Bath & Body Works headquarters awarded LEED Silver

Columbus, Ohio Limited Brands’ Bath & Body Works headquarters and distribution center in Columbus, Ohio, was awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certification via the Existing Building; Operations and Maintenance designation. It is the first Limited Brands facility to earn LEED certification.

A Silver certification verifies that Limited Brands has gone above and beyond the limits required for certification including: achieve significant improvements in energy efficiency and water use; develop and implement programs to dramatically reduce waste to landfill; encourage and facilitate sustainable purchasing; and improve the indoor environmental quality of the building.

The building housing the Bath & Body Works headquarters was constructed in 1997 and features 150,991 sq. ft. of office space and 547,010 sq. ft. of distribution space. Its green design and operating features include storm water management; reduced site disturbance; light pollution reduction; water and plumbing efficiency; ozone protection; energy efficiency; emissions reduction; sustainable purchasing; solid waste management (recycling); indoor air quality; and green cleaning.

The retailer is expected to save approximately $140,000 a year as a result of the energy and water-efficiency upgrades, according to Environmental Leader. The reported said the measures undertaken to reduce energy use included:

•  The use of power-management software to turn off PCs after hours;
• Reduction of hot-water heating set points to manufacturer-recommended minimums;
• Incandescent lamps replaced with compact fluorescents;
• Replacement of seals in loading dock doors; and
• Review of HVAC schedules and set points to ensure minimum settings per ASHRAE standards.

In addition, energy-efficiency training is performed with building managers on a monthly basis on energy waste.