physical activity sessions

Figure 4.20 : Standing desks

Standing Desks

Sitting is recognized to be the “new smoking”. In its space, GBCI India allows for varied working environments to encourage occupants to follow an active lifestyle. Provision to alternate between sitting and standing work conditions has been given through adjustable height laptop arms, heightadjustable additional screens and fixed height standing desks.

Beyond Thresholds

GBCI India committed to going beyond the minimum requirements and pushing the LEED credit thresholds wherever possible. In terms of indoor water use reduction, the project has demonstrated an exemplary performance. While LEED places limitsthe threshold at 55% for exemplary

performance, the project has gone on to demonstrate a reduction of indoor water use by 85.95%. Even for the Optimize Energy Performance credit, the project when ahead to demonstrate a 35.85% reduction in energy use, while LEED placed the threshold for exemplary performance at 32%.