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(Rockville, MD - September 22, 2008) At 10 a.m. Wednesday, September 24th, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) will unveil a plaque that will indicate the Gold level of its new national office building under the Leadership In Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
With remarks by Steven Piguet, AIA, a founding board member of the USGBC and a co-chair of its national governance committee, the unveiling will mark a rare culmination of the USGBC's certification process. ASHA is the first—and so far the only—non-profit association in Maryland with a building that's merited the LEED Gold certification level. Statewide, the gold certification level for buildings like ASHA's is far from common, too; only nine organizations with similar building types have the same certification level according to the USGBC. At the plaque unveiling that's scheduled for ASHA, media will be able to tour the group's new building and get the story behind a rare "gold strike."
ASHA's national office building is at 2200 Research Boulevard, Rockville, Maryland. Recently, the structure was named the 2008 Maryland/DC National Association of Industrial and Office Properties Best Suburban Office Building, Over 4 Stories.
"ASHA is strongly committed to community outreach, and the unveiling of our Gold certification plaque from the USGBC will be in keeping with that," ASHA Executive Director Arlene Pietranton says. "By offering media tours of our building, we want to help spread the word about what's involved in going green."
Pietranton says that for ASHA, going green has value at a couple of levels. "It enables us to serve our members better because we can realize operational cost savings," she explains, "and clearly it's an environmentally responsible thing to do."
ASHA's building is five stories and 133,870 square feet. Its new Gold status recognizes environmental friendliness in key areas such as sustainability, water efficiency, energy usage, and materials and resources. In addition, the building rated well for its indoor environmental quality, innovation, and design.
Davor Kapelina, President of AtSite Real Estate, Washington, DC, will help Pietranton unveil the Gold certification plaque. As the development manager of ASHA's new building, AtSite oversaw the LEED effort. "We are very pleased about the role we've had with ASHA's new building," Kapelina says. "With ASHA's continued encouragement, we were able to help attain the important achievement represented by the Gold certification plaque from the USGBC, while we also managed a project that came in on-time and under budget."
About the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 130,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing and balance disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists identify, assess, and treat speech and language problems including swallowing disorders.
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