NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Earns LEED Gold Designation from USGBC

In recognition of its environmentally sustainable design, the newly opened Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center has received LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Gold designation from the U.S. Green Building Council.

NewYork-Presbyterian is the first hospital in the Mid-Atlantic region to receive the LEED Gold designation, and one of only six hospitals in the country with a Gold or Platinum designation. The LEED rating system is the industry standard for what constitutes a green building.

“The Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center is proof that an advanced medical facility can be environmentally friendly and energy-efficient,” says Dr. Herbert Pardes, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. “We are proud to be recognized by U.S. Green Building Council and others for the steps we’ve taken to support the health of our surrounding communities, including the environment they live in.”

The six-story, 142,000-square-foot Milstein Family Heart Center was designed by award-winning architects Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and daSilva Architects, and constructed by Bovis Lend Lease. Located on Fort Washington Avenue and 165th Street in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, the building opened in February.

Among its many sustainable features, the building’s five-story exterior “climate wall” uses sophisticated technology to improve energy efficiency, making the facility 30 percent more energy efficient than a standard structure. The wall consists of an outer and inner glass wall separated by a three-foot ventilated cavity that recovers air from common areas while a state-of-the-art motorized solar shading system reduces glare. The design saves energy by reducing the need for powered cooling and heating and lighting.

The building also uses high-efficiency lighting that automatically shuts on and off depending on whether there is someone in the room; a computerized management system for heating, ventilation and air conditioning; storage and change rooms for bicycle commuters; and an array of environmentally friendly building materials, including post-consumer recycled content.

NewYork-Presbyterian received a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to study how its climate wall performs compared with standard designs. The facility was also recognized by New York Construction Magazine with their 2009 Award of Merit in Health Care.

Practice Greenhealth Awards
NewYork-Presbyterian was honored by Practice Greenhealth — a member organization dedicated to sustainability in health care — at the annual CleanMed conference in Baltimore on May 12. It was the second year running that the Hospital has been honored at the conference.

This year the Hospital received five awards, including four Practice Greenhealth “Partner for Change” awards and one “Partner Recognition” award. Each acknowledged the progress the Hospital has made in implementing sustainable practices that reduce the organization’s environmental footprint — including a demonstrated increase in waste diversion to recycling, an energy-efficient co-generation plant, and a Hospital-wide staff engagement model called the Green Champions program.

NewYork-Presbyterian is a dues-paying member of Practice Greenhealth.