Chubb building named greenest in Bermuda

Chubb’s building on Woodbourne Avenue has become the first in Bermuda to be certified LEED platinum, the highest level of recognition in the LEED green building certification programme.

The programme recognises best-in-class building strategies and practices. Winning the platinum certification required the building attain a score of 80 or more out of 100 on its environmental impact, with Chubb’s building earning 81 points.

The building had twice before been certified LEED Gold by the US Green Building Council, which operates the LEED, and had scored 72 in January. The improved score was driven by further decreasing electricity use, replacing aging equipment, banning single-use plastics and harvesting rainwater for potable and non-potable use.

Since the last review period Chubb has reduced energy consumption in the building by 117,700 kilowatt hours, a 5 percent decrease, which is the same amount of electricity to power 336 homes in Bermuda for a month or 28 homes for an entire year.

Colin Brown, vice president of facilities and LEED project manager for Chubb in Bermuda, said: "We are gratified and honored that Chubb's efforts to continually enhance the environmental performance of this building have been recognised.”

A key objective of Chubb's environmental program is to measure, record and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the company's own operations. In May Chubb announced a companywide initiative to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent on an absolute basis by 2025, and by 40 percent by 2035.