Panduit presented with ASHRAE’s Excellence in Engineering award

Panduit Corp. has been honored with ASHRAE’s Illinois Chapter’s Excellence in Engineering award for their incorporation of sustainable design elements in its new Word Headquarters building. Noteworthy elements include light shelves and a water reclamation system.

Source: Business Wire

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Panduit Corp. has been honored with ASHRAE’s Illinois Chapter’s Excellence in Engineering award for their incorporation of sustainable design elements in its new World Headquarters building. The award honors the most innovative technologies, design strategies, and a commitment to sustainability and was presented to Panduit at ASHRAE’s award luncheon held at the Willis Tower in Chicago.

Panduit was recognized for incorporating sustainable design elements in its pursuit of achieving LEED v2.2 New Construction Gold certification. Panduit’s World Headquarters features one of the first installations of light shelves with integrated window shades in an open office environment. Light shelves help redistribute the sun's direct light deep into the building and reduce the amount of powered light needed. This installation harvests sunlight to improve employees' health and wellness, and significantly reduces lighting costs: ninety percent of the work areas have exposure to natural light as workstation areas are all adjacent to exterior windows; offices are centrally located.

The building also features the first installation of a water reclamation system in an office building in Illinois. This system collects rainwater from the roofs and treats it for internal non-potable uses. The system is estimated to reduce the Panduit World Headquarters' annual water usage by 30% (910,000 gallons projected savings annually). Manual air dampers in each work area allow for individual control of airflow and temperature, which both increases employee comfort and the building's energy efficiency. The building’s architectural wood trim accents used reclaimed redwood from old water towers and wine casks.

By incorporating its UPI-based Connected Building Solution, Panduit has leveraged an optimized physical infrastructure as a foundation in its World Headquarters building to enable convergence across the enterprise, reportedly helping businesses improve reliability, reduce costs, heighten agility and support sustainability initiatives.

- Edited by Amanda McLeman, Consulting-Specifying Engineer, www.csemag.com