C.W. BROWN – LEADERS IN GREEN CONSTRUCTION

Long an industry innovator and known for our expertise in environmentally responsible construction, C.W. Brown continues to surpass industry expectations.  C.W. Brown’s new headquarters in Armonk, New York intends to be the first green construction in Westchester County with a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum Certification.  We are renovating about 1/3 of our new 45,000 square-foot headquarters building which is being gutted and rebuilt to meet or exceed environmental standards.
Charlie Brown, President of C.W. Brown believes, “Our new green state-of the-art headquarters will be our most successful case study yet.”
The LEED Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction.  LEED-certified buildings use resources more efficiently and provide healthier work and living environments for owners, occupiers, and society as a whole.

• New Energy Efficient HVAC system
  
• Solar 60KW Photovoltaic View our Live Building Solar Power Generation
  
• Solar tubes to harvest daylight
  
• Furniture composed of FSC Certified Materials,
• 75% of our construction debris will be diverted from landfills.
  

Renee Brown and Charlie Brown are committed to green construction and environmental initiatives. “We’re setting a crucial precedent for the industry, for Westchester and for the entire tri-state area with this new building,” said Renee Brown, CEO of C.W. Brown. “We’re demonstrating our commitment to green construction and to the future. Green building is not a fad, but a positive, sustainable, responsible and entirely achievable business foundation.”

C.W. BROWN AS A SHOWCASE OF GREEN CONSTRUCTION

C.W. Brown Green Brochure

C.W. Brown Green Construction Facts:

• C.W. Brown has already been recognized as the first green construction company in New York to achieve “Negative Energy Use” at our headquarters.
• There are currently no other Buildings in Westchester County that are LEED Platinum Certified. 
• Old milk cartons are used for our restroom countertops.
• C.W. Brown’s new copy room floor uses material from old tires.
• C.W. Brown’s faucets save water, because sensors know when hands are present.
• C.W. Brown’s lights save energy by turning on to greet people when they enter a room, and turn off when they leave.
• Chips of windshield glass and mirrors create C.W. Brown’s gorgeous reception counter.
• Many of C.W. Brown’s lights know when it’s daytime so they turn themselves off
• Old barn wood is used for C.W. Brown’s reception wall.
  

Press Section

May 18^th, 2010:Westchester County Business Journal features C.W. Brown's new GREEN headquarters in their May 17 ^th issue.

April 30^th, 2010:Greg Clary of the Journal News Earth Watch column sings praises about C.W. Brown’s new Armonk Headquarters.

April 20^th, 2010:C.W. Brown was the recipient of the Building Green Corporate LEEDership Award for their significant contributions to sustainability.

November 1^st, 2009:Green Building Case Study by C.W. Brown Inc. in the Fairchester Green Building Council Newsletter

February 18^th, 2010: In keeping with their commitment to the environment, C.W. Brown recycled a flagpole from Ridgefield, Connecticut Library which will be relocated to their new headquarters in Armonk. The pole had been dedicated in 1990 to Roger Robichaud, the late father of CEO Renée Brown.

October 27^th, 2009: C.W. Brown Inc is at the forefront of eco-friendly practices in the commercial construction industry.

October 22^nd, 2009: Contractor C.W. Brown to Develop New 'Green' Headquarters Space.

October 19^th, 2009: All About Armonk article on C.W. Brown "Going For the Platinum".

October 12^th, 2009: Westchester-based CW Brown leads the industry in Green.

October 5^th, 2009: Browns Go Green in Armonk - C.W. Brown announces their purchase of new building and their move to Armonk.

GREEN CONSTRUCTION/LEED CERTIFICATION LINKS

• Green Source
• U.S. Green Building Council
• USGBC Green School Buildings
• Fairchester Green Building Council

BENEFITS OF GREEN BUILDING [usgbc.org]

Environmental benefits:

• Enhance and protect ecosystems and biodiversity
• Improve air and water quality
• Reduce solid waste
• Conserve natural resources

Economic benefits:

• Reduce operating costs
• Enhance asset value and profits
• Improve employee productivity and satisfaction
• Optimize life-cycle economic performance

Health and community benefits:

• Improve air, thermal, and acoustic environments
• Enhance occupant comfort and health
• Minimize strain on local infrastructure
• Contribute to overall quality of life

Why build green? Green buildings consume less energy and fewer resources. In comparison to the average commercial buildingⁱ:

• Green buildings consume 26% less energy
• Green buildings have 13% lower maintenance costs
• Green buildings have 27% higher occupant satisfaction
• Green buildings have 33% less greenhouse gas emissions

Green building occupants are more productive

• An experiment identifies a link between improved lighting design and a 27% reduction in the incidence of headaches, which accounts for 0.7% of overall employee health insurance cost at approximately $35 per employee annually².
• Sales in stores with skylights were up to 40% higher compared to similar stores without skylights³.
• Students with the most daylighting in their classrooms progressed 20% faster on math tests and 26% faster on reading tests in one year than those with less daylighting⁴.
• Corporate perception of whether green fosters innovation: 57% agree; 28% neutral and 15% disagree⁵.
• Improvements in indoor environments are estimated to save $17-48 billion in total health gains and $20-160 billion in worker performance⁶.

Green building occupants are healthier

• People in the U.S. spend about 90% of their time indoors⁷.
• EPA studies indicate indoor levels of pollutants may be up to ten times higher than outdoor levels⁸.
• Significant associations exist between low ventilation levels and higher carbon dioxide concentrations – a common symptom in facilities with sick building syndrome⁹.

ⁱGSA Public Buildings Service (2008). Assessing Green Building Performance: A Post Occupancy Evaluation of 12 GSA Buildings.

²Aaras, A. et al. (1998) Musculoskeletal, Visual and Psychosocial Stress in VDU Operators Before and After Multidisciplinary Ergonomic Interventions. Applied Ergonomics, p. 335-354.

³Heschong Mahone Group (1999). Skylighting and Retail Sales: An Investigation into the Relationship Between Daylighting and Human Performance.

⁴Heschong Mahone Group (1999). Daylighting in Schools: An Investigation into the Relationship Between Daylighting and Human Performance.

⁵McGraw-Hill Construction (2007) Greening of Corporate America SmartMarket Report.

⁶Fisk, W. (2000) Health and productivity gains from better indoor environments and their relationship with building energy efficiency. Annual Review of Energy and the Environment: 25, 537-66.

⁷Environmental Protection Agency (1987). The Total Exposure Assessment Methodology (TEAM) Study.

⁸Environmental Protection Agency (2008). An Introduction to Indoor Air Quality. Accessed via: http://www.epa.gov/iaq/voc.html.

⁹Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2002). Indoor Carbon Dioxide Concentrations and Sick Building Syndrome Symptoms in the Base Study Revisited: Analyses of the 100 Building Dataset.